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Fonts changing in files when opened in Illustrator 29.5.1

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I've experienced this twice now, both times in the last month. I design beer labels and I'll often open an older label and use it as the template for a new one. When I open the older file (an .AI file), it will load, and most of the live text will have switched to a different font arbitrarily. Some fonts switch to OTHER typefaces that exist in the same document, others switch to different weights of the same font, and still others switch to defaults like times and myriad. Some of the switched fonts are stored locally, and others are served via Adobe Fonts. The file does this consistently even after I've restarted illustrator and restarted my computer.

I've attached a screenshot of one of the files with its original fonts (from an outlined version for print), as well as a shot with the changed fonts.

Has anyone else experienced this?

System:

2022 Mac Studio M1 Max

MacOS Sonoma 14.6.1

Illustrator v 29.5.1

Anubhav MCorrect answer

Community Manager

Hello everyone,

Our team has attempted to resolve this issue in the latest Illustrator 30.x and 29.x releases. Kindly update to the latest version of Illustrator and try opening your files to see if the problem persists.

Anubhav

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Skeetawk

Participant

Just had this problem today with version 29.7.1 (2023 MBP M2 Max, Sonoma 14.6.1)

Fonts are all from the document itself but have "jumped" all over the place. So for simplicity's sake of describing the issue, the title was Garamond and the body was Helvetica. Now everything is Helvetica but if it was bold before, now it's regular, and vice-versa. Across the entire document. Quitting and re-opening doesn't fix it.

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fluke-d

Participating Frequently

I don't think there is anything you can do once the file is saved and this problem manifests itself. The error is baked in to the file now – opening it in an earlier version won't help. Adobe should pull these versions – who knows how many people have saved and closed documents over the past few months without knowing their work is ruined. It's been going on for months and Adobe are aware of the issue but still these versions are available for download. I'm not interested in 'user-requested color and snapping enhancements', generative bleed, AI, or most of the things being added to this software – I just don't want hours of work ruined when I save and close a document.

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John24472726qybf

Known Participant

Agreed. If they would stop with the new bells and whistles for just one year and focus on nothing but bug fixes for the next version, a lot of their customers would be much happier.

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JodyRadzik37240164

Inspiring

Noting for all that we've had the issue while using Apple's Font Book app. This is an Adobe problem, and now it's our problem as we are unable to use the software we are paying monthly for.

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nicko96979348

Participant

I can confirm the issue also occurs when using Right Font, font software.

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fluke-d

Participating Frequently

Still happening in v 29.8.1

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John24472726qybf

Known Participant

Same. I just had this happen to me for a second time (the first time was a few months ago). They are food packaging designs with several different fonts, and in both instances, Illustrator changed all of the fonts to different fonts. And not just the weights or to a default font, but to any other font in my library that it arbitrarily decided to grab. And like you, some of the fonts are local fonts that we own, and some are Adobe fonts. I use Extensis Connect as a font manager. I'm wondering if there is a bug (possibly in the plugin) with how Extensis Connect works with Adobe Illustrator (?).

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G. C.34684083a2u4

Participant

I'm using Extensis Connect as well, and though it could be something about the plugin..

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sharah_0072

Participant

My company is not using Extensis, so that makes me think it may have more to do with something in the Adobe software itself.

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sharah_0072

Participant

I am having the same problem. I recently installed Adobe Illustrator en/ar version, because I needed access to the Arabic font direction text options. I don't exclusively work on Arabic documents, but had several projects come in, so had to switch over.

I've only seen this issue on artwork files that were made in previous versions of Illustrator, and the font switch is inconsistant - not every instance is replaced, but definately enough instances to make it very irritating. I work in an FDA regulatated enviroment, and fonts swapping without any notification is completely unacceptable.

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ALE_PINEDA

Participant

This happens to me also. It's driving me crazy! Please help, I can't work like this!

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Emily35406990kzha

Participant

This is happening to me too!!! It happened once, and I thought it was some freak thing, but now it's happened again and I'm really frustrated. See attached 2 files. A is how it was originally designed and how it appears in Adobe Acrobat. B is how it's re-opening in Illustrator.

Can I have a de-bug session too?

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G. C.34684083a2u4

Participant

I have the exact same problem. I tried opening it with Adobe 2024, but the same thing happened.

I hope you fix this soon, as it affects tons of projects and the workload.

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k9tag

Participating Frequently

G. C.34684083a2u4 - Files started in or duplicated from any version beyond Illustrator 29.4 are potentially HOSED,. Any files created or saved with any version after 29.4 should be avoided. Files originally created in 29.4 or any previous version of Illustrator will be fine, and will not experience the deadly random font substitution bug that Adobe has been unable to fix thus far.

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Alexander Rott

Known Participant

This is still an issue??! I rolled back to 29.4 and haven't checked this thread for a while.

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kiml66753721

Participating Frequently

Unfortunately, yes. Adobe responded on 8/18 that they're still working on it 😞

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fluke-d

Participating Frequently

Still happens in 29.8.0 - just did a screen capture opening a file – save as to desktop and then reopening the newly saved version. Fonts are changed and tracking displayed incorrectly.

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AI_font_problem.zip

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raviraj_8074

Participant

I created a mailer in Illustrator with around 10–12 artboards and exported everything perfectly with the correct fonts. When I reopened the same file after two days to make changes, all the fonts had changed automatically, some text had disappeared, and the layout no longer matched my earlier exported JPGs. The fonts were installed and displaying correctly at the time of the first export, so the issue only appeared after reopening the saved file. I’ve attached the before/after GIF to show the difference.

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JodyRadzik37240164

Inspiring

Welcome to the nightmare that is using Adobe Illustrator now. This issue has plagued hundreds of designers worldwide for the past few months without any satisfactory resolution.

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kiml66753721

Participating Frequently

I am having the same issue in version 29.7.1

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k9tag

Participating Frequently

Downgrade to 29.4 and your Illustrator life will be back to flowers and unicorns. Any version beyond that is hosed until they fix the devastating random font substitution bug, which they have thus far been unable to fix for at least two months and counting.

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JodyRadzik37240164

Inspiring

Don't worry, I suspect they have their artificial intelligence working really hard on it. 🙄

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