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gosia
Participating Frequently
October 30, 2025
Answered

Times New Roman TTF replaced with OTF in InDesign 21.0, causing missing font errors

  • October 30, 2025
  • 25 replies
  • 7918 views

All my books (several hundred) are formatted using the Times New Roman TTF font. The new version of InDesign 21.0 changes that to Times New Roman OTF.
Fortunately, version 20.0 is still installed. I know from experience that strange things can happen in updates.. However, the problem with the latest update has also been introduced in that version.
OTF is only available with a licence, which I do not have. 
I would appreciate some help.
Cor van Wijgerden

 

 

<Title renamed by MOD>

    Correct answer Dmytro301376413pen

    The same issue with my InDesign 20.5 / Windows 11. I installed Times New Roman from Adobe (https://fonts.adobe.com/fonts/times-new-roman) and replaced the font in the document. It works perfectly now.

    25 replies

    Show previous replies
    M
    Michael_Rosenstein
    Known Participant
    November 13, 2025

    The worst thing with Times New Roman OTF is that it is applied to 'No paragraph style' by default.

    Every empty frame that was accidentally converted to text frame produce missing font warning.

      M
      Michael_Rosenstein
      Known Participant
      November 13, 2025

      I tried to install Times New Roman OTF from Adobe Fonts, but the activation has failed due to conflict with the standard Windows Times New Roman TTF font, which cannot be uninstalled.

        B
        biccheri_4156
        Participant
        November 10, 2025

        🔧 Issue Description

        After updating to Adobe InDesign 21.0, a serious issue occurs with the Montserrat font.
        InDesign does not correctly recognize the TrueType (.TTF) version of the font, even though it is installed and fully functional on the system.
        When reopening documents, InDesign automatically replaces all TTF fonts with the OpenType (.OTF) version, marks them as missing, and highlights the affected text in magenta.
        Additionally, during PDF export, the font fails to embed correctly, resulting in missing or substituted text.

        🧩 Technical Details

        • Software: Adobe InDesign 21.0

        • Operating System: [e.g. Windows 11 / macOS Sonoma]

        • Font affected: Montserrat (entire family)

          • Original version used: TrueType (.TTF)

          • Automatically replaced version: OpenType (.OTF)

        ⚠️ Steps to Reproduce

        1. Open a document using the Montserrat TTF font.

        2. InDesign does not recognize the font and marks it as missing (text highlighted in magenta).

        3. In the Find Font panel, InDesign automatically suggests replacing it with the OTF version, even though the TTF version is installed and available.

        4. If I manually replace OTF → TTF, the document appears correct, but after saving and reopening, InDesign reverts back to OTF again.

        5. When exporting to PDF, InDesign fails to embed Montserrat properly, causing missing or substituted text.

        💬 Additional Notes

        • The issue affects only the Montserrat font, in all its variants (Regular, Bold, etc.).

        • The TTF files are valid, correctly installed, and work fine in other Adobe apps (Illustrator, Photoshop, etc.).

        • On other computers running the same InDesign version (21.0), the exact same files open without any issue, so the problem appears related to local font handling or cache management in InDesign.

        • Clearing cache, resetting preferences, and reinstalling InDesign do not fix the problem.

        🧠 Conclusion

        A remote technician verified the system and confirmed that this is most likely a bug in InDesign 21.0 related to TTF/OTF font management and PDF export embedding.
        Please confirm whether this issue is known and if a fix or corrective update is planned, as this problem severely affects document integrity and workflow consistency.

          Abhishek Rao
          Community Manager
          Abhishek RaoCommunity Manager
          Community Manager
          November 10, 2025

          Hi @biccheri_4156,

           

          Thanks for sharing all the details and for taking the time to test this thoroughly. I tried reproducing the issue by downloading the Montserrat TTF font and using it in a document, but I wasn't able to see the same behavior on my end. Could you please check if the problem continues after clearing your system font cache and restarting InDesign once? You can follow the steps here: https://adobe.ly/3Lv6RSy.

          Also, please confirm the source of the Montserrat font, whether it was downloaded from Adobe Fonts or another source. It would also be helpful to know if you have multiple versions of the same font installed from different sources, as that can sometimes cause conflicts and lead to this kind of issue. Try removing all versions of the font completely, reinstalling just one version, and then testing again.

          If the issue still persists, please share one of the affected InDesign files for testing. You can package the document and share it via DM using a secure link from Google Drive or Dropbox. Ref: https://adobe.ly/43loVEN

           

          Looking forward to your update.

          Abhishek

          River7567
          River7567
          Participating Frequently
          January 27, 2026

          Okay, we appear to be going backwards here… This thread seems to be marked as “resolved/answered” once again, but the issue is NOT resolved. We’ve been going around in circles here for months now. Any word from Adobe on a fix for this issue? Constantly uninstalling security updates is not a viable option longterm...

            H
            hans-j�rgen_8865
            Participant
            November 2, 2025

            Times New Roman aus der neuesten Version von InDesign verschwunden! Wie dumm ist das?

            540 Seiten Dokument am Arsch!

            Wer bezahlt das?

            Wofür nimmt Adobe mein Geld? Um mich zu schädigen?

            BobLevine
            Community Expert
            BobLevineCommunity Expert
            Community Expert
            November 2, 2025

            Do you want help of do you just want to rant? If you want help, please post full system details including version of InDesign and operating system as well the exact version and font format of Times New Roman.

            S
            Scott M@c
            Participant
            October 30, 2025

             

            When I open ID, I get this message.

            When I tell it to change, it changes ALL my Garamond fonts - NOT my Times New Roman fonts.

            I made the changes on putting all my Garamond fonts back to Garamond and stored the document.   When I open it again, the same problem occurs.

            This only started when I update to 20.5...

            Not sure how to fix this.

             

             

              Anubhav M
              Community Manager
              Anubhav MCommunity Manager
              Community Manager
              October 30, 2025

              Hello @Scott M@c,

              I'm sorry to hear about your experience. Does this happen with specific files? If yes, could you share a link to a sample file after uploading it to a file-sharing service, so we can check it on our end? Also, try updating to the latest version of InDesign and share your observations.

              Looking forward to hearing from you.

              Anubhav

              S
              Scott M@c
              Participant
              October 31, 2025

              21.0 fixed the problem with the Garamond font replacement error.

                   What bothers me is the fonts that are no longer supports, one being the Times New Roman regular.  I've been writing the newsletter for over 15 years and  these last few updates are causing fonts to be replaced.  I've gone back 6 issues and each one has fonts no longer supported, some are common to all and other that were unique in each issue.

                   What I did notice was a restructuring how the fonts were presented.  For instance, when selecting a font such a Garamond, only Garamond was displayed; Bold, etc. would need to be selected from the dropdown menu afterwards.  Now Garamond is displayed in 3 different selections: Regular, italic and bold.  Perhaps this restructuing is the root to the unavailable fonts?

                    Windows fonts are not available?  How can they be added?

               

              Thanks,

              Scott

              A
              Alostera
              Participant
              October 30, 2025

              Following the computer updating, I opened InDesign and a file I had been working on. All of the text in TR 12 pt reg and ital is not highlighted in a peach color--12 pt BF, 12 pt reg hypertext, and other TR font sizes plus all other fonts are unaffected. Example attached. Perhaps related (although this happens practically every time I open a file in InDesign) is the fact that it cannot find my fonts...TR is perhaps the most commonly-used of all. Any eye deer how to get rid of the highlighting? What's with the missing fonts? I haven't been moving stuff around myself. 

              A
              Alostera
              Participant
              October 30, 2025

              Sorry, I meant "...is NOW highlighted," not "is not highlighted"

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