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ciebmo
ciebmo
Participant
March 11, 2026
Answered

Freight Sans Pro vs Freight Sans mismatch between InDesign and Adobe Fonts

  • March 11, 2026
  • 5 replies
  • 120 views

Hi everyone,

I’m running into a font issue and hoping someone here has seen this before.

I have Freight Sans Pro installed on my computer, and in InDesign it appears in the font menu as Freight Sans Pro. However, when I check the font in the Adobe app / Adobe Fonts, it appears simply as Freight Sans.

The problem came up when we sent a packaged file to a printer. They told us they couldn’t access the font because Freight Sans Pro is discontinued. On my system everything still works and displays normally, but on their end, they’re saying it’s a Type 1 font that Adobe no longer supports.

So I’m trying to figure out:

  1. Why would InDesign still show Freight Sans Pro if Adobe now lists it as Freight Sans?

For context:

  • Font shows as Freight Sans Pro inside InDesign.

  • Adobe Fonts / Creative Cloud shows Freight Sans.

  • Printer says Freight Sans Pro is discontinued and unavailable on their end.

Has anyone dealt with this rename/version mismatch before? 

Thanks!

Correct answer Peter Spier

OK….

Freight Sans from Adobe Fonts is NOT the same as Freight Sans Pro, which is a postscript -flavored OTF OpenType font, not a type 1 font (which would not work for you in a current version of InDesign.

Pro versions of fonts have a larger glyph set to support more languages, and in this case, as far as I can tell, this was always a paid font, and quite expensive. 

I see it listed at ILoveTypography.com (I’ve never heard of this site before), in a 2022 release.

All of this brings up a couple of questions. 

First, why are you sending a Package to the printer instead of PDF? The font should be embedded in the PDF.

Second, if you are using the PRO version, and it is installed on your system, why is it not in the Document Fonts folder in the package folder, where it should automatically load when the .indd file is opened from the package.

This sounds like you may have a conflict between the Pro version and the one from Adobe Fonts (especially if you use a third-party font manager).  Unless you actually need the extra glyphs for some reason to support a particular non-roman language, you might simply want to run Find Font and replace all instances of Pro with the Adobe Font version (and update the styles at the same time).

5 replies

BobLevine
Community Expert
BobLevineCommunity Expert
Community Expert
March 12, 2026

Despite the confusion I’d like to echo Peter’s question. Why aren’t you sending a PDF? You can’t package Adobe Fonts and I would never trust a printer to not open the file in the wrong version of the software anyway.

A PDF is a far safer format for everyone.

    Brad @ Roaring Mouse
    Community Expert
    Brad @ Roaring MouseCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    March 12, 2026

    As some who uses this tyepeface for one of my major clients regularly for years I can assure you that Freight Sans from Adobe Fonts IS Freight Sans Pro. The Adobe Fonts  website just lists the Family Name, but when you activate them, you will see the font installed are actually suffixed with Pro. They do this for a bunch of typefaces; this situation is not unique.

    In any case, the font you used and where it came from will be listed in the Find/Replace dialog in InDesign.

    Now, if you properly activate dthe font on Adobe Fonts, then you should not see ANY version of it in your packages, as packaging Adobe Fonts is not allowed, as you know.

    So, this all comes down to an incompetent printer. Whatever the issue is, it’s at their end.

    Regardless, if any printer requests native files in this day and age and not a final print PDF, I would be suspicious

    of them already.

      Peter Spier
      Community Expert
      Peter SpierCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      March 12, 2026

      Ah. Thanks ​@Brad @ Roaring Mouse , that explains a lot and I’ll shut up now about that.

      That does make on wonder why the printer isn’t able to activate it.

      Brad @ Roaring Mouse
      Community Expert
      Brad @ Roaring MouseCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      March 12, 2026

      No worries. It does all come down to what’s happening at this printer. If they have a legitimate CC subscription (I can’t image why they wouldn’t), they can activate the fonts.

      Even if they were relying on InDesign to auto-activate them (as a person in prepress, I turn OFF auto activation from the get go. I WANT to see where fonts are missing so I can properly locate them from the right source, be it locally or cloud) they can still activate them manually as the ENTIRE family, which doesn’t ncessarily hppen with auto-activation.

      This statement that they were “discontinued” rings wieird. I’d like to see a screenshot of that so-called error message. ;)

      ciebmo
      ciebmoAuthor
      Participant
      March 11, 2026

      I never purchased this font but only accessed it through Adobe Fonts. And I did create a print-ready PDF file for the printer but they prefer to also have the source file. It seems to me there is a glitch with this particular font. My colleague also had Pro show up in InDesign but when she deleted the files and re-downloaded Freight Sans, it only came up as the latter. At this point, we can’t re-run the font because it would reflow the entire document and we’re at the stage where it needs to go to print. There should be some kind of alert again to let users know if a font is discontinued.

      Peter Spier
      Community Expert
      Peter SpierCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      March 11, 2026

      It doesn’t look as if it’s unavailable, though it may no longer be distributed by the font foundry that designed it. That said, I will repeat that the Pro version is not the same font as the one at Adobe, but that doesn’t mean the metrics are necessarily different. Personally, I would either make a copy of the file and see what happens if you swap the font, or find another printer who can work with the PDF (I NEVER send source files to the printer, nor, I expect, does anyone else here with an expert tag).

      Did you look at the Document Fonts folder to see what was packaged? If the font is missing it likely is because the license is pretty restrictive (embedding is allowed in a read-only PDF that cannot be edited, but apparently it is not allowed to be supplied to a printer for output any other way).

      As to how you obtained the Pro version, I couldn’t say, but it came to you from somewhere, and if you didn’t purchase a license it probably was pirated. All the more reason to swap it for the version you can download from Adobe.

      Peter Spier
      Community Expert
      Peter SpierCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
      Community Expert
      March 11, 2026

      OK….

      Freight Sans from Adobe Fonts is NOT the same as Freight Sans Pro, which is a postscript -flavored OTF OpenType font, not a type 1 font (which would not work for you in a current version of InDesign.

      Pro versions of fonts have a larger glyph set to support more languages, and in this case, as far as I can tell, this was always a paid font, and quite expensive. 

      I see it listed at ILoveTypography.com (I’ve never heard of this site before), in a 2022 release.

      All of this brings up a couple of questions. 

      First, why are you sending a Package to the printer instead of PDF? The font should be embedded in the PDF.

      Second, if you are using the PRO version, and it is installed on your system, why is it not in the Document Fonts folder in the package folder, where it should automatically load when the .indd file is opened from the package.

      This sounds like you may have a conflict between the Pro version and the one from Adobe Fonts (especially if you use a third-party font manager).  Unless you actually need the extra glyphs for some reason to support a particular non-roman language, you might simply want to run Find Font and replace all instances of Pro with the Adobe Font version (and update the styles at the same time).

        Barb Binder
        Community Expert
        Barb BinderCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        March 11, 2026

        I see that Freight Sans is available from a number of locations online. Font versions evolve over time and it sounds like you may be using an older version of Freight Sans. If you are using a Type 1 version, your printer is correct about Type 1 fonts no longer supported so I would recommend removing all instances and then reinstalling an OpenType version from a single source.

        For example:

        https://fonts.adobe.com (included with your CC subscription)

        https://freightcollection.com/freight-sans/ (available for purchase)

        https://fontsgeek.com/ (free, but the connection kept timing out)

        ~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training
        Peter Spier
        Community Expert
        Peter SpierCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        March 11, 2026

        ​@Barb Binder the PRO designation pretty much guarantees this isn’t a T1 font (have you EVER seen a T1 Pro font?), and if it is, it won’t work with recent versions of InDesign, which begs the question of what version the OP is actually using.

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