Skip to main content
Graphic Squirrel
Graphic Squirrel
Inspiring
August 11, 2022
Answered

Replacing Helvetica with Nimus Sans - glyphs don't substitute

  • August 11, 2022
  • 3 replies
  • 1893 views

Hello Community.  I am having to replace our Helvetica font and it was suggested that Nimus Sans was a likely substitute for it.  However, when I change the font from one to the other, none of the Nimbus Sans glyphs are substituted, even though I see them in the glyphs panel.  These include the ff and apostrophe.  Obviously I cannot start resetting all of our documents with this happening.  Can anyone give me either a way to force those glyphs to replace the ones they are substituting or suggest a different font that is similar to Helvetica? 

Thanks for any help!  (Using a Windows 10 PC and latest InDesign)

GS

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Peter Spier

If you're not using styles — if you don't have styles applied to every paragraph, with no local overrides (those should be Character Styles, without exception)...

 

  1. You're going to have a long slog updating the type in all your documents.
  2. This is the reason you learn and use styles.

 

Maybe a good time to redo each document correctly, creating appropriate styles and applying them as you update the fonts. The "fingerpainting" method that Word all but encourages is really, really bad practice in professional layout in general and ID in particular.

 

I suspect if you update the styles and remove overrides, nearly any font you choose will work correctly. There are very few font families that don't have (and correctly map) the basic 200 or so glyphs, including ligatures. You have to get into amateur-made fonts or ones for other languages before you really find missing pieces, in most cases.

 

—


Another nethod for changing fonts that's better than highlighting text (and probably faster than editing styles even when you use them) would be to use Type > Find Font... and make the substitutions there. This will fix ALL instances of the fonts you want to cange in one go per font, and if you check the box to redefine styles it will take care of fixing all of them for you as well.

3 replies

L
Community Expert
LaubenderCommunity Expert
Community Expert
August 12, 2022

@Graphic Squirrel said: " However, when I change the font from one to the other, none of the Nimbus Sans glyphs are substituted, even though I see them in the glyphs panel."

 

Ok, this is an odd problem.

Seems that the code points for the glyphs are different in both fonts.

Is the Nimbus Sans activated from Adobe Fonts?

 

Could you post a sample InDesign document where Helvetica is used?

Maybe the issue is with the used version of the Helvetica? Could be an older one.

 

I'm also on Windows 10 with the latest InDesign.

 

FWIW: A forum admin should change the title of this thread from "Nimus Sans" to "Nimbus Sans"…

 

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Professional )

Diane Burns
Diane Burns
Inspiring
August 11, 2022

We find really full glyph coverage of all kinds using Google Noto fonts, available in serif and sans serif, for many languages, etc. Perhaps give these a try? https://fonts.google.com/noto

Scott Falkner
Community Expert
Scott FalknerCommunity Expert
Community Expert
August 11, 2022

Are you saying the font is not changing anywhere? How are you changing the font? Can you provide screen captures?

Graphic Squirrel
Graphic SquirrelAuthor
Inspiring
August 11, 2022

I opened the document, which was converted from the previous version of ID, highlighted the Helvetica font, and clicked on the Nimbus Sans font.  When I did that, the apostrophes and ff's were blocks instead of glyphs.  I checked the entire font set on the glyph palette, and they were available, but they didn't automatically change.  Never seen that happen. 

 

I decided to use Arial instead, and now I cannot recreate the issue, which is a good thing I guess.  Not as big a fan of Arial, but it will have to do.  Thanks for your reply.

Graphic Squirrel
Graphic SquirrelAuthor
Inspiring
August 11, 2022

You should change fonts at the style level. Click in any paragraph, edit that style, change the font from Helvetica to Nimbus.

 

Changing things by selecting text and applying an override (for font, color, size, anything) is very poor practice.

 

Or did I misunderstand your method?

 

—


LOL - nope, no misunderstanding.  Self taught, and been doing it that way for a very long time.  I like that there are many ways of getting to the same result.  However, since Adobe decided to force us to quit using Type 1 fonts, I am having to reset all of our documents, and I am willing to look for the quickest and most accurate method out there (accuracy being the main point).  If I can do that and save the style to use in other documents, that might be the way to go.  Can you change all of the styles in a document at once?  We have a lot of long documents with multiple text boxes.

Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices