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M
Mike Diehl
Known Participant
May 8, 2024
Answered

Cannot activate Adobe fonts (ID 2019)

  • May 8, 2024
  • 1 reply
  • 2800 views

I posted this yesterday in the Adobe fonts forum, but got no replies. Thought I'd try here.

 

Adobe fonts clearly is a feature of ID v. 14.0 (2019), and they work on my machine with Illustrator (2020) but I cannot activate fonts in InDesign -- and, of course, there is no way to upgrade just one iteration, to ID 2020 (if that would even solve the problem). I do see in the CC app an alert, "Something went wrong when initiating Creative Cloud Libraries," and I tried several things suggested on the pages linked to, all to no avail. 

 

Last but not least, I spent 45 minutes chatting with someone before he told me he couldn't assist further because Adobe supports only two versions back. So here I am, soliciting suggestions. 

 

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer rob day

That's very kind of you, Rob, to note that detail/exception. I've not had another project come in that needs/uses Adobe fonts, so I've not had the opportunity to further figure out how it all works. The project that used Aktiv went away, so I can't even go back to it "for fun." Hopefully next time it'll make more sense, but in the meantime, I did download a couple fonts (using the cloud icon in CC) and that made a difference. Again, it went away 'cause it was a rush and I wasn't rising to the occasion. If downloading is all it takes, then cool.... 


The Adobe Type fonts are not downloaded and installed, you activate them from the Adobe Type site (the Browse More Fonts button shortcut in the CC app).

 

There is a local copy, but it is hidden in the system, so you can't share Adobe Type fonts, they can only be activated by you or another subscriber.

1 reply

Derek Cross
Community Expert
Derek CrossCommunity Expert
Community Expert
May 8, 2024

The latest version of InDesign is 19.4, is there a reason for using an old version?

M
Mike DiehlAuthor
Known Participant
May 8, 2024

v. 19 won't run on my OS. The most recent version that will is 15 (2020) but alas, that's not available. I'm disinclined to update my OS because I have some legacy software I couldn't use were I to upgrade. Plus, the system has been very stable and I like stability -- I prefer to do my work, and not be distracted by computer stuff. 

Bill Silbert
Community Expert
Bill SilbertCommunity Expert
Community Expert
May 8, 2024

I'm old enough to have been here, multiple times. When a critical mass of software won't work, I'll upgrade, and suffer through the cost of software upgrades and the commensurate learning curves -- and disappointments and frustrations. In the meantime, though,, it seems to me Adobe fonts SHOULD work with my version of InDesign, as the font panels indicate the functionality is active, and the app recognizes the fonts. That said, the troubleshooting efforts I tried included checking a hidden file in the (hidden) /etc folder, and digging into my Networks settings to see if the sites weren't blocked -- way in-the-weeds stuff -- and none of that worked. "Impossible to trouble shoot"? Maybe, probably, but nothing about this makes me think particularly highly of Adobe. (Would you agree that that, too, is "fair enough"?)


I have found that simply signing out of your Creative Cloud account in the desktop app and then signing in again will fix problems with activating Adobe Fonts. As a matter of fact after I wrote the first sentence of this post I went into my desktop app and saw that the Adobe fonts section of my app was showing an error and the fonts weren't available. Following my own advice I signed out and then signed in again. The fonts returned!

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