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DarkStalkerJ
Participating Frequently
April 29, 2025
Answered

InDesign 20.3 Removing Boldface on Fonts in Windows 11

  • April 29, 2025
  • 3 replies
  • 2638 views

I finally upgraded from Windows 10 to Windows 11 this week, and since doing so, all boldface in the documents I am using are no longer displayed (most of the time), and definitely not exported to PDF.

 

When I View > Display Performance > Fast Display, it still shows the boldface text.  However, when I view > Typical Display, it does NOT show boldfaced fonts in boldface.  Ditto when I export the file to a PDF; it's all vanilla text.

 

Using Sitka and Sitka Text Bold.  I've tried to install the Adobe version of these fonts but cannot; I get an error that duplicate fonts with that name already exist, but I cannot delete them since Windows considers them system fonts.

 

Tried clearing the font cache, but cannot; all *FONTCACHE*.DAT and *FNTCACHE*.DAT files are in use, even when I quit out of all Adobe apps, log out of Creative Cloud, and even force-quit all Adobe and Creative Cloud processes.

 

Tried with Arial Regular and Arial Bold, however, and that DOES work just fine.

 

The problem occurs on all of my existing INDD files that had boldface, and on new files as well.

    Correct answer Peter Spier

    Okay, finally had the time to create a new admin account on my machine.  Did so, then logged in using that account, and opened this same file in InDesign.  It WORKED successfully!  

     

    So where does that leave us?  I would really rather not have to switch everything over to a random new account just to use the hundreds of files I'd created.


    Try a deep prefs and cache file replacement. Scroll down the page at Reset InDesign Preferences and Other Troubleshooting  to find instructions.

    3 replies

    Brad @ Roaring Mouse
    Community Expert
    Brad @ Roaring MouseCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    May 16, 2025

    Part of the issue here is that there are several fonts that are now Variable Fonts in Windows 11. Sitka is one of them, so there are literally only two fonts files; one for the regular styles (SitkaVF) and one for the italics (SitkaVF-Italic).

    The Sitka on Adobe Fonts is NOT variable, but separate static fonts files like they were In Windows 10.

    Now, theoretically, opening an old document that used the Windows 10 versions should open fine in Windows 11, but if you start adding Adobe Fonts versions in with it, either accidentaly or on purpose (e.g. if you have AutoActivate Adobe Fonts on in InDesign's File handling menu), InDesign may try and load them and there will be a mismatch: InDesign uses the internal Postscript name in a font file for matching purposes. The Bold version of the VF in Windows 11 identifies Sitka Text Bold as "Sitka-TextBold", where as the Adobe identifies it as "Sitka-Text-Bold" (note the hyphens). This is an error on the part of the Font Designer. btw: It should be noted that the older Windows 10 versions also have different internal names ("SitkaText-Bold"), so also a msimatch.

    And now, that you tried a few different approaches, your Font caches are all messed up with internal references/instances from both Windows and Adobe at the same time, which is why it's important to delete the caches going forward (as you have now done).

     

     

    Robert at ID-Tasker
    Robert at ID-Tasker
    Legend
    April 29, 2025

    https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/latest-version-of-indesign-is-removing-bold-fonts/td-p/15261953

     

    D
    DarkStalkerJAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    May 1, 2025

    Yes, I saw that thread, but thank you for pointing it out! 

     

    Unfortunately, the solution marked in that thread (to log out of and then back into Creative Cloud, then ensure the latest version is installed) does not work for me.

     

    I also just updated InDesign to the latest available version, 20.3.1.  No difference.  😞

    Anubhav M
    Community Manager
    Anubhav MCommunity Manager
    Community Manager
    May 1, 2025

    Hello @DarkStalkerJ,

    Thanks for sharing the details. Kindly allow me some time to check this with the team.
    In the meantime, please also try running InDesign under a different administrator account (Windows) and sharing your observations.

     

    Anubhav

    Joel Cherney
    Community Expert
    Joel CherneyCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    April 29, 2025

    I finally upgraded from Windows 10 to Windows 11 this week, and since doing so, all boldface in the documents I am using are no longer displayed (most of the time), and definitely not exported to PDF.

     

    You did an in-place upgrade, right? You didn't do a fresh install of Win11, is my guess. Over the years, we've seen InDesign play poorly with upgraded operating systems. I'm not telling you "go delete Windows and reinstall" but your question might end up there. There's lots of other stuff to try first, though. I think you ought to figure out first why you can't clear your font caches; that's the technique that typically solves such issues for me.

     

     

    Tried clearing the font cache, but cannot; all *FONTCACHE*.DAT and *FNTCACHE*.DAT files are in use, even when I quit out of all Adobe apps, log out of Creative Cloud, and even force-quit all Adobe and Creative Cloud processes.

     

    Note that these font caches that you're trying to delete aren't Adobe font caches, right? Assuming we're looking at the same clear-your-font-caches instructions, that's the "System Font Cache" and the folder that you're looking in is "C:\Windows\ServiceProfiles\LocalService\AppData\Local". That's not Adobe at all, right? You might need to quit more than just Adobe apps in order to delete those font cache files. Have you tried shutting down all of your open applications, or deleting those caches in Safe Mode?

     

    (I've never booted into Safe Mode in Win11, so I have no idea if that would work or not, it's just a pretty standard thing to do when you need to delete a file in Windows and there's a process that won't release it.) 

     

     

      Anubhav M
      Community Manager
      Anubhav MCommunity Manager
      Community Manager
      April 29, 2025

      Hello @DarkStalkerJ,

      Could you try the following steps to rebuild the font cache in Windows, and let us know if it helps:

      > Open Windows Services Manager:

      Type services.msc in the Start search and hit Enter.

      > Stop and Disable Services:

      Locate Windows Font Cache Service and Windows Presentation Foundation Font Cache 3.0.0.0 Service.
      Double-click each service to open its Properties box, then stop and disable it.

      > Delete Font Cache Files:

      Open File Explorer and enable viewing of hidden files and folders.
      Navigate to C:\Windows\ServiceProfiles\LocalService\AppData\Local.
      Delete all .dat files starting with FontCache.
      Open the Font Cache folder and delete all its contents.

      > Restart and Enable Services:

      If unable to delete some files, restart your computer and try again.
      Once files are deleted, re-enable and start both services via Services Manager.

      Looking forward to hearing from you.

       

      Anubhav

        D
        DarkStalkerJAuthor
        Participating Frequently
        May 1, 2025

        Thank you so much for the detailed suggestion! 

         

        I performed all of that, and unfortuantely it has not affected things in InDesign.  Sitka Bold still shows as boldface in View > Display Performance > Fast Display, but all other Display Performance settings and exporting the file to PDF removes the boldface.

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