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AlwaysTheArtist
AlwaysTheArtist
Participant
January 3, 2019
Answered

Type 1 fonts from CS6 apps needed in CC Apps

  • January 3, 2019
  • 4 replies
  • 1162 views

Recently moved from a purchased (locally installed) CS6 Apps Suite to CC. I have 100s of app files (Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign) created in the CS6 Suite that are looking for fonts that are not available in the CC versions.

I have all the Type 1 fonts (PFB/PFM) required by my app files available on a CD which I’ve added to over many years of Adobe product ownership.

How do I make the Type 1 fonts available to the CC apps?

OS: Windows 10 Pro 64 bit.

Thank you for your assistance.

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Dov Isaacs

Assuming all you have done is migrate from using the CS6 versions of InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop to the CC versions of the same programs, any fonts that are already installed on your system, whether they be Type 1, TrueType, or any flavor of OpenType, should be immediately available to the CC versions of those applications.

However, if you are not only migrating versions of the Adobe applications, but are simultaneously moving to a new computer system, yes, you will need to install those legacy Type 1 fonts on your computer system. The process of installing Type 1 fonts has not changed since Windows XP. Close all applications. From whatever directory is storing the font files (both the .pfb and .pfm files are required), right click on the .pfm file and select either Install (or if you have the latest Windows 10 update, Install for all users). That will result in the .pfm and the .pfb files being copied to the correct location and proper Windows registry entries being made such that the Type 1 fonts are available to all applications supporting same (most Microsoft applications such as the Office applications no longer support Type 1 fonts at all). The next time you run your applications, the Type 1 fonts should be available in your font lists. You should also be able to see the fonts in the Fonts Control Panel.

All this having been said, it would seriously behoove you to migrate from Type 1 fonts to OpenType fonts when at all possible. The Adobe applications are optimized for use of the OpenType fonts and both their encodings and layout features which are not available with Type 1 fonts.

And, by the way, for at least the last decade, none of the CS applications shipped with any Type 1 fonts. Those Type 1 fonts you have date back quite a while!

          - Dov

4 replies

AlwaysTheArtist
AlwaysTheArtistAuthor
Participant
January 4, 2019

Thank you Dov.

Before submitting my question to the forum I did try installing the fonts a particular file was looking for per your suggestion. Apparently it did not work. However... what I failed to do was to close all apps before installing, then restarting the PC.

This morning, with all apps closed, I reinstalled the fonts I needed then restarted the PC. Voila! The fonts appeared in the CC apps! What I failed to mention in my original post was that indeed it was CC installed for the first time on a new PC, without the CS6 suite present. Fortunately... your reply covered this as well.

Going forward on new projects, I will take your advise to heart about using OpenType fonts. However I am still stuck with 100s of documents that utilize Type1. I've been through the nightmare of font substitution and the resultant re-flow, messed-up manual line breaks and copy disappearing in the window shade.

Many of these legacy-based files are forms and booklets that require only minor, occasional updates and a subject to FDA scrutiny. To subject the customer to a total re-proofing because of moving from Type 1 to OpenType is a bit excessive. Is there some way to determine a OpenType font the will fit the same as a Type 1 (Helvetica for instance) to avoid the problems I mentioned?

Thanks again for the kick in the pants.

    Dov Isaacs
    Dov Isaacs
    Legend
    January 4, 2019

    Certainly didn't mean to “kick you in the pants”

    I would agree to be very conservative about changing font types for active documents that require minor updates.

    Yes, there are issues to be concerned about when migrating from Type 1 to OpenType. Although with OpenType fonts sourced from Adobe for which there were previously Type 1 versions, we tried to keep advance widths the same, other font metrics in OpenType fonts might cause some re-layout. I personally never experienced this with very many documents I have, but I have heard of such issues. A bigger issue is that of symbolic and decorative characters. In Type 1 fonts, symbols and decorative characters are mapped into the Type 1 font's limited 256 character matrix. With OpenType fonts, the same symbols and decorative characters are mapped to their specific Unicode values - thus the Glyphs palettes in the Adobe applications to access these characters. Also, unlike Type 1 font technology where small caps, old style figures, swash characters, alternates, etc. appear in a separate font, OpenType includes all these extra glyphs in the base font. The Adobe applications provide means of automatically choosing these characters based on OpenType features selected.

    In terms of Helvetica, all bets are off unless you go from the Type 1 Helvetica fonts of Adobe to the OpenType CFF fonts of Adobe. There are many versions of Helvetica out there and their interoperability is often dicey (such as Apple's TrueType version of Helvetica versus the Type 1 version of Helvetica issued by Adobe going all the way back to the mid-1980s!

              - Dov

    - Dov Isaacs, former Adobe Principal Scientist (April 30, 1990 - May 30, 2021)
      AlwaysTheArtist
      AlwaysTheArtistAuthor
      Participant
      January 4, 2019

      "Kick in the pants" was tongue-in-cheek, as I know better about how to install font correctly and should not have needed reminding. My PC experience goes back to Aldus PageMaker on Windows 3.1.

      How things have changed!

      Thanks again for all your help, guidance and suggestions.

        Dov Isaacs
        Dov IsaacsCorrect answer
        Legend
        January 3, 2019

        Assuming all you have done is migrate from using the CS6 versions of InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop to the CC versions of the same programs, any fonts that are already installed on your system, whether they be Type 1, TrueType, or any flavor of OpenType, should be immediately available to the CC versions of those applications.

        However, if you are not only migrating versions of the Adobe applications, but are simultaneously moving to a new computer system, yes, you will need to install those legacy Type 1 fonts on your computer system. The process of installing Type 1 fonts has not changed since Windows XP. Close all applications. From whatever directory is storing the font files (both the .pfb and .pfm files are required), right click on the .pfm file and select either Install (or if you have the latest Windows 10 update, Install for all users). That will result in the .pfm and the .pfb files being copied to the correct location and proper Windows registry entries being made such that the Type 1 fonts are available to all applications supporting same (most Microsoft applications such as the Office applications no longer support Type 1 fonts at all). The next time you run your applications, the Type 1 fonts should be available in your font lists. You should also be able to see the fonts in the Fonts Control Panel.

        All this having been said, it would seriously behoove you to migrate from Type 1 fonts to OpenType fonts when at all possible. The Adobe applications are optimized for use of the OpenType fonts and both their encodings and layout features which are not available with Type 1 fonts.

        And, by the way, for at least the last decade, none of the CS applications shipped with any Type 1 fonts. Those Type 1 fonts you have date back quite a while!

                  - Dov

        - Dov Isaacs, former Adobe Principal Scientist (April 30, 1990 - May 30, 2021)
          Jeffrey_A_Wright
          Community Manager
          Jeffrey_A_WrightCommunity Manager
          Community Manager
          January 3, 2019

          Moving this discussion to the Type & Typography forum.

          John T Smith
          Community Expert
          John T SmithCommunity Expert
          Community Expert
          January 3, 2019

          As far as I know, fonts are installed by/into Windows... at least that has been my experience with TrueType fonts... since I've never heard of a Type 1 font, I don't know what you should do

          Other than searching at Microsoft to find instructions on installing that type of font

          Search bar at the top of http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/default.aspx for ALL Windows help

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