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SSArteest
SSArteest
Inspiring
August 15, 2017
Answered

How to recover Font that is visible and usable in Illustrator but cannot be found on Computer

  • August 15, 2017
  • 1 reply
  • 2896 views

Hi everyone!

I have a question regarding a font that was previously installed on my macbook pro computer but is no longer installed on my computer.

A little background. I used Glyph mini to create a font using my own handwriting. At the time, I installed my newly created font on my computer and it was visible in my font book. It could be used across all my software programs with no problems. After my free trial for Glyph mini had ended, I decided to uninstall the Glyph app and all associated files and take a break from attempting to make a working font (since I hadn't had a chance to create all the characters I wanted). I am now interested in taking an online font class and would like to use the font I created and make some alterations and add characters/glyphs, etc.

Unfortunately, I cannot find my font anywhere! I think I must have accidentally deleted it when I deleted the Glyph app. It is not in my Font Book, it is not in my Systems font folder, it is not in my User font folder and it is not in my Application Support/Adobe font folder.

However, it is still available to use in both my Adobe Illustrator and PSE11 programs (no other programs list my font anymore to use). Since I can't find the font anywhere (and I have been researching this quite a bit), I am thinking that the font is simply cached in my local adobe folders while no longer being installed on my computer.

Is there anyway to recover my font (without using a 3rd party app) since it can be accessed via Illustrator and Photoshop Elements? Or is there a 3rd party app I have to use to recreate my font?

In the meantime, as a backup, I have typed out all the characters I managed to make and created an outlined/expanded version as vector shapes just in case I need to start over ...

Thanks!

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer SSArteest

Hi Mike,

Thanks for your reply. Unfortunately, I can't retrieve it through my time machine backup.  

I tried partitioning the backup drive (lacie) a couple of months ago which caused problems with the backup drive and files. The time machine was no longer saving properly and I couldn't access files from the backup drive. Long story short, I had to reinstall the backup drive and wipe out everything to start over.  So, the time machine wouldn't help since those older files were lost in the reinstall.

Anyone else have any ideas? Is there a way to retrieve a font that has been cached in a software program?


Omg! I just found it!!!

Again, I had looked in the following folders/programs:

1) Users/[user name]/Library/Fonts

2) Users/[user name]/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Fonts

3) System/Library/Fonts

4) Font Book

This is where I found it:

Macintosh HD/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Fonts

I'm marking this answer as "correct" in case anyone else cannot find where his/her font has been installed. The aforementioned folder is at least one place to look for your font, which might not normally be recommended when troubleshooting this issue.

Dealing with this jogged my memory a bit.  Originally the font had been installed using Font Book (that is why I could use it in non-Adobe programs), but I remember having cache problems every time I tried updating the font by reinstalling in Font Book (so older versions of the font persisted and it wasn't showing the updated font). After researching the issue, I found that it was recommended to put test fonts in this folder to avoid cache problems.

I just couldn't remember where that folder was ... I was searching in the User ~/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Fonts ... folder, not the HD Library folder/Application Support/Adobe/Fonts .... *Sigh* I feel much better! But, darn, all those font folders are confusing!

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1 reply

SSArteest
SSArteestAuthor
Inspiring
August 15, 2017

I did find this article that was kind of on point: Exporting Font files - Adobe Illustrator Windows

The gentleman answered saying, "Very likely, it is a font installed in Illustrator's local font folder.

On my IL 10 setup, that folder is at {IL10 install folder} | Support Files | Required | Fonts.

On my IL 8 setup, that folder is at {IL8 install folder} | Required | Fonts.

Find the equivalent folder for your old IL 9 setup... and I'm sure you can take it from there."

I cannot find a separate "local" folder for Illustrator fonts other than the user/library/application support/adobe folder. Is there somewhere else I should be looking? Thanks again.

Mike_Gondek10189183
Community Expert
Mike_Gondek10189183Community Expert
Community Expert
August 15, 2017

If the font could be used across all software , then the was not installed din the Illustrator fonts folder.

Since you did not backup the font, and uninstalled the software, then the font must have been removed since is missing now. Can you use system restore to go back to a date before the app was removed. Search you hard drive for the name of the font, you may find some useful  files to piece this together.

SSArteest
SSArteestAuthor
Inspiring
August 15, 2017

Hi Mike,

Thanks for your reply. Unfortunately, I can't retrieve it through my time machine backup.  

I tried partitioning the backup drive (lacie) a couple of months ago which caused problems with the backup drive and files. The time machine was no longer saving properly and I couldn't access files from the backup drive. Long story short, I had to reinstall the backup drive and wipe out everything to start over.  So, the time machine wouldn't help since those older files were lost in the reinstall.

Anyone else have any ideas? Is there a way to retrieve a font that has been cached in a software program?

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