Permanently set default font in illustrator

[donnp23165421]

Please enable or create an easy way to permanently set default font in illustrator

[Ton Frederiks]

It is not easy, but it can be done:

To change the default font you need to change the New Document Profile that you use to base your new documents on, like Print.ai, Art & Illustration.ai, Web.ai.

Open the profile you want to modify from:

Mac: (User)/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Adobe Illustrator version number/language folder/New Document Profiles

Win: C:\Users\....AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Adobe Illustrator version number Settings\language folder\x64\New Document Profiles

Open the Window > Type > Character Styles panel.

Double click the [Normal Character Style] and change the font in the Basic Character Formats.

Save the file.

You may have to save the file to your desktop first and replace the original after that.

I prefer to have set my Preferences to Use legacy “File New” interface to make it easier to select the presets.

[Austen5FE5]

Just an update to this - I found that just updating the Character Styles panel and then saving the new document profile .ai files didn't work for me. It simply wouldn't save the character style changes, even when I saved a copy of the file elsewhere. I discovered that I needed to place some text, the usual 'Lorem ipsum' into the document, delete the text then save the file - then the file would update. A bit strange but it worked.

[Ton Frederiks]

Good catch! You probably need to modify something in the doc profile document and save it.

Just adding and deleting a rectangle or like you did some text, delete it and save the file will do the trick.

Don't forget to delete what you added, it can pop up later.

[Jack236506551v1l]

I am able to follow this process, but when I open a new document of the type that I changed, the font has not changed.  Even when I do this in my current document, the font for new text items is always Myriad.  Could you please tell me what I am doing wrong.

[Jack236506551v1l]

Never mind.  I didn't see the later comment.  Thanks.

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

IMO, you are better off creating your own template with the settings you want to use everytime. 

[Ton Frederiks · Accepted solution]

And you may want to vote here:

https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657-illustrator-desktop-feature-requests/suggestions/459...

[Inanealex2013]

Thanks Ton. I've tried this and while the style [normal character style] keeps the font change, and the font menu keeps the font change, as soon as I add a new text item the font immediately switches back to Myriad.

[Ton Frederiks]

I am not but there is a font switching bug at the moment that could cause this.

Try turning og Missing Glyph protection in Preferences > Type and have a look at:

https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/601447-illustrator-desktop-bugs/suggestions/49111304-font-c...

[donnp23165421]

yep...that'll do it Ton. Let's see how well the new formating (default font) sticks through the updates.

thanks for lening a hand...

[Ton Frederiks]

Good to hear that helped. I would suggest to make a copy of the preset file just in case it gets overwritten by an update.

[MDBranded]

agreed.  it should be in preferences.  they make this so hard you need a youtube video to figure it out. 😞

[Monika Gause]

You do not *need* a YouTube video. For the last 20 years or so people have been able to do that with written explanations.

[Jeffery.Wright]

This is typical of the infuriating and baffling Adobe Illustrator experience, this program is terrible, the interface and workflow are so poorly designed the developers obviously don't use this program and are clearly not graphic designers. Every feature seems like a lazy, disorganized patch of sloppy band-aids.