FrameMaker 2022 suddenly reporting Unavailable Font for an active font

[D.Mitchell]

Background

• Last week I started production on a large translation project (4, 100+ page source files into 9 target languages). Worked on Latin-based and CJK-based documents without issue.
• I use Extensis Connect (EC) to manage my fonts.
• The workstation is Windows 11.
• All software is up-to-date.

Issue

• As of yesterday FrameMaker is suddenly reporting: The "HelveticaNeueLT Pro 75 Bd Bold" (HNLTP) Font is not available.
• To the extent of my knowledge nothing changed between Friday and Monday on my workstation.

Steps Taken

• Verified that HNLTP activated through EC displays correctly in EC, and that the font is available and working in other apps (INDD / AI / PS 2025 all show the font correctly).
• Deactivated all fonts in EC (Vault / System / User / Google) and activated just HNLTP form my Vault. (No change)
• Deactivated all fonts in Creative Cloud Desktop (CCD), and removed an locally installed fonts, while having only HNLTP active from the EC vault. (No change)
• Deactivated HNLTP in EC and used CCD to activate and install locally HNLTP from Adobe Fonts / TypeKit. (No change)
• Installed the font directly into the Windows 11 "Fonts" folder after deactivating in in EC and removing any Adobe Fonts. (No change)
• Removed any fonts installed in: %%APPDATA%%\Local\Microsoft\Fonts\ 

In ALL of the above steps HNLTP showed up in the app, but that one weight of font simply will not "activate" in the FM2022 app. I'm at my wits end as to what about FrameMaker 2022 is blocking just that one weight of HNLTP so I'm reaching out here to see if anyone else may have a solution.

Thank you in advance for any assistance you can provide!

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Something in your environment must have changed, but what it could be, I have no idea. This sounds like a call in to the FM folks - see https://helpx.adobe.com/contact/enterprise-support.other.html#framemaker for your Adobe Support options. I'd recommend using the tcssup@adobe.com e-mail address as it reaches a team dedicated to Technical Communication Suite products including FrameMaker.

[Winfried Reng]

Hi,

Just to be sure: Did you use this specific font variant before without issues? Do you have to select this font? Or do you get it just with changing the weight to Bold in the paragraph designer?

What's the exact FrameMaker version? 17.0.?

Best regards, Winfried

[D.Mitchell]

Hi Winfried,

It's FM 2022 (v17.0.7) and the entire set of fonts used were working fine as of last Friday. We've used Helvetica Neue LT Pro many times in the past for this client without any issues. 

The font applied in the file is using the Bold font directly. No synthetic styling like "bold" has been applied. 

[mk-will]

Hi, @D.Mitchell ,

you did not specify when the message appear.

Does it appear when you try to print to a real printer?

Or does it appear when you try to make a PDF using the Adobe PDF printer?

If the latter the problem can occur if Acrobat has installed an update.

Sometimes (I feel it is often now) the update resets the settings of the Adobe PDF printer.

So have a look at the following.

Go to "Printer and Devices", right-click on the "Adobe PDF" printer, select "Printer settings", tab "Layout" and click on the button "Extended" (or similiar, down in the right corner, I am on a german Win10).

TrueType fonts should be loaded as "Softfonts" to the printer and the TT-Download should be done in the "TrueType" format.

Then click "OK" and go to tab "Adobe PDF settings" and proof if the "Use only systemfonts, no documetnfonts" is NOT activated.

HTH

Stephan

[D.Mitchell · Accepted solution]

Answered!

This issue has been resolved on our end by having the client resend us their version of Helvetica Neue LT Pro Bold/Bold Italic.

RCA: Fonts from adobe are named incorrectly.

As named by Adobe:

You’ll note that the filename in the title bar of the font file doesn’t match the “Font name:” internal to the file itself. This is true for Bold/Bold Condensed as they both internally read Roman/Condensed.

As named by Adobe from their online (TypeKit) font library (as of 2025-09-23):

The font file from the client:

You’ll note that the “Font name:” correctly references the weight of the font. We have no personal knowledge of how/why this naming is different than the internal font name as named by Adobe.

The issue with FrameMaker is that the fonts, as named by Adobe, are not correctly loaded into the application. That’s why no matter how the Adobe fonts were activated (Fonts Folder, Local Fonts Folder, Extensis Font Connect, Adobe’s online TypeKit [fonts.adobe.com] or Installed locally from TypeKit) FrameMaker couldn’t ‘see’ the Bold/Bold Italic versions since it appears to ignore the filename and enumerate its font list via the internal “Font name” parameter. InDesign apparently doesn't do this as the font names by filename are what appeared in the Font menu, however Word also doesn't display Bold / Bold Italic as options.

Corrective Action:

None. This is a very old font familly. The fact that the most recent version from Adobe still displays this naming error means that they're aware of this issue and refuse to fix it. Hopefully this post will help someone else if they stumble across the same issue with Adobe software. 

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Did you report it to the FM folks? Just posting here won't get it on their radar really at all.