InDesign 18.1 intermittently not recognizing installed fonts

[EdwardCPI]

Last year Adobe released a version of InDesign (I think it was 17.2) that randomly wouldn't recognize particular fonts. The fix was to revert to an earlier version of InDesign until they release a bug fix version.

It seems this has happened again with 18.1. I create a document in InDesign and send a proof to a customer. Several days later, the customer responds with changes to be made, I load the document into InDesign and it tells me one of the fonts I used is not available. I check to make sure it is activated in Connect Fonts, and sure enough it is. I de-activate and re-activate it several times for good measure. No dice. The font is active in other applications, but NOT InDesign--which is the only application I want it to be active in. 

This has happened a couple of times lately. Today's non-loadable font is called Apex New Bold. It's an Open Type font. 

What are your suggestions?

[Steve Werner]

Apex New is not an Adobe font (that is, it's not a font which can be activated from the Creative Cloud). When I do a search for it, it appears to be a free OpenType font.

What operating system are you running? Where have you installed the font? You say, "I check to make sure it is activated in Connect Fonts..." What and where is that?

Have you tried installing it in the InDesign Fonts folder? (Adobe InDesign 2023 folder > Fonts folder)

[EdwardCPI]

You are right that it is not an Adobe Font. Many of the fonts we use are not Adobe fonts.

I am running Windows 10.

My font manager is Connect Fonts, made by Extensis, previously named Suitcase, one of the biggest names in font managers.

Connect Fonts is a font manager. I click on a font and it activates system-wide. I click again and it de-activates system wide. I've been doing this for years.

I have not tried installing it in the InDesign Fonts folder. Why should I have to do that with a font that is available in every other application? This is clearly an InDesign problem.

[Steve Werner]

I'm a Mac user and unfamiliar with Windows systems, and Connect Fonts font manager. You'll get better advice from another Windows user, so I'll pass on trying to help further.

What I can say is that in all the years that I've been using InDesign (since version 1.0 thru 18.1), I have never had a font which worked in another Adobe app like Illustrator, and not work in InDesign. Can't say it's impossible, but I'd bet it's something to do with your system setup.

[EdwardCPI]

So today this problem has raised its ugly head again. I've just spent the best part of the last hour simply trying to use a font in InDesign that EVERY OTHER PROGRAM ON MY COMPUTER can use, but for some mysterious reason, Adobe InDesign says is not there. 

I am running Adobe InDesign 20.5 on Windows 11 Pro. My font manager is Extensis Connect (version 27.0.3). I have enabled the font there and it shows up in other Adobe apps (Illustrator, Photoshop, etc.), as well as none-Adobe apps like Word, but not InDesign.

The font is Colonna MT Regular (version 1.51), an OpenType-TT font from Monotype.

I have reset the font cache on Windows and rebooted.

I have tried placing the font in the Document Fonts folder in the same directory as the InDesign file. 

I have also tried placing the font here: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe InDesign 2025\Fonts

I have restarted InDesign multiple times.

Does anyone have any insight here? This is a very frustrating problem that, judging by the amount of topics on this forum, continues to occur.

Do I need to go back to the previous version of InDesign?

[EdwardCPI]

UPDATE: Rolling InDesign back to 20.4.1 solved this issue.

Go figure!

[Abhishek Rao]

Hi @EdwardCPI,

Thanks for sharing the details. Since rolling back to 20.4.1 resolved the problem, it does suggest something in 20.5 might be affecting how InDesign works with fonts activated through Extensis Connect. If you can, try disabling the font manager or starting your system in safe mode, then install the font from another source directly on your system and test again. This will help us see if the issue is tied to InDesign itself or to the activation process through the font manager.

Let me know the results.

Abhishek

[EdwardCPI]

It's not just fonts activated through Extensis Connect, though. As detailed above, InDesign said this was missing even though I tried (on separate occasions and between restarts) placng the font file in Document Fonts and in the InDesign Fonts folder. So that tells you right there it's nothing to do with Connect, right?

[Abhishek Rao]

Hi @EdwardCPI,

Thanks for clarifying that the problem occurs even without Extensis Connect involved. Since the font still shows as missing after placing it in both the Document Fonts folder and the InDesign Fonts folder, it does seem less likely that the activation method is the cause. Could you confirm if this happens with any other non-Adobe fonts in 20.5 or if it is specific to Colonna MT? Also, please try resetting InDesign preferences and font caches again, then install the font directly in your system's main Fonts folder without the font manager enabled to see if it's recognized.

Let me know what you find.

Abhishek

[EdwardCPI]

That would entail me installing 20.5 again, and I'm not doing that at this point. I'm in a busy print shop environment and I've already lost several hours of productivity. As you can see on another thread I posted, after I rolled back to 20.4.1 I had a problem where InDesign was only allowing me to Undo one or two times instead of unlimited undos. It was also failing to remember settings. Very annoying. You can read that thread here:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/only-one-undo-available-please-help/td-p/1545885...

I just simply don't have time to install 20.5 to test out your theories, then have to roll back to 20.4.1 again to get a working system. 

I believe there may have been other fonts not being recognized, but my mind is getting fuzzy at this point with all of this nonsense going on.

[Mike Witherell]

20.5 is not the source of the problem. However, any system that provides fonts in 3 or more places is likely to experience font confusion. The key will be tracking down and removing all instances and folders where that same font is located. Then install the typeface from only one place, whether Windows\Fonts or your font management software, or the Document fonts folder, or other places.

[EdwardCPI]

The font is NOT being supplied in three different places. I fully understand you can't have fonts active in more than one place. I only tried the other options (one at a time) when InDesign failed to recognize the font after I activated it in my font manager (even though every other program on my computer recognized it).