Participant

Question

There seems to be a ton of issues regarding fonts...

Forum|Forum|3 years ago
September 13, 2022
3 replies
3956 views

Hello,

I am new to Adobe, but I am catching on pretty quickly. A problem I am running into--and it seems like many others have run into as well--is that my activated fonts from the Adobe Font store are not translating completely in each app. I am mostly concerned with Illustrator right now. I have read numerous other posts regarding issues with fonts, and I have tried many suggestions on ways to fix this, but nothing is working.

I have tried this with different fonts, but let's take Storefront for example. I activated this font online, which in return showed activated in the Creative Cloud app. The font shows up in Illustrator, but I had to activate it there as well. Once it finally showed ready to use, the text I applied it to automatically reverted to the previous standard font when I clicked the new one. Thus, I am unable to apply the Storefront font.

This is happening for every single font I try to add. The standard ones work just fine, but it seems I am unable to add anything from the Adobe Font store. I don't see where I can download them to my computer so that I may try it that way, but then again, if it is supposed to work through the Cloud, I want the app to do what it is meant to do. I've tried toggling the Adobe Font Auto Activate button, rebooting, checking the "Show Font Names in English" box, checking for app updates, updating my computer, and more. I've seen posts in the inDesign forum that say reverting to an older version has helped with that application, so I'm wondering if that concept would work with Illustrator as well, but I'm not sure which version to revert to. Has this been resolved by Adobe? Am I missing something?

Any and all help is very appreciated.

Thank you!

R

Red Point

Inspiring

I recently encountered the same problem, which seems to recur every few months. Whenever it happens, my routine involves visiting the forum in search of a solution, reading Adobe's troubleshooting tips, deactivating Creative Cloud, restarting Windows, activating CC again, toggling global fonts off and on, reactivating individual fonts, and restarting the system. All of this, of course, while being pressed for time due to looming deadlines.

Dealing with Adobe Fonts can be a real nightmare. They generally work smoothly around 95% of the time, but when you're confronted with multiple deadlines, out of nowhere, your projects suddenly lack the necessary fonts upon opening. The frustration is truly maddening. Under the weight of these urgent deadlines, you find yourself scouring forums and going through countless troubleshooting steps, desperately hoping for a resolution.

In my experience, the safest and most reliable solution is to completely avoid Adobe fonts and opt for locally installed Google fonts instead (or fonts that you purchase and install). They consistently work without fail, proving to be stable and dependable—a reminiscent quality of Adobe before they became fixated and obsessed with moving everything to the cloud, with invasive data tracking, and ambiguous telemetry policies.

Honestly speaking, I still don't trust Adobe's cloud-based fonts for mission-critical operations requiring 100% reliability. It is no exaggeration when I say that it has caused me trouble on at least five if not more occasions in the past (and it typically happens when I'm facing tight deadlines). It's immensely frustrating when it occurs.

I still hold hope that Adobe will one day awaken to the fact that users are dissatisfied and desperately in need of stability and reliability improvements within this unreliable font ecosystem. The fact that there are many forum entries and troubleshooting guides, just speaks volumes. There is still a lot of dissatifaction and it should be addressed.

Just imagine your steering wheel just disappears while driving down the highway at 55mph! Not everything thrives in the cloud, and online font synchronization is undoubtedly one of those cases.

B

Bobby Henderson

Community Expert

I think the Adobe Fonts service is one of the most valuable perks that come with a Creative Cloud membership. I work in the sign industry and the nature of my work makes it necessary to buy quite a bit of commercial type. But I'm able to save a lot of money on font purchases by being able to sync some type families via Adobe Fonts instead.

Sure, the Adobe Fonts service is not perfect. It requires an always-on Internet connection, especially when using such fonts in applications not made by Adobe. If the connection is flaky at all it can interrupt availability of some or all synced fonts.

When the fonts service was first introduced there was a limit on how many fonts could be synced at one time, just 100. The limit was later removed. But I imagine there are limits on how many fonts can be synced while maintaining stability. So I try to only sync the fonts I need and deactivate others I'm not using.

Sometimes I'll see some synced fonts disappear from the font menu, either individual styles or the entire family. Usually I get them back by deactivating and reactiving the type family at the Adobe Fonts site. Font Management applications can cause problems. I use a variety of graphics applications, not just those made by Adobe. The font manager integrated into CorelDRAW has serious pros and cons. If I have CorelDRAW and Illustrator running simultaneously some of the fonts installed in the OS will vanish from Illustrator's font menu. For some odd reason CorelDRAW has issues dealing with certain fonts downloaded and installed from the Google Fonts web site.

Adobe partners with dozens of different type foundries to populate the typefaces available in the fonts service. Those partnerships aren't necessarily permanent. Font Bureau participated with Adobe Fonts for only a short time. I like to think of Adobe Fonts as a sort of "Netflix" of type. New typefaces are added from time to time, but others can be removed. There are even fonts that were made by Adobe that aren't available to sync in the service. Penumbra is one example. In the 1990's they had a pretty cool Type 1 Multiple Master version of that typeface; it's too bad there isn't a modern Variable version of it now.

If there is a synced typeface I'm using a great deal that's just a must-have for my work then I'll consider buying a copy outright. I'm always keeping an eye out for sales on specific type families. There have been a few occasions where I've seen type families I've already purchased show up later in the Adobe Fonts service. That's a little annoying.

R

Red Point

Inspiring

Regarding popular typefaces like Gotham, Adobe can offer only so many typefaces to sync in the Adobe fonts service. It is just not possible at all for them to offer every popular typeface in use.

In the specific case of Gotham, that typeface is owned by the Hoefler & Co type foundry (which was recently acquired by Monotype). Adobe doesn't have a deal to sync any of the typefaces from the Hoefler foundry. Tobias Frere-Jones and Jonathan Hoefler used to work together. Tobias Frere-Jones designed the Gotham typeface. But when Hoefler and Frere-Jones had their very acromonius split Hoefler was able to keep a number of Frere-Jones' designs. Tobias Frere-Jones has his own type company now and does currently offer a number of his designs through Adobe Fonts.

Graphics applications made by other companies offer hardly any bundled fonts at all. Or, such as the case with CorelDRAW, they're offering the same old fonts bundle since the 1990's. Adobe stopped including font packages with their applications for quite some time. In the 1990's Illustrator included a couple hundred Postscript fonts. PageMaker had a different collection of 200 fonts. Going into the 2000's the font packages pretty much disappeared. I spent a hefty amount of money on a CS5.5 Master Collection package that didn't have much of anything in terms of fonts. With all that in mind, the Adobe Fonts service is pretty valuable by comparison.

Regarding the performance of synced fonts, like Monica and Ton said, there is probably more people in the Adobe Fonts forum who can address those issues. Adobe's Beta applications, such as Photoshop and Illustrator, are not expected to be perfectly stable. Any issues with Beta applications needs to be discussed in their respective Pre-Release forums or via the feedback options in those applications.

I got into the habit long ago of converting live type objects to outlines in my artwork whenever it was practical to do so. I wouldn't do that to columns of area text. But lettering in a logo or some other graphical piece does not need to remain as live text once the design is final.

I convert many type items to outlines once the design is finished because it's very aggravating to open an art file from 10 or more years ago and see live type objects doing crazy, unpredictable things. Even if you have the same exact font files used in the original design the new version of graphics application that's opening the old art files may "reflow" the text differently. This is especially hazardous when various effects are applied to live text. In some cases I have to convert the live type to outlines anyway during the design processs. When working in large canvas mode in Illustrator letter sizes can get only so big. So if I'm designing a building sign with 36" tall channel letters and working at full size I have to convert the lettering to outlines to get it that big.

I knew the "convert typeface to paths / outline" would come up (again). Unfortunately, with ongoing revisision this is not applicable. As long as you are expecting client revisions, you need to be able to change text. When I am ready to archive a project, I'm also not in the mission critical zone any longer, so I am not really concerned or in need of fonts working or not. If you want to make sure your text displays correctly in the year 2080 or for print, yes I agree, converting to paths is important. But not when you still need to change a document, which I need to do when I still have a deadline or revisions. The reason why fonts exist in the first place, is so you can make changes. I really don't understand why this argument keeps coming up when an issue with fonts is reported?!?

Anyway, I agree with Monica, probably better to continue this discussion with the font people on this forum. In the meantime I will creaet a checklist "What to do when Adobe Fonts don't work again" and hang it up next to my display.

I will also take Ton's advise and post a feature request.

Thanks, Cheers.

Ton Frederiks

Community Expert

It may be useful to ask the fonts forum:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/adobe-fonts/ct-p/ct-fonts?

Kevin Stohlmeyer

Community Expert

Adobe Fonts do not download to your computer they are synced through your Creative Cloud account.

Are you using the same ID to access fonts.adobe.com and Illustrator?

Also make sure your Creative Cloud desktop app is up to date (in the CC desktop app click the Cloud icon to see if there is anything pending). If there is a pending update to Creative Cloud (not Illustrator or other apps) that can cause sync to misalign.

E

em-Author

Participant

Hi Kevin,

Thank you for your response.

Using same ID, yes--I only have one. And no pending updates for CC. Says everything is up to date.

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