Where are my fonts?

[Lena27020170w3wy]

I have just switched from Illustrator CS5.1 to Illustrator 2024. We have a couple of fonts that we have bought and use in the company I work for. Where can I find them in my new Illustrator version?

As you can see below, the font family Futura is installed on my computer, but when I search in Illustrator I only get Futura Bk and Futura Md. NOT the same font! Where are my fonts???

[Lena27020170w3wy]

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[jane-e]

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By @Lena27020170w3wy

It was spam and has been removed.

Jane

[Monika Gause · Accepted solution]

They look like PostScript Type 1 fonts. Those do no longer work in Adobe applications. You either need to use an older version (the lowest version that is still available in the Creative Cloud app might be able to still work with those fonts) or you get OpenType versions of the fonts.

[Lena27020170w3wy]

Thank you. Googled "Futura light Open type" and came to an Adobe-page where I had to login, and then I could install Futura Light Pt. That seems to work. The funny thing is that the exact same text done in Futura Light and Futura Light Pt, are different sizes... When I printed them (24 pt size) it differed with 1 mm!  My old Futura Light was 1 mm higher than Futura Light Pt, but I guess I will have to learn what sizes to use 🙂

[Monika Gause]

Most likely you had Futura from a different font foundry. They can differ a lot and in a lot of ways.

[Lena27020170w3wy]

Very irritating. If I open a dimensional drawing I made in the older version, about 1/4 I'd made about 1/4 of the texts into contours. That means that if the older drawing had Futura Light 8 pt and the drawing is converted into Futura Light PT 8 pt, all the contoured texts are way bigger than the others. I have to re-write them.... 

[Monika Gause]

Just install the correct font and apply it.

[Lena27020170w3wy]

I don't understand what you mean. I can't use my old PS-font, as (as you said) they are not working anymore. The OpenType is a different size. See the picture below.

When I opened the drawing made in the older version of Illustrator, I was asked to convert the FuturaLight-font to FuturaLight PT. The pt-size stays the same. Everything OK so far, BUT the numbers I'd made into text contours stays the same as before (old type). So in the picture below, the 7 on the right hand is a countour'ed FuturaLight 7 pt. As you can see, it's bigger than all the other numbers (that has been converted). For comparison, I've added a 7 to the left so you can see the difference.

So "Just install the correct font and apply it", can you explain? Is there a way that I can use my old PS-fonts?

[Monika Gause]

So the new Futura is from the same font foundry as the old Futura? I can't imagine that they change the font size when they change the font format. There might be changes in tracking or kerning, but I don't think they change the sizes.

Or did you just search for any Futura in OpenType?

I have just made such a font format switch from Type1 Syntax to OpenType Syntax in a large publication. Same font foundry, and there were minor changes in things, of course, but the size did not change at all.

[Lena27020170w3wy]

Thank you. I just searched again and found an OpenType FuturaLight, that's the same as before. Now I can open old drawings and they look the same (and I don't have to replace the font). The only problem now is that I can't find FuturaLight PT anywhere in my Fonts folder, so I can't uninstall it 🙂 But I can live with that, I've only done a couple of drawings since I switched. 

[Ton Frederiks · Accepted solution]

You can have multiple versions of Illustrator installed.

I Installed an older version of Illustrator: 2023 (27.0) and that still has support for Type 1 fonts.

In the Creative Cloud app select Apps > All Apps > Illustrator > click the 3 dots …  next to the Open button >  click Other Versions and select 27.0

If the OS does not support Type 1 fonts, you can put them in a folder named Fonts in the Illustrator application folder.