Font is not compatible in the same document on mac and windows

[katja tortugatja]

At the moment we are facing the following issue:

The font type Futura Serie BQ is used as font for corporate identity documents. Until now we worked on macintosh on which the font is supported. As we switched now from mac to windows and as we now work often on both systems (mac and windows) there is a problem with the comatibility. The font is not supported in Windows and can not be rendered for Pdfs when exporting from Adobe Indesign CC

We bought the folllowing font : Futura Pro in .otf format as bertholdtype told us this is the new version of Futura Serie BQ. Unfortunately the font does still not correspond on both systems: (mac and windows) and either displays  as missing font on one or the ohter computersystem (in Adobe Indesign CC). But the font is installed on both computers.

The document in Indesign CC on windows: We replaced some fonts from futura serie BQ to Futura pro.

The same document opended in mac: missing fonts are exactly the opposite oft he fonts on windows.

Does it mean one has to replace now every textbox from futura Serie BQ to Futura Pro?

Does anyone deal with similiar issues? Is there any advice how we can get the font work correctly on both systems, mac and windows? As many other fonts do not have such an issue, there must be a way to solve this?

[Derek Cross]

Would you be able to use Futura via Typekit?

[katja tortugatja]

The font Futura Seie BQ is our corporate identity font. We have about 500 documents with this font. So it would be quite a lot of work to change the font to Futura in all documents.

[Derek Cross]

Don't you use Paragraph Styles

[katja tortugatja]

Yes, we use paragrah styles .

But if the tracking is not the same lenght in both fonts, we still have to change a lot...

[BobLevine]

There is NO WAY to use a Mac only font on Windows.

[jane-e]

https://forums.adobe.com/people/katja+tortugatja  wrote

Does it mean one has to replace now every textbox from futura Serie BQ to Futura Pro?

Is there any advice how we can get the font work correctly on both systems, mac and windows? As many other fonts do not have such an issue, there must be a way to solve this?

The other solution you are facing is to use only Macs when you have Mac fonts and don’t want to rework 500 documents.

Adobe reworked all of their fonts about the time CS2 came out. Prior to that, it was a given that you used Mac fonts on a Mac and Windows fonts on Windows. The fonts that don’t have a problem are already designed to be cross-platform.

[BobLevine]

jane-e  wrote

Adobe reworked all of their fonts about the time CS2 came out. Prior to that, it was a given that you used Mac fonts on a Mac and Windows fonts on Windows. The fonts that don’t have a problem are already designed to be cross-platform.

For as long as I can remember the only way that was the case was with the default font that was used when opening InDesign. But ID itself has supported advanced OpenType features since the beginning. Worth mentioning is that Adobe was a major part of the developing that cross platform standard along with Microsoft and it was launched more than 20 years ago.

Anyone still using fonts that are O/S specific (and really, the only fonts that applies to are Mac dfonts and some very, very old Type 1 or TrueType) should be exploring something a bit more up to date.

[Jongware]

It's been a while, but if I recall correctly

(1) Adobe's Type 1 fonts came in different wrappers for Mac and Windows, and neither could use the other one's.

(2) TTF was a collaboration between Microsoft and Apple to create a mutually compatible vector font format (before that, both OSes relied exclusively on bitmap fonts). Their intent was to stop Adobe gaining the monopoly on vector fonts.

(3) Then Apple went on "improving" the original TTF format without further synchronizing this with Microsoft. That led to "TrueType GX" and later on AAT, which both ended up on the compost heap of Failed Ideas. Sure, the ideas were good but the support was so bad that even Apple's own software did not support such advanced functions

. But some of the legacy data got stuck in the specifications of Apple's own fonts, so theirs are not compatible with Windows anymore. Windows TTFs, as far as I know, still work fine on Macs.

(4) So at that point in time there are four different vector font formats: Type 1 and TTF, each one in a Mac and a Windows format.

(5) Then Adobe, Microsoft, and Apple joined efforts with OpenType -- and rather than declaring either Type 1 or TrueType technology the better one (there is not one single "better" -- both have their strengths and weaknesses!), they chose for the softest possible method of allowing both types. Fortunately, as the font basics had to be re-built, this finally meant that the same font file can be used on both competing OSes. (This also means an "OpenType TTF" is not the same thing as a "regular" TTF. If only because there is no such thing as a single "regular" TTF format.)

So, only OpenType fonts can be used on both systems. There is no "Mac" or "Windows" version of these fonts.

Some font formats can be used on The Other system -- most notably, Windows TTFs can be used as-is in Mac OS. I think Windows-type Type 1 fonts used to fall into this category as well, but it seems Apple has phased out Type 1 fonts entirely.

Some of these ideas were implemented into the very first version of OpenType, but GX Font Variations are only just being resurrected as "Variable Fonts". Ironically, this new vector format could not be made compatible with "old" the OpenType format, so now we have two versions of OpenType Type 1 as well. (I don't know if there are TrueType Variable Fonts.) [**]

[**] Note that Adobe's first attempt, Multiple Masters, also did not gain as much traction as they hoped. Personally, I loved the idea and the single sample font "Lithos MM".

[BobLevine]

1. Yes, as far as the operating system goes. Windows Type 1 fonts can be copied to the private InDesign fonts folder on a Mac and will work with InDesign. The opposite is not true.

2. 3. Window TrueType can be used on a Mac. The opposite is not true.

[Test Screen Name]

If the font maker says something is the new version of a font, they are probably right. But InDesign knows nothing about this, you must design with that font everywhere. So, yes, you need to update all designs. It’s painful if the “new version” does not have the same metrics.

[Randy Hagan]

Rather than fight the program, how about converting your current corporate typeface from whatever format it's currently in to an OpenType cross-platform compatible one?

Major type foundries offer these services as a matter of course. A couple options are linked below:

https://www.fonts.com/info/services Monotype

https://www.fontlab.com/font-converter/transtype/  TypeLab

There are free/cheap converters available too, with varying levels of success. Since we're talking about a specific corporate font, I'd be loath to try to cheap out the solution and cause problems for my documentation – especially if I'm the one responsible for getting it right. Google can steer you that way if you're willing to experiment.

Not knowing your specific font, I'd be a little leery of just accepting any ol' Futura typeface as an acceptable substitute. Because the priority for folks who are selling you the font is to sell you the font. I'd do a type match with the full character set before I took their word at face value. Jus' sayin' ...

Good luck,

Randy

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

I didn't read every word of the previous posts, so some of this might be duplicate info...

Your original post reads as if you replaced your older TT/T1 Mac font with different OT font. It would follow that you would have to use the Type > Find Font menu. Be sure to check update the "Redefine Style" box to update your paragraph and character styles.

Sometimes between different font companies, there maybe no exact style-to-style replacement--that is, bold in one font may be semi-bold in another, etc. So basically, it comes down to taking the one-time hit and replacing all the fonts after you figure out what old styles to replace with new styles.

However, you should only have to do this for one document IF you style names are consistent--after the first document, you can simply import the styles into other documents. That will update the styles to the new font. If you style names are NOT consistent, you could use Automatication Multi-Find/Change to swap out the style names to make them the same.

I would also remove all traces of the old Futura font from the Macs, including the Futura font that comes with the Mac (and any old Futura fonts installed on Windows if any). That would make it less likely to select the wrong when swapping out fonts.

A final option, depending on the licensing of your original font, is to convert it to an OTF with a program such as TransType:

https://www.fontlab.com/font-converter/transtype/