Inspiring

Answered

Font suddenly 'missing' while it really is there

Forum|Forum|11 months ago
March 11, 2025
2 replies
947 views

I have a problem with a certain font, Geomanist Regular. I saved a document in which it was used and after opening it again later on suddenly the text in that font is highlighted in pink... while the font really is there! If I create a new document and use that same font all is fine. See attached screenshot. On the left is the document in which the font simply won't work and on the right is a document in which is clearly does work. On the left I also open the font screen and there you can also see the font really is there. If I copy the text frame on the right to the document on the left it also suddenly becomes pink.

So clearly ONLY this particular document won't see or load the font, even though I can use it well in another document that's opened at the same time!

So... why is the font highlighted in pink?! I also can't export the page as pdf due to this.

Correct answer Robert at ID-Tasker

@J van E

Do you use Typeface font manager app for Mac - that is reported to cause problems with latest version of InDesign?

Also, it's possible, that your file is corrupted - please try IDMLing - export as IDML, open, save with a new name - do not overwrite your original file.

Robert at ID-TaskerCorrect answer

Legend

@J van E

Do you use Typeface font manager app for Mac - that is reported to cause problems with latest version of InDesign?

Also, it's possible, that your file is corrupted - please try IDMLing - export as IDML, open, save with a new name - do not overwrite your original file.

J

J van EAuthor

Inspiring

Well, I'll be... saving the document as idml worked! I saved the faulty doc as idml, opened the idml and the faulty text was corrected! How odd is that! Unfortunately copying the now correct textframe into the old document doesn't work... Somehow that file is indeed corrupted.

Now it's great of course that I can remedy a problem like this this way but a little problem is that all my documents are in the cloud (WoodWing Studio) and so I can't really simply save it as idml and then restore it... I have to replace the file in WW Studio but then also reconnect ALL used images... which is a chore...

So yes, this works but I would love to know what has happened and how that file got corrupted...

BTW Clearing the font cache and other tips didn't help unfortunately.

Robert at ID-Tasker

Legend

@J van E

Great to hear that, at leat partially, you were able to fix it.

The problem is in the way InDesign saves documents - when you do Save, it just adds info about your latest changes, to "the end of the document" - which isn't exactly precise definition what happenns, as technically, this extra info is scattered all over your drive, not nicely located at the end of the previous end of your file.

And when you close your document - your latest changes = Undo History - is no longer accessible, but is part of the INDD file - that InDesign needs to analyse in order to get to the finall document when you open it again.

As this info is scattered all over the drive - it can get corrupted - either by being overwritten by other data or simply by physical errors on the drive - and then wrong information is read back.

So it's really important to do Save As with a new name - at least at the end of the day - which is kind of housekeeping - strips this Undo history and reorganises INDD file.

IDMLing goes even further - strips INDD file to a "bare metal" - gets rid of all Undo History, previews - and completely rewrites INDD file.

Not sure how WoodWing works - but maybe it would be possible to automate this replacement process.

Abhishek Rao

Community Manager

Hi @J van E,

Thanks for reaching out. Would you mind telling which version of InDesign and macOS are you using? Try selecting the affected text, applying a different font, and then if you can see the 'Geomanist Regular' font in the fonts panel, try switching back to Geomanist Regular to see if it resets. Also, check if the font is installed on your system or if it's activated through a font manager. I checked Adobe Fonts, and it looks like Geomanist Regular is not available there. Could you tell from where you have downloaded the font?

Additionally, try signing out and back into the Creative Cloud Desktop app to see if that helps. If the issue persists, please try clearing the font cache. You can follow the steps in this guide here: https://adobe.ly/43DxlZ0.

Let me know how it goes!

^

Abhishek

J

J van EAuthor

Inspiring

Oops, my bad, should have added that information, of course. I am using InDesign 17.4.2 (in this case) on OS X 15.3.

Changing the font and changing it back doesn't work. The font is installed in the system: I don't use any font managers (anymore). The font was bought around 7 years ago by my company: I don't know where they got it from...

I will try siging out and clearing the cache and report back!

EDIT BTW In addition: when I copy the 'faulty text' into a brand new document it remains pink. However, when I create a new document, type something in the problematic font (and all goes well) and then paste the faulty text in the new document, it's alright! It's also the other way around: if I create a new document and first paste the faulty text in it and then type something with that font into a new frame it's also pink. Really odd.

If I copy the 'corrected' text from the new doc into the old one it becomes pink again... It's so strange...