How to add Adobe font to Canva brand kit

[Jane30656132e2my]

Hi!

I am trying to upload my brand fonts to my Canva brand kit. I have installed the fonts via Adobe Creative Cloud, but I cannot find the .ttf files in the Adobe program files at all. I need the files to upload to Canva. Does anyone have any ideas about where to look for these files or alternative ways to get my brand fonts onto Canva?

Thanks!

[kglad]

in the future, to find the best place to post your message, use the list here, https://community.adobe.com/

p.s. i don't think the adobe website, and forums in particular, are easy to navigate, so don't spend a lot of time searching that forum list. do your best and we'll move the post (like this one has already been moved) if it helps you get responses.

<"moved from cc desktop">

[Bobby Henderson]

Fonts that are added/installed via Adobe Fonts are not visible in a computer's file system. The font files can't be uploaded to another online service, such as Canva.

[zoe@tdo]

I am also facing the same issue today trying to upload an Adobe licensed font to Canva for a client. Yet I have purchased the font via a type library (Font Spring) for them and am furious now that it cant be loaded into their Canva account.

Why is this? Surely once a license of the font has been purchased it should be able to be used without restriction by the user for their personal needs? 

This needs to change yet I am unsure how to start this discussion anywhere for Adobe comment. Until you have made a product similar to Canva (and be in direct competition with them) why would not allow your fonts to be used on the platform? 

As a brand designer who works with a plethora of small business owners they will never purchase Adobe software to use in-house as it is too complex to learn how to use and too expensive for one very small part of their business. Canva is the perfect solution for them to help them be incontrol of their documentation. 

I will now not be able to use any fonts created by Adobe for any future brand work, knowing they will not be able to be uploaded to Canva even though your typekit library is part of the reason why I am happy to fork out $70 a month for my Adobe subscription.

This is just like PMS colours no longer being available with Adobe software without the purchase of ANOTHER expensive subscription.

It's super dissapointing and making life even harder for your end users. 

[Bobby Henderson]

As far as I know FontSpring has no partnership with Adobe. FontSpring certainly does not have anything to do at all with the Adobe Fonts service that comes with a Creative Cloud subscription.

What "Adobe licensed" fonts were you trying to upload? If you purchased the fonts from FontSpring did the company provide you with download-able font files? The Adobe Fonts service obviously does not provide font files that can be freely copied, uploaded, shared, etc. Adobe couldn't host thousands of type families from dozens of other type foundries if Adobe wouldn't do anything to protect those font assets.

I'm not going to hide my disdain for Canva. Whenever I have to deal with terrible quality art files from customers the bad art files are now coming from Canva more often than any other source. Canva is the "hold my beer I want to act like I'm a graphic designer" app these days.

The sidebar regarding PMS colors is another grimly laughable thing. Adobe does not own Pantone. The issue of PMS colors being removed from Adobe's applications is 100% all on Pantone. Not Adobe. And the sheer level of hypocrisy on the part of Pantone is just staggering. That company singled out Adobe since the company is "big" and seemingly an easy mark.

Pantone has not forced any other graphics software vendors to remove the PMS color libraries from their applications. You can get current version Pantone libraries in the current versions of CorelDRAW, Affinity Designer and other industry specific graphics applications. Most large format printing RIP applications have Pantone color libraries.

But I'm guessing Pantone hasn't gone after all these other software companies because they probably do not have the in-house manpower and technical know-how to create compatible color palettes for all of these different applications. Pantone has a hard enough time just getting its yearly subscription "connect" software to work properly with Adobe's applications. The reaction from much of the Adobe user base has been to back-up and re-use old Pantone ACB files from previous versions of Adobe's applications. That's the better alternative than paying nearly $200 per year just for some partially updated digital swatch books.

Oh! Let's not leave out the fact you still have to pony up $150-$200 or more for a pair of physical printed Pantone+ Color Formula Guide swatch books. You don't get the coated and uncoated physical swatch books with your "connect" subscription. That's an extra purhcase. That takes the Pantone thing from a nearly $200 per year fee to a nearly $400 per year fee. If anything the Pantone vs Adobe controversy provides an opportunity to rivals such as Toyo and Trumatch gain some market share.

[zoe@tdo]

Hey Bobby - 

I'm just going to focus on the first half of this conversation - the fonts seeing as there is obviously a bigger discussion at play for the PMS Pantone removal from all Adobe products.

The font I have purchased from font spring was this (also available to purchase from My Fonts)

https://www.fontspring.com/fonts/adobe/kepler-std-semicondensed

And yes I received downloadable files which do not work when you upload to Canva. According to Canva - 

https://www.canva.com/en_au/help/font-upload-error/#:~:text=Unsupported%20format%3A%20Make%20sure%20....

From 2024 "Adobe fonts are not allowed to be uploaded due to licensing restrictions". 

Having disdain for Canva or not, most small business owners (not designers) use this program which helps them to efficiently and affordably run their small business. I spend a great amount of my time creating templates for businesses to use in Canva to create proposal documents, workbooks and the like that are needed for use with their clients. Does this make them a designer? No. But does this program allow them to create nice documentation to use? Yes. 

So my hero question here is why are they allowing us to purchase individual license to use these fonts if we cannot use them freely across needed programs? Isnt that the whole point of purchasing a license? 

[Bobby Henderson]

Every type foundry that sells commercial fonts has a EULA with various kinds of legal restrictions included. Many people who buy commercial type routinely disregard those rules, such as sharing the font files with other people. Every font file and type family I've ever purchased has had a stipulated limit on how many computers where the font file could be installed.

Uploading fonts to an online-based graphics app/service like Canva is new territory. Let's also complicate the situation further with Canva embarking on a partnership with Monotype, a private equity owned company that sure seems like it is trying to monopolize the type industry. Just look at all the type companies Monotype owns now. I do not know the EULA details for the style of Kepler you purchased from FontSpring. But I do know Kepler is an Adobe Originals typeface (designed by Robert Slimbach over 30 years ago). So it's something that neither Monotype or Canva owns. It's just as likely that Canva sniffed the Adobe DNA in that font file and rejected it as it is likely Adobe restricted the font file being uploaded to web sites of other organizations.

And I'll stick to my guns regarding Canva. The app might provide small business owners an easy and cheap way to DIY their own graphics projects for designing logos and other materials. But the app does ZERO to guide those users how to do the job right.

Most of what I do for a living requires clean, vector-based artwork. Many people using Canva don't have the first clue regarding the basic, elementary school level difference between pixels and vectors. But they design away anyway. And I get stuck cleaning up their gawd-awful mess. On the other hand, we do not do that clean-up work for free. If a wannabe designer digs himself into a deep hole because he just doens't know what he is doing the life line from real graphics people isn't going to come for free.

[MikeGK]

Exactly!!!

[Kate36026711qdi6]

"Surely once a license of the font has been purchased it should be able to be used without restriction by the user for their personal needs?"

I don't think you understand what a license is. Licenses grant usage within specific boundaries, so, in a sense, the restrictions (or lack thereof) are the whole point. When you purchase a font license you are purchasing the right to use the font within the terms of the license. Every font you purchase comes along with a EULA (end user license agreement) that outlines what you can and cannot do with the fonts and the font files. Just because it's common practice for font users to completely ignore their license terms does not mean that's appropriate.

One can absolutely license fonts for unlimited, unrestricted use, that's called enterprise licensing and it comes with a very large pricetag.  

Adobe is scrupulous in protecting their IP, which is why they don't want Adobe Originals uploaded to Canva. Whenever you upload a font file to a web-based server or service, be it Canva or any other individual website, it introduces a liability for the IP owner (foundry, designer, etc), as those files can be accessed by unlicensed users (aka pirated). This is why "self-hosted" web licenses are more expensive than hosted web licenses (such as the license you receive as an Adobe Fonts subscriber), they're accounting for and attempting to mediate that liability. 

Adobe Originals are fonts produced by (or owned by) Adobe. Adobe Fonts, on the other hand, licenses fonts from outside foundries to then sublicense to Creative Cloud users. Adobe is bound by the terms of their agreements with said foundries, so when Creative Cloud users flout the terms of their Adobe Fonts EULAs, ultimately who they're hurting are independent type foundries and designers just trying to make a living designing fonts for them to use and enjoy.

[Fachstelle Medien]

I have a question according to this topic. Is it even legal to upload Adobe fonts to Canva?

[Bobby Henderson]

It's not possible to upload fonts from the Adobe Fonts service to Canva. Any font files synced from Adobe Fonts are not visible on the computer's hard disc drive (for obvious copy protection reasons). So the files cannot be selected and uploaded to Canva. If the files were visible and able to be physically selected and uploaded doing so would probably not be legal. Canva has no relation at all to Adobe.

[Fachstelle Medien]

Thanks for your response. I asked the adobe-support in a chat and they said it's allowed to use adobe fonts in canva. I didn't ask how it works technically. But I'm still unsure. If you no longer use Adobe, you no longer have rights to the fonts. Then you have to keep track of which fonts you have uploaded to Canva ... I think it's better to buy the fonts separately.

[Bobby Henderson]

Even if fonts synced from the Adobe Fonts service could be legally used in Canva the only way such a thing would be possible is if the Canva app could let you use fonts that are resident in the local computer system. Canva would have to work more like a locally installed application for such a thing to be possible. Instead Canva works as a web-based design tool. There is no practical way how synced Adobe Fonts can be uploaded to an online Canva account since the font files aren't visible in computer system folders.

A similar situation is posed by the special font packages for Windows 10 and 11. Font packs like Arial Nova or Georgia Pro get installed like apps. The font files aren't visible in Windows' Fonts folder (and seem to be hidden or blocked from access elsewhere).

Fonts that someone has purchased outright may be able to be uploaded to Canva, if the EULA for those fonts allows such a thing. Considering what has been happening with the type industry in recent years it doesn't surprise me to hear of users not being able to upload specific type families to their Canva accounts.

By the way, people can upload legally purchased fonts to their Creative Cloud accounts as well.

[Audra31151437c9ua]

It is actually possible, I have done it. I followed a video someone posted to Reddit to do it. There are a number of steps but you can locate the Adobe fonts and upload them. I need to find it because I need to do it again. Will share when I do.

[MikeGK]

Did you solve this one? We would like to use the font that has been chosen for our CI in Canva, but the upload is not possible due to an error saying "License Problem...".

[Bobby Henderson]

Fonts that are synced from the Adobe Fonts service can't be uploaded to Canva. The font files aren't visible in computer system folders to be selected for upload.

Fonts that are purchased from online font stores elsewhere? It's going to be hit or miss on whether they can be uploaded to Canva. Adobe Fonts (and Adobe in general) has nothing to do with that. The issue is between Canva and the type foundries who created those fonts.

The type industry is now pretty different from how it was several years ago. That's largely due to Monotype gobbling up so many type foundries and buying out the most popular type stores. A bunch of other type companies, large and small, have pulled their fonts from those stores. My guess is Monotype is throwing its weight around as an 800 pound gorrila, changing sales terms for those other type companies. Many have walked away in response. Monotype also has a licensing deal with Canva. A premium Canva subscription gives users access to a great deal of commercial fonts from many different type foundries. Of the ones that aren't owned by Monotype, what are those type companies getting out of it? Anything? It's easy to imagine type companies of all sizes not wanting to further benefit Monotype by allowing their fonts to be uploaded to Canva.

[Jen23425615snca]

This isn't accurate. You can absolutely upload Adobe fonts to Canva. You just have to do a bit of work.

1. Make sure you've downloaded the font rather than just activate it.

2. Find the hidden file where your fonts are located. Unhide your hidden files and go to one of these places:

Mac: /Users/<your user name>/Library/ApplicationSupport/Adobe/CoreSync/plugins/livetype/.r
Windows: C:\Users\<your user name>\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\CoreSync\plugins\livetype\r

3. The fonts are only listed by number and a filetype of "file". There are some workarounds to identify which font belongs to which number, but frankly, I am only downloading/uploading a few fonts at a time and typically everything I've downloaded on a day is going into Canva at the same time anyway. I copy and paste the fonts I want to upload into another file and rename them with the .otf extension. (So, the files in the folder are unchanged.)

4. Go to your brand kit in Canva and upload the fonts from there. Canva will recognize the font name when uploaded.

[Bobby Henderson]

That isn't much of a solution. I very strongly doubt it would be legal either -if the solution actually worked.

I don't know how it goes on computers running OSX, but on Windows-based systems the files stored in the Livetype folders are just raw data files with no suffix. Adding something like a "TTF" or "OTF" suffix to the file doesn't make it recognizable as a font file to Windows. If the Canva app is able to recognize those raw data files as fonts and make them usable in Canva then that might open another legal can of worms. They would be doing something to circumvent how the Adobe Fonts system is supposed to work.

On a more simple note: I don't understand why anyone with a Creative Cloud subscription would even mess around with Canva in the first place. Adobe makes far better creative applications.

[Jen23425615snca]

I literally just showed a screenshot of those files being successfully uploaded to a Canva brand kit, so it, in fact, does work. It wouldn't work unless you are able to download your fonts for use in other applications, but presuming people have the license and ability to use those fonts outside of Adobe products, which is already an option, they can upload them to Canva. And changing the file extension also works. Windows recognizes the file as a font file. I have attached a screenshot of what the font file looks like after you change the extension.

I agree that one shouldn't change the files in folder where Adobe installs them. I don't. My instructions state that I copy them to another file. Though, I know that others recommend changing the file extensions in the original file. I just prefer to mess around with a copy rather than the original.

I'm not sure why you are doubling down on this as I have clearly shown that it works.

As to why someone would use Canva when you have the creative suite, it is just a different tool for a different set of uses. When dealing with vector graphics, anything that is going to be printed, or complex projects, I generally stay within the Adobe universe. However, sometimes you just need to set up some social media templates for a team of users to edit/update and Canva is really good for that. You want to create a standard sized file for your logos that are going to be uploaded to a sponsor page on a non-profit website - it's so easy to do in Canva. These are things that a graphic designer is so overqualified to do and don't really require the power and flexibility that creative suite products offer. I feel your pain when it comes to getting crummy graphics from clients who should be working with a professional if they want professional work. But the learning curve and cost for Adobe products is such that it isn't always the right tool for the job. That doesn't mean that clients shouldn't adhere to their brand standards for their Google Business Profile cover image, social media posts, etc.

[Bobby Henderson]

It's one thing to use fonts that are added/installed from Adobe Fonts within applications that are installed on the computer's local hard drive. It's another thing entirely to upload font files to a separate web-based service. Taking it a bit further, you're not uploading actual font files, but rather a type of font data extracted from normally hidden system folders.

Adobe issues legal warnings about uploading font files to one's own Creative Cloud account. They warn users not to do so unless they've legally purchased the fonts and the EULA allows for such uploading. The only exception for this would be free/open source fonts. But even those free fonts can carry restrictions, especially when they're being used for commercial purposes.

With all that being said, I sure wouldn't be taking chances uploading raw Adobe Fonts data to an online Canva account.

[Jen23425615snca]

"I asked the adobe-support in a chat and they said it's allowed to use adobe fonts in canva." as noted by another contributor above.

[Kate36026711qdi6]

Downloading the font files and then uploading them to Canva is absolutely, explicitly, prohibited by your Adobe Fonts EULA.

Clause 3.4.E.: Prohibited Uses of the Licensed Content. Except as may be permitted pursuant to any open source license terms applicable to certain open source components that may be included in or distributed with the Licensed Content, you are expressly prohibited from: (1) hosting the Licensed Content on your own server or other self-hosting option or service; (in this case Canva would fall under the category of "self-hosting option or service") AND, more importantly, and getting at the gymnastics workaround you have to do to obtain the font files in the first place, (7) attempting to copy, move, or remove Licensed Fonts from a Web Project, or from the locations or folders on your Computer where we have installed such Licensed Fonts, or otherwise attempting to access or use the Licensed Fonts other than by subscribing directly to the Service using the means we provide for such purposes

 Whenever you upload a font file to a web-based server or service, be it Canva or any other individual website, it introduces a liability for the IP owner (foundry, designer, etc), as those files can be accessed by unlicensed users (aka pirated). This is why "self-hosted" web licenses are more expensive than hosted web licenses (such as the license you receive as an Adobe Fonts subscriber), they're accounting for and attempting to mediate that liability. 

It's very possible that the foundry who produced and licensed their fonts for use on Adobe Fonts would sell you an appropriate licensefor the font directly so you can use it on Canva, but if you're using your Adobe Fonts license as cover for using Canva, you're absolutely out of compliance with your license.

Also, Adobe support may-or-may-not have accurate information about the finer points of font licensing on the platform. Given that support for Adobe products has migrated from team-specific support teams (who would have up-to-date and specialized knowledge about the specific product) to a wider pool of a company-wide support team, I'm fairly certain the support person you spoke with had no idea what they were saying. 

Why do I think I know what I'm saying? Well, I license fonts and manage foundry partner relationships at a digital type distributor for a living. In fact, we license our partner fonts to Adobe Fonts. And before I worked here I worked at...Adobe Fonts. During my tenure, the team had a dedicated support team, but now, they do not.

[Kate36026711qdi6]

OOps, my link is bad above: Adobe Fonts EULA

[mirunag]

You can follow this video. Fyi I don't know if the method complies with Adobe licences.
https://youtu.be/WNN72Er8iFE?si=vT7pzDLm_ZevnqMC

[Linda26832355d7fv]

Directions are clear on this website.... Good luck!
https://amrdigital.com/blog/downloading-adobe-fonts-uploading-to-canva