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Lavish_coder1549
Known Participant
May 10, 2025 3:14 AM UTC
Answered

Fonts changing in files when opened in Illustrator 29.5.1

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 M
Anubhav MCorrect answer
Community Manager
Nov 11, 2025 3:25 PM UTC

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

308 replies

Inspiring
Aug 20, 2025 8:39 PM UTC

Downgrade to version 29.4.

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kiml66753721
Participating Frequently
Sep 3, 2025 2:55 PM UTC

It's still happening in 29.4 for me

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Participant
Aug 20, 2025 5:52 PM UTC

I´ve had the same issue for a month now, and I´ve changed manually the fonts but it keeps changing enverytime i open my file. How can i solve this problem?

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Known Participant
Aug 20, 2025 6:02 PM UTC

Try going back to 29.4, it seems to be last bug free version before this mess started.

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Participating Frequently
Aug 19, 2025 6:54 PM UTC

Anubhav M  ==>  Users are still reporting the random font substitution bug in Illustrator on the Mac and on the PC, in versons 29.5.x, 29.6.x,  and 29.7.x,  from all over the world, with translations even required to read the posts from users in Spain and Japan for example.... and the Adobe team can not replicate the issue in San Jose after a couple of months worth of worldwide input?  I think that I can speak for the world when I say that's quite unfathomable.  How about this: fly three or four of us out to San Jose and put us up at the Westin for a few days, and we can bring the Illustrator random font substitution bug to you at Adobe headquarters with our multiple windows laptops and Macbook Pros.  You will then be able to replicate the issue in spades on your end, and just maybe find a solution. 

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Participant
Aug 20, 2025 2:40 AM UTC

Well said my friend!



<Personal Info Removed By Moderator>

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Diego Leyva
Anubhav M
Community Manager
Community Manager
Aug 18, 2025 5:38 PM UTC

Hello everyone,

We are sorry for the trouble. We are having debug sessions for this issue with the product team, as we are unable to replicate the issue on our end. Would it be possible for you to have a debug session with us? If yes, please share your Adobe email ID, Phone number with country code, preferred time & day for the meeting, your timezone, and country & state you live in over the DM only.

I will be looking forward to your response.

Anubhav

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Known Participant
Aug 18, 2025 7:49 PM UTC

Your only now admitting you can even replicate problem? How many weeks has this been.

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Participant
Aug 14, 2025 10:46 PM UTC

A última atualização fez com que as fontes dos meus projetos fossem alteradas, não preciso nem dizer as centenas de horas que precisaria para corrigir todos eles. Queria saber se há algum movimento para corrigir este absurdo.

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Anubhav M
Community Manager
Community Manager
Aug 15, 2025 9:03 PM UTC

Hello @William.Keffer,

I'm sorry to hear about your experience. Our team is aware of this problem and is currently investigating it. Could you share a link to a sample AI file you're having trouble with, so we can check it on our end?

In the meantime, please try installing an earlier version of Illustrator (https://adobe.ly/4ly9pf3) and let us know if it helps.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Anubhav

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Participant
Aug 15, 2025 11:48 PM UTC

Eu retornei a versão antes da atualização, "apenas" o último trabalho que estava desenvolvendo desconfigurou todas as fontes. Atualizei novamente e continuou apenas o último trabalho desconfigurado. Perdi 6 horas de trabalho para modificar todas as fontes. 

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Participant
Aug 14, 2025 3:39 PM UTC

Same problem here, I need to spend another day just to fix all the fonts on 14 labels that have a lot of text information 😞
Adobe Illustrator has had lots of bugs lately; maybe it is time to start learning CorelDRAW (Go back to the Stone Age) 🙂

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Anubhav M
Community Manager
Community Manager
Aug 14, 2025 3:52 PM UTC

Hello @Timur342771060g07,

Our team has requested additional info. Could you kindly share a link to a sample file with this problem after uploading it to a file-sharing service, so that we can check it on our end?

 

Note: While sharing the link, kindly ensure it is set to Public and the option for Save a Copy/Download is enabled.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Anubhav

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Inspiring
Aug 14, 2025 4:21 PM UTC

You guys (Adobe personnel) don't appear to understand that this is commercial work on proprietary files that cannot be shared publicly. Real, live businesses and individual consultants are being deeply affected by the complete lack of quality control that Illustrator suffers from now. Trust in the product is evaporating with every new update because they now bring horrific consequences with their use. It's not up to us to lose more time providing examples of how poorly your product works now.

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Anubhav M
Community Manager
Community Manager
Aug 11, 2025 5:11 PM UTC

Hello everyone,

Our team has requested additional info. Could you kindly share a link to a sample file with this problem after uploading it to a file-sharing service, so that we can check it on our end?

Note: While sharing the link, kindly ensure it is set to Public and the option for Save a Copy/Download is enabled.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Anubhav

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katc60712215
Participating Frequently
Aug 12, 2025 1:03 PM UTC

We are a sign company and we are having the same issue with AI files. PDF shows correct font and spacing and AI file is corrupt. This is causing major issues when sending files to print. 

The link is here:  

https://we.tl/t-jA7WG7TEZd

 

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Anubhav M
Community Manager
Community Manager
Aug 12, 2025 4:47 PM UTC

Hello @katc60712215,

Thanks for sharing the file. I have forwarded it to the product team. I will update this thread as I have more info.

Anubhav

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Participating Frequently
Aug 9, 2025 10:36 AM UTC

Exact same thing happening to me. Working on a master file with dozens of labels and all two families of fonts that are properly installed changed once to gibbrish (I had to renter text using the glyphs window!) worked well for a while, did it again and was fixed, then re-happened a few days later and was fixed just by restarting the computer. But what a waste fo time! This moning, same doc, it replaced two families with Myriad. I did a Find/Replace, only to find out that text on other locked layers has randomly dispeared in preview. Come on Adobe, you can do better than that, instead of fiddling with AI please let designers do their work.

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Inspiring
Aug 6, 2025 3:28 PM UTC

I'm hoping to get some advice. I work with very large and complex packaging files with many different fonts. When the bug-infested Illustrator completely ruins them with it's font substitution bug, my life turns into a nightmare. I can't stop working, but I'm terrified this will happen again and I'll lose yet another day trying to fix it. So, I'm hoping to get some official advice from Adobe as to which version of Illustrator (if any) does not have this issue. Please advise.

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Inspiring
Aug 6, 2025 3:31 PM UTC

I just read in another reply that 29.4 is the last stable version, so I'm downgrading to that and crossing my fingers.

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Anubhav M
Community Manager
Community Manager
Aug 6, 2025 6:50 PM UTC

Hello @1671312 Radzik,

Our team is aware of the problem and is currently investigating it. I will update this thread as I have more info.

Feel free to reach out if you have more questions or need assistance. We'd be happy to help.
Anubhav

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Participant
Aug 6, 2025 7:05 AM UTC

This is still happening for me in version 29.7.1

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fluke-d
Participating Frequently
Aug 6, 2025 8:31 AM UTC

Same for me.

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