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GoingSolo369
Participant
January 30, 2012
Answered

Is there a fix for Arial Narrow not showing up in InDesign? I need it!!

  • January 30, 2012
  • 6 replies
  • 45940 views

InDesign CS5, Windows7.  I am seeing where lots of people are having trouble, but has anyone found a fix?  Arial Narrow and it's font family is supposedly installed in Windows/Fonts, but is not available in InDesign.  Arial narrow only shows up under Arial as a family member, not its own family.  I NEED Arial Narrow Bold to work! I am behind schedule.

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer St3v3n_Howard

    This problem is due to the offending fonts having the wrong "Preferred Family" and "Preferred Subfamily" names and it can be corrected using a Font Editor, such as the free version of Type light which can be downloaded from http://www.cr8software.net/typelight.html.

    The process I found to work (in Windows 8 with Adobe Indesign CC and Office 2010) is as follows:

    1. Open a File Explorer window and go to the system font library at C:/Windows/Fonts and double click on the Arial font (this has a special icon indicating that it contains multiple subentries)
    2. Copy the fonts for Arial Narrow, Arial Narrow Bold, Arial Narrow Italic and Arial Narrow Bold Italic to a new folder on your desktop
    3. Edit each of these copies using your font editor and change the  Preferred Family and Preferred Subfamily names (in Type light use the menu option Font>Names... then click the Advanced button)
    4. The Preferred Family should be changed to Arial Narrow and the Preferred Subfamily should be either Regular, Bold, Italic, or Bold Italic as per the particular font you are editing (While you are there you could also make similar changes to the Arial Black font which has the same problem - in this case, make Preferred Family Arial Black and Preferred Subfamily Regular)
    5. Save each font file back over the top of the one in the folder in your folder on the desktop (Save and replace) then open a new File Explorer window for that folder and drag the changed fonts back into their orginal location at C:/Windows/Fonts/Arial
    6. Open a new File Explorer window and do a search on the C: drive for all instances of AdobeFnt*.lst then delete all of them
    7. Restart your computer

    6 replies

    Gundar
    Gundar
    Participant
    November 7, 2014

    Did Not Work...

    After following the instructions for changing font family and style info for Arial Narrow then deleting all instances of AdobeFnt*.lst 
    - Still has the exact same problem - Arial Narrow does not show up as a font family (even thoughthe font file currently reads Arial Narrow as the Preferred Font Family)
    - Using Windows 7 64bit and InDesign CC

    S
    studio_one_networks
    Participant
    August 4, 2014

    Thank you for these awesome instructions,

    I followed them and have resolved my issues with Arial Narrow.

    I am a Windows 7 user.

    You totally rock!!!!

    S
    St3v3n_HowardCorrect answer
    Participating Frequently
    September 4, 2013

    This problem is due to the offending fonts having the wrong "Preferred Family" and "Preferred Subfamily" names and it can be corrected using a Font Editor, such as the free version of Type light which can be downloaded from http://www.cr8software.net/typelight.html.

    The process I found to work (in Windows 8 with Adobe Indesign CC and Office 2010) is as follows:

    1. Open a File Explorer window and go to the system font library at C:/Windows/Fonts and double click on the Arial font (this has a special icon indicating that it contains multiple subentries)
    2. Copy the fonts for Arial Narrow, Arial Narrow Bold, Arial Narrow Italic and Arial Narrow Bold Italic to a new folder on your desktop
    3. Edit each of these copies using your font editor and change the  Preferred Family and Preferred Subfamily names (in Type light use the menu option Font>Names... then click the Advanced button)
    4. The Preferred Family should be changed to Arial Narrow and the Preferred Subfamily should be either Regular, Bold, Italic, or Bold Italic as per the particular font you are editing (While you are there you could also make similar changes to the Arial Black font which has the same problem - in this case, make Preferred Family Arial Black and Preferred Subfamily Regular)
    5. Save each font file back over the top of the one in the folder in your folder on the desktop (Save and replace) then open a new File Explorer window for that folder and drag the changed fonts back into their orginal location at C:/Windows/Fonts/Arial
    6. Open a new File Explorer window and do a search on the C: drive for all instances of AdobeFnt*.lst then delete all of them
    7. Restart your computer
      S
      spectr1701
      Participating Frequently
      September 8, 2014

      This process no longer works.

        S
        St3v3n_Howard
        Participating Frequently
        September 8, 2014

        Thanks for posting. Can you tell me where in the process it is not working?

          winterm
          winterm
          Legend
          September 4, 2013

          Peter Spier wrote:

          This is a Microsoft error, not Adobe's

          it's a shame for such IT monster to do such basic errors.

          Well, all you need is to edit font family names with some font editing app.

          So I was forced to 'fix' my Arial Narrow version 2.37 to achieve what OP wants. Now it shows up as a separate family in Adobe and MS Office 2003 apps (see screenshot of ID's Font list):

          However, Notepad still reads all flavours under one cap - Arial. I can live with that.

          Win7 64-bit, CS6, ID8.

          K
          KaiserGuy
          Participant
          September 28, 2012

          You can edit the AdobeFnt*.lst files to properly reflect the font family.

          for Regular:

          "FamilyName:Arial" -> "FamilyName:Arial Narrow"

          "StyleName:Narrow" -> "StyleName:Regular"

          for Bold:

          "FamilyName:Arial" -> "FamilyName:Arial Narrow"

          "StyleName:Narrow" -> "StyleName:Bold"

          for Italic:

          "FamilyName:Arial" -> "FamilyName:Arial Narrow"

          "StyleName:Narrow" -> "StyleName:Italic"

          S
          St3v3n_Howard
          Participating Frequently
          September 4, 2013

          I tried to edit the AdobeFnt_OSFonts.lst file as KaiserGuy suggested but when InDesign was started it reverted to as it was.

          Peter Spier
          Community Expert
          Peter SpierCommunity Expert
          Community Expert
          January 30, 2012

          If you insist on using Arial Narrow you need to replace the new version with the older version from Windows XP/Ofiice 2000 (or possibly Office 2003). This is a Microsoft error, not Adobe's, and if you search for Arial Narrow in the forum you'll probably find some threads from several years ago that discuss it..

          G
          GoingSolo369Author
          Participant
          January 30, 2012

          I can't delete it because it says it's protected.

          Peter Spier
          Community Expert
          Peter SpierCommunity Expert
          Community Expert
          January 30, 2012

          Are you logged in as an Administrator?

          What version of Arial Narrow is installed? It's not a font I would ever use by choice, but I do have version 2.3 installed here on Windows 7 (but it may well have come from Office 2000, which is also installed) and it works fine in ID.

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