Adobe not supporting true type fonts (.ttf) starting 2023 - how to manage template change to .otf

Report · Nov 16, 2021

I lead a large team of adobe users within one company all using branded templates in InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, Premier and After Effects. Our brand and subsequently all of our templates use the font family Open Sans. Open Sans is a type 1 font with the file extension .ttf . When we use our Adobe templates we have an error message that tells us Open Sans will no longer be supported starting 2023 because it is a Type 1 font. My questions are all around how I'm going to transition all of our branded templates through this change:
- Will Open Sans be available as a .OTF font?
- If yes, when?
- If not, how do I know what fonts within the Adobe fonts library are .otf so that I can update our templates?

Many thanks to anyone able to help

Report · Nov 16, 2021

Hey

Adobe are discontinuing support for True Type - as a lot of other platforms have done so, and it makes no sense to allow a TTF to be used when it needs to be ported to a system, like ePub for example, where it is not supported by ePub readers, let alone HTML and other online platforms, such as Apps, mobiles etc.

Open Sans is a font from Google and is available from Adobe Fonts

https://fonts.adobe.com/fonts/open-sans

I think it's a message about the fonts that will no longer be available from that date to be used in the document.

There's plenty of time to start making the change.

I would think that you can still open the files and you can replace the font with the Open Type version.

Report · Nov 17, 2021

Just to be clear: you refer to TrueType (.ttf) in your subject, and type 1 fonts in your message. These are completely different things.

Type 1 support is going away (except in PDF) but I have not read that TrueType support is ending at all.

Report · Nov 17, 2021

Hi Belinda,

TrueType fonts are still supported beyond 2023!

The message clearly says that "Type-1 fonts will no longer be supported starting 2023" :

Eugene is wrong.

There is a big misunderstanding:

Your Open Sans font styles are not Type 1 PostScript fonts.

The "Type 1" info that is bundled with the word "TrueType" you may see only means that glyph shapes in that font is using some aspects of the old Type 1 PostScript fonts, and that are bezier curves technology to describe the glyphs.

You may find more details here:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/typography/opentype/

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/typography/opentype/otspec181/otff

Now, why does this message may pop up if you are sure that there are no old PostScript Type-1 fonts used in the document? You may have used some of those in the past. And that information is still present and listed inside the document's code. To proof this do the following:

[1] Export the document to IDML.
[2] Open the IDML package, it's nothing but a zip container file, and inspect the Fonts.xml file in the package.
[3] Look after:

FontType="Type1"

in the XML code and you have found your PostScript Type 1 font styles that are still listed in the document.

Could be that there are entries of font styles listed that once were used in the document, but are not used anymore.

Regards,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

//EDIT: Added a link

Report · Nov 17, 2021

Eugene is wrong.

By @Laubender

Eh - thanks.

Report · Nov 17, 2021

Hi Belinda,

how many Type 1 fonts does the Find Fonts panel list at the top of the panel?

Type > Find Font…

Below a screenshot from my German InDesign 2022 where three Open Sans Condensed fonts from Adobe Fonts are activated. The number of used Type 1-Fonts that are listed is 0. That means that all the text in the document is not formatted with Type 1-Fonts.

It does not mean, that the document "needs" no Type 1-font styles, because there could be paragraph styles and character styles that are not in use, that require some of the old Type 1-PostScript-Fonts.

Regards,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

Report · Nov 17, 2021

Please see https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/font-support/m-p/12051424#M430049 to see Dov Isaacs statement, on behalf of Adobe, from this past May that "support for TrueType fonts will continue for the indefinite future." The thread also explains that the Open Type format is actually an extension of "the original TrueType format in terms of file format."

Report · Aug 05, 2023

The thing to rememebr aboput Adobe is that they're a soulless multi-national corporation. They dont make design software. They make money for their shareholders.

If that means churning out unstable software full of incomplete features thay nobody asked for, and robbing you of years of software that you paid money for, so be it.

Report · Aug 05, 2023

I strongly differ with your statement.

Yes, Adobe Systems is a multi-national public corporation, and its ultimate mission is to make money for its shareholders. And while you're technically correct that Adobe doesn't make design software — it makes graphic production software, which is used to translate a user's design ideas into usable publishing products — that is much of its purpose, and many of its published products. So if you're a lousy designer, all it enables you to do is create more lousy design faster.

Adobe also makes software to support educators and general-use software to create, distribute and secure all kinds of document information. But the reason it's been able to do that for the last 40 years — and the reason I've been able to make a living producing print and digital publications with it for the last 40 years — is because Adobe Systems is pretty darned good at it.

There are alternatives, and since I train others to do the same kind of work I do, I possess and train many of those other products. But I keep producing my work with Adobe software. Because it does work. I'm not an official Adobe representative. I don't even play one on TV. But I'm a longtime end user of Adobe software because it works for the wide range of jobs that I do.

No software is perfect. Not Adobe's, and not Adobe's rivals either. We're here to help people. If you need to beef, I suggest you go here.

Good luck to you.

Randy

Report · Aug 05, 2023

Like others have said, Adobe design software is in the process of eliminating support of Postscript Type 1 fonts. TrueType fonts can still be used in Adobe applications, but there are real advantages to using OpenType fonts, the latest standards for font use in computer graphics applications.

And as Uwe Laubender offers, there are quick ways to check if Postscript type 1 fonts are referenced in your document(s). The "reference" part is important. You may not have set any text with Postscript Type 1 fonts in your actual document, but they may be referenced in paragraph and/or character styles you did not use in the document. I've even found cases where someone has changed the font used within InDesign's Story Editor utility (Edit>Edit in Story Editor menu command) to make using the utility on themselves. Those font references also need to be changed within your document(s) and the InDesign application itself to eliminate those alerts.

Adobe Systems offers access to a wide range of OpenType fonts through its Adobe Fonts online service, and is one of many type houses that offers OpenType fonts for sale to end users.

TL:DR — TrueType fonts are as good to use as the quality of the individual font itself. Many are fine, but if you buy one of those boxes with "5000 TrueType fonts for only $20" at your local office supply store, you may be disappointed with the outcome. There are reasons why those fonts are offered so cheap, and quality control generally isn't one of them. OpenType fonts have many advantages — most prominently, the ability to use the same font files on both Windows and Mac platforms — and are the preferred format for graphics and documentation professionals today.

Hope this helps,

Randy