Fonts changing in files when opened in Illustrator 29.5.1

[Lavish_coder1549]

I've experienced this twice now, both times in the last month. I design beer labels and I'll often open an older label and use it as the template for a new one. When I open the older file (an .AI file), it will load, and most of the live text will have switched to a different font arbitrarily. Some fonts switch to OTHER typefaces that exist in the same document, others switch to different weights of the same font, and still others switch to defaults like times and myriad.  Some of the switched fonts are stored locally, and others are served via Adobe Fonts. The file does this consistently even after I've restarted illustrator and restarted my computer. 

I've attached a screenshot of one of the files with its original fonts (from an outlined version for print), as well as a shot with the changed fonts.

Has anyone else experienced this?

System:

2022 Mac Studio M1 Max

MacOS Sonoma 14.6.1

Illustrator v 29.5.1

[Abhishek Rao]

Hi everyone, 

Thanks so much for sharing your concerns so openly. I completely understand how disruptive this issue has been, especially when it impacts important projects and deadlines.

I've checked with the product team, and they've confirmed that there was a bug logged for this issue and this is tentatively planned to be fixed in the upcoming July release. I'll make sure to keep you posted if there are any changes in the plan.

I really appreciate your patience and understanding. 

Abhishek 

[B-Planit]

I spent an entire day with this exact issue. Very frustrating indeed. I have never encountered such a pain in the a..... bug in my life and I have been using illustrator for a very long time.

[neil_3101]

Yes, i got the same problem as well. had to rework the whole thing. Fonts changing at will. even the horizontal scaling is being put to make fonts look more ugly. its like some evil bug

[leem40537325]

the new beta version did not fix the text issue

[Labrosse]

I'm having the same issue forcing me to re-update multiple files multiple times causing delays for client files. For the amount of money must pay for these "updates" you think Adobe would put a little bit more effort in creating a bug free update. 

[k9tag]

I keep getting emails about other Adobe illustrator users who have fallen into the trap of this terrible bug.  I can only repeat:

Illustrator 29.6.whatever is unusable worldwide until this problem is fixed.   

Illustrator 29.5.whatever is unusable worldwide until this problem is fixed.

All users worldwide should downgrade to 29.4, a level that does not have this bug.

This should be a little concerning to the development team. 

An immediate worldwide stop should be issued, and 29.5.whatever and 29.6.whatever should be removed by Adobe as options for download, because guess what, you are just going to get more and more users who are impacted by this bug, costing them no telling how much money and no telling how many problems with their clients.

Don't even think about upgrading to 29.5.whatever or 29.6.whatever.  You will regret it.  I have currently dropped back to 29.4 and stopped auto update on ALL of my Adobe products until this is resolved. I advise everyone to do the same.

Adobe, this will take a long time to get over, because once we have a working level that we can revert to, we don't have the time to debug your software - we have to get actual work done that puts dollars into our pockets.  Please let us know here when this terrible bug is fixed.

Great job since the 1990s providing me with a piece of software that has worked very well for a long time without major bugs.  This though, IS a MAJOR BUG, and as i mentioned before, you you need all hands on deck to fix this.

[Martin_Wilson747]

Yes and unfortunately it seems that all your logical suggestions are falling on deaf ears. I still feel this issue has gone no further than a call center somewhere on the subcontinent😂. As far as improvements the only major change has been the introduction of subscription that they introduced when they ran out of ideas and all that has improved is there bottom line. We are still paying for even when the product is not safe to use.

[B-Planit]

Can we get an update on when this will be fixed? I just spent another 8 hours fixing this issue. The problem is that if you fix it and save the file, when you open the file again, it substitutes different fonts in different places. I almost missed two important deadlines because of this issue.

[anemonfort]

Yup, I had exactly this problem today. I tried restoring an earlier version of the file from my dropbox and it was also corrupted. Feeling betrayed, and terribly afraid to open any file now. Does reverting back to an earlier version of Illustrator help in the meantime?

I actually had a similar thing happen in InDesign several months ago and haven't updated the version since then.

[anemonfort]

I haven't had this problem since the first time... but a new one popped up last night in the same file when it came time to save. It would stall out with a message that was approximately "save is happening in the background" which would take forever, and I would click "stop", and then it would do nothing for a bit and then apparently finish the save (but it would do the asterisk thing next to the file name that indicates there were unsaved changes). Then it would shortly later a message would pop up with a "not enough memory to preview" and kick it into outline mode. The file isn't that big. I eventually reverted back to the version of illustrator that was working before the update 2 weeks ago (29.6). Haven't had another problem yet, but did have to spend time resetting all of my interface preferences. 

[anemonfort]

New problem... illustrator 29.6 - was typing to add a word and a few characters in it randomly swapped which words were bolded. All I was doing was typing, no key commands or anything to change the style. See video of it happening.

[leem40537325]

This just happened to us, so what do we do just not create anything until the bug might get fixed this month. I use this program for my business. 

[Anubhav M]

Hello everyone,

Our product team has tried fixing this issue in the latest Illustrator Beta 29.7.0.88 release. Would you mind installing/updating to the latest Illustrator to check if it helps resolve the problem?

Looking forward to your feedback.
Anubhav

[Alexander Rott]

We have been running into this issue at our company. I just tried opening a known file that we've been running into the font issue and opening with the Beta resolved the issue. It even "fixed" a file that i had saved in where the fonts had randomly shuffled around. 

We use Extensis Connect for our font managment system and use a variety of Mac computers. The issue has occured on Apple Silicon and Intel macs.

[64flair]

Tried it, too much of a hassle, it didn't work with some plug-ins. Retro'd back to 29.4.

[typesetter72901]

As of 7-28-25 the problem persists. Downgrading to 29.5 did not help, reinstalling the latest version did not help. I'm an hour into my morning trying to open a file and make a few quick edits for a customer. Time = money. So frustrating. The file was last opened 10 days ago with no issues. Now the fonts are all jumbled and mixed around randomly. There is one text box retaining the original correct fonts. I would basically have to rebuild the entire job to fix this. Downgrading to 29.4 worked, thank god. 

[Rita36252909f8l3]

Same here. Illustrator changed all my fonts in a client file, and now I have to change everything to the right fonts. PLEASE FIX THIS 😞

[RGBlackwell72]

This problem persists in the newest update, Illustrator 29.7.1, and now I have to downgrade — again — to the last stable version 29.4. 

A colleague has reported this issue now appearing in Photoshop so I suspect there's something wrong with the Adobe Type Engine. 

[Randy_111]

Will be truely scary if it starts to appear in other programs. How can Adobe be such a mess.

[anemonfort]

I actually had a similar issue with InDesign in 2024. I didn't have time to sort it out in that moment so I went back to v19.5 and haven't updated since. They are on v20.5... like 14 versions since it happened, and I'm still scared to update 😖

[Leyva]

Hello @Anubhav M 

I appreciate the update regarding the beta release, but I must emphasize that the problem persists, and it is significantly more disruptive than before.

This bug is not a minor inconvenience. It is actively causing production delays, missed deadlines, client dissatisfaction, and financial losses. When I open older files as templates, Illustrator still randomly switches fonts — sometimes to other typefaces in the document, and sometimes to incorrect weights. This happens with both locally stored fonts and Adobe Fonts.

Restarting or updating Illustrator has no effect. The corrupted file remains corrupted, and I’m forced to manually reassign and reformat text — an unnecessary and time-consuming process that directly impacts deliverables and our reputation with clients.

At this stage, the issue requires: 

An immediate and permanent fix in the production version of Illustrator, not just in beta.
Clear communication from Adobe about the scope of the problem, what triggers it, and an estimated resolution timeline.
Consideration of compensation or account credits for all professionals who have lost significant billable hours due to this bug.
Personalized technical support for affected users to recover or safeguard their existing files.

Creative professionals depend on Adobe software for reliability. When a bug of this magnitude goes unresolved for months, it not only affects projects — it affects livelihoods.

We need transparency, urgency, and real solutions. Please escalate this matter beyond the beta testing phase and treat it as the critical production bug that it is.

Thanks.

[thebronxdaddy]

Very well said.

[John24472726qybf]

I just checked for updates after this issue happened to me today. There was an Illustrator update, so I installed it, and then trashed the Illustrator preference file from my Library>Preferences folder and restarted my Mac. I opened up my file, and all fonts within the file were still the wrong fonts (that Illustrator had arbitrarily selected at random). I had to go back in and change all of the fonts back to the correct fonts. I use Extensis Connect as a font manager. All of the fonts in my document changed to another font, but since some of the fonts I am using in the file are local fonts that I own, and some are Adobe fonts, it doesn't seem to be an Adobe Fonts issue. I'm wondering if it's a bug in how Extensis Connect works with Illustrator, and if other people having this same issue are also using a third-party font manager software. 

[Martin_Wilson747]

I am not sure that a paying customer should be investing our time and money testing software for an international company for free? The affected agencies as far as I know have not been offered any discount on the flawed software that has already cost us time and money. This is still an issue that you do not understand or you would not ask us to do this! Very unprofessional. If our 5 person team operated like this our clients would leave. Just fix it and test it and release the update as you are payed to do. Also update us on the credit for the buggy software.

[blairr20152766]

This just happened to me (strangely, while designing a wine label)! I am certain that it's not a mistake that I made, because I pasted the labels as smart objects into Photoshop directly from Illustrator, and those are all fine and perfect. 

I can't figure it out but fixing it manually is going to take hours. My Illustrator is up to date as is my OS. 

2021 MacBook Pro

MacOS Sequoia 15.5

Illustrator v 29.6.1