Font family divided into two groups

[yvonnew74610236]

I don't know how it happened, but a font family that I regularly use appears in my Illustrator 2025 app in two separate groups, one with Extra Light, Extra Light Italic, Light Italic, Italic, Bold, and Black, and the other group with Thin, Thin Italic, Light, Book, Regular, Book Italic, Regular Italic, Medium, Medium Italic, Bold Italic, and Black Italic.

The list shows up as:
Benton Sans (6)
Benton Sans Compressed (16)
Benton Sans Condensed (16)
Benton Sans Extra Compressed (16)
BentonSans (11)

So, the first "Benton Sans" listing is with a space, and the second occurrence is without a space.

I'm trying to figure out how to combine these separate lists into one list. I thought I would try uninstalling the font and reinstalling it, but I can't find instructions on how to do this. I also can't find a way to change the name of the font so that the space matches.

As I said, this is in Adobe Illustrator 2025. I'm on a MacBook Pro.

Thanks for any help you can give!

[Anubhav M]

Hello @yvonnew74610236,

I'm sorry to hear about the trouble you're having with your fonts in Illustrator. Would you mind checking if these fonts appear the same way in any other Adobe application, like Photoshop, if you are using a third-party font manager and the foundry name where these fonts were acquired from so I can better assist you?

Also, try validating your fonts using Font Book (https://adobe.ly/4iTBOvZ) and share your observations.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Anubhav

[yvonnew74610236]

Thanks for your response, Anubhav.
In InDesign, I have a similar issue, although it's less of a problem because "BentonSans" has all 16 (and "Benton Sans" has 6, which I just try to remember not to use. (Will attach a screenshot)

I'm not using a third-party font manager (as far as I understand what that is). The font comes from my organization's brand assets. (Indiana University) I've redownloaded the whole set, in fact, but now I don't know how to get rid of the old and add the newly downloaded set.

I'll look at Font Book, although I'm not all that familiar with it and how to use it. That is, "validating" and whatnot.

[Monika Gause]

custom fonts should be installed in the "Fonts" folder in your User library. You have to hold down the Alt key while going into the Got To menu in the Finder.

[yvonnew74610236]

Thanks, Monika.
I did a search for "Fonts" in my finder. I found two folders. (I'm not sure why there are two.) Both are exactly the same and neither has a "Benton Sans" with the space. I then did a search in the finder for "Benton Sans" (with the space) and there was nothing.

[Monika Gause]

You do not have to search for it.

In the Finder, Hold down the Alt key (option), then in the menu Go To > Library

[yvonnew74610236]

Oh, got it. Thank you. I found it, added the files that were missing and now I have a complete set in Illustrator. Thank you! There is still the Benton Sans (with space) with 6 of the styles in the drop-down menu in Illustrator, so if you have a suggestion for how to get rid of that, that would be great. But for now, it's definitely an improvement!

[donald_redford]

It sounds like the issue arises from duplicate or conflicting font installations where variations of Benton Sans are treated as separate families due to differences in metadata (e.g., spacing or naming conventions). Here's how to resolve this on your MacBook Pro:

1. Uninstall Existing Fonts:

   • Open Font Book (macOS's font management app).
   • In the Font Book, locate all instances of Benton Sans (with and without spaces).
   • Right-click on each instance and choose Remove "Font Name" to uninstall them.
   • Check for duplicates under File > Validate Fonts to ensure no conflicting copies remain.

2. Clear Font Cache:

   • Open Terminal and run:
     bash

     Copy code

     sudo atsutil databases -remove atsutil server -shutdown atsutil server -ping
   • Restart your MacBook after clearing the cache.

3. Reinstall the Font:

   • Download a clean copy of Benton Sans from a trusted source or your original license.
   • Install all styles simultaneously by dragging them into the Font Book or right-clicking and selecting Open With > Font Book.
   • Ensure the font names are consistent across all styles (check metadata using tools like FontForge if needed).

4. Check in Illustrator:

   • Relaunch Adobe Illustrator and verify that Benton Sans appears as a single, unified family in the font list.

This process ensures that your fonts are correctly installed and free of naming conflicts. If the issue persists, there may be font-specific metadata problems requiring editing with a font editor.

[yvonnew74610236]

Thanks, Donald. Your message had me so hopeful —very clear step-by-step instructions. Unfortunately, I didn't get far. I opened Font Book and the only Benton Sans font in there is "BentonSansExtraComp."

Is there another place the font would be hiding? I'm not sure why all the other Benton Sans aren't showing up in Font Book. I did a search; found only the ExtraComp.

[Ton Frederiks]

You can also see the font location in the Document Info Panel when Font Details is selected in the panel menu.

[yvonnew74610236]

Oh okay! Good to know.

[Noyster2]

I had the same problem with Poppins. The basic weights: Light, Regular, Semibold, and Bold were in one folder and the name was followed by (OTF)—Open Type Fonts. Don't know how I activated both, but I must have. 

Fixed it by:

• decactivated the font
• quit Indesign
• reactivated the font
• started Indesign
• find and replaced all the OTF

Maybe you had a simial situation.