Type X fonts: what are they?

[AnnShelbourne]

I notice that I have a bunch of Fonts on my computer which are labelled as being of a type "X".

Are these Type 1 PS fonts, TT, TTF or something else?

And will they still be compatible with Adobe apps in 2023 or should I trash them?

[J E L]

@AnnShelbourne I have never seen this font type before. Where are you seeing them labeled as such? Are you running Windows? If so, show us a screenshot of those fonts like the one below of my fonts, including the file name extension. In any case, I'd recommend replacing them with either Open or True Type fonts as soon as possible.

[AnnShelbourne]

I am guessing that the X Fonts are actually a flavour of TT because I have checked the fonts in Ps 2022 and the X fonts are listed as being available. I don't remember where they came from: perhaps with MS Ofice?

Here is the screenshot of them in FontAgent:

[J E L]

Yes, that's possible they are remnants of a Microsoft program. If you can't see the file name extensions to be sure (.ttf or .otf) then I would remove and/or replace them with their equivalents. I removed (or hid) all my Type 1 fonts, just to be sure I don't ever use them by mistake.

[AnnShelbourne]

I dug a bit deeper and find that these fonts are in the System > Library > Fonts > Suplemental.

So it seems that they are part of the Mac Os (Big Sur) installation and should not be removed?

[J E L · Accepted solution]

Yes, if they aren't Type 1 fonts then I don't think they pose any problems. I still don't know what an "x" font type is, though. Seems it's just a system designation of some sort, but these are actually TTFs. You can always hide the fonts you don't want to use, so they don't show up in your font list within your applications. But they are still there on your system if you ever have an old document that calls for them, so you can investigate further.

[J E L · Accepted solution]

(Just to add that I find this reference information helpful, too, when I go looking for fonts.)

Fonts types that can be embedded within documents: All TrueType and OpenType fonts have “embedding permissions” encoded within them, these are typically set by the font’s supplier, and are defined as part of the OpenType font file specification. There are a number of settings, but the main ones of interest are as follows:

• No embedding—The font supplier does not allow embedding. These fonts are quite rare.
• Print and preview—The font supplier allows for embedding but the document is locked and cannot be edited. Most third-party fonts have this setting.
• Editable—The font supplier allows the font to be embedded within a document and allows the document to be edited using that embedded font.
• Installable—This is the most permissive setting. The font supplier allows the font to be embedded within a document, and permits the document viewing application to permanently install the font on the user’s computer. Most applications treat these fonts like those set to Editable embedding.

[AnnShelbourne]

Jain:

Thank you so much for your help.

I only noticed the strange X designation because I have been doing a clean-out of old Type 1 fonts.

You mention being able to hide fonts but you can't hide Sytem fonts on a Mac and I would really love to be able to permanently hide the foriegn language fonts and pervasive space-wasting nuisances like Nofret and Stix!

[AnnShelbourne]

I meant "Noto" not "Nofret" in my previous message.

🙂

[J E L]

You're welcome! I didn't know you couldn't hide the system fonts on a Mac. I'm really glad I can do that with Windows. My font lists got so long at one point it was driving me crazy until I found out I could hide the ones I haven't used in a long time. The Type 1 font search made me notice some fonts have Print and Preview restrictions I didn't realize.

Another one of our ACPs, Bevi Chagnon, gave me this valuable information about checking for Unicode character encoding:

“I always examine the font information for every font I use to ensure it's OpenType/Unicode. Font Properties works well for that on either Mac or Windows. Check that one line below for the words OpenType or Unicode. Everything else doesn't matter because all documents are based on the Unicode character encoding and codepoints for each glyph.”