Transfer fonts from Mac to PC

[elliotfrancisco]

Hi there,

I have recently switched from a Mac to PC and have CS4 on my new windows machine.

I rework a lot of open artwork files from Quark and InDesign and most of these originated on a Mac. These files are workable on my machine, however the fonts are not.

Is there any easy way to transfer the Mac fonts so they are readable on a PC?

I believe these are TT or T1 fonts.

Any help would be gratefully appreciated.

Kind regards,

Elliot

[BobLevine]

In short, no.

Going in the other direction is easy. Mac can natively handle Windows TT and Type 1's can be placed in a private Adobe fonts folder.

But Windows cannot read Mac specific fonts. This is one of the big benefits of OpenType.

Bob

[Kasyan Servetsky]

When I switched from Quark to InDesign, I used Fontlab to remake fonts. I resaved them in Open Type format: this way I could use the same fonts both on Mac and PC. It takes just about a minute to resave a font.

Kasyan

[Peter Spier]

Converting fonts may be a violation of the license agreement, and from what I've read it may not give you an exact duplicate as far as kerning pairs or font hinting are concerned, depending on the conversion tools.

[Scott Falkner]

Yes, Macs can read Windows TT fonts and yes, Windows can't read Macintosh TT fonts. THis is not a new to OSX thing, it's been the case for at least a decade. The fortunate result of this is that there are very few fonts ship as Mac only TrueType fonts. Likely any TT fonts on your macs are WIndows format and will transfer, as will any OTF fonts.

[Peter Spier]

As far as I know, the Mac ability to read Windows TT fonts is directly tied to OS X, but that may be a misconception on my part. Traditional Mac format fonts have never been readable on Windows, simply becasue all the font data is stored in the resource fork that windows never sees. When you load a Mac font in Windows you see only the empty data fork.

[Kasyan Servetsky]

I can't discuss and argue about legal rules — I just want to share my personal experience of converting fonts from Mac to Mac&Pc format — just technical issues.

Using Fontlab you have the following options:

• Keep original font's metrics, hints, etc. — at least I was able to create exact duplicates of the fonts: when I converted a Quark document to InDesign format, no text reflow occurred and all line endings were the same as in the original Quark document.
• Let Fontlab to set almost all settings automatically — in most cases, but not always, it does this well.
• You can set all parameters yourself manually — but there are millions of them in Fontlab, and even Fontlab's developers admit that they have no idea what some of them mean.

Kasyan

[Dov Isaacs]

Using Fontlab to remake fonts may or may not be a violation of the EULA (End User License Agreement) for your particular fonts. It varies from one font foundry to the next. However, as Bob pointed out, you may lose some font metrics or see changes in such. Furthermore, your remake operation (actually a conversion) may also actually change the font's outlines in subtle ways.

Unless the font in question is absolutely not available in OpenType or Windows TrueType or Type 1 format and the EULA does permit such font modifications, you really are much better off going back to the original font foundry and getting an upgrade to OpenType or at least Windows TrueType or Type 1 for purposes of cross-platform font compatiblity (Windows Type 1 compatibility on Macintosh only with Adobe applications.

          - Dov

[Peter Spier]

Dov Isaacs wrote:

However, as Bob pointed out, you may lose some font metrics or see changes in such.

Most people call me David when they forget my name.

[Dov Isaacs]

Sorry. Too used to responding to Bob Levine's responses ... 

     - Dov

[Peter Spier]

I'll give you a pass if you'll forgive me the next time I append an "e" to your name accidentally and don't catch it.

[Dov Isaacs]

You've got it!

          - Dov

[Guest]

I've encountered a similar font issue as the OP.  I have many files that need to be updated.  They were created years ago using either Pagemaker or InDesign CS on an old Mac.  The main font used was Helvetica.  I currently use a PC with CS4 that does not have Helvetica as a font option.  If I wanted to get this font available on my PC through a cross-platform upgrade should I contact Adobe or the manufacturer of the Helvetica font?

[Peter Spier]

The font vendor.

[partypao]

I found the solution. Copy the font files that look like suitcases in Mac (much like a font folder) to a usb drive and copy to your PC. After transfering to windows folder, on windows explorer where the copied fonts are visible click Tools>Folder Options  in View tab, tick the 'Show hidden files, folders, or drive', a transparent Resource will appear, and the fonts are in there. Copy them somewere else, and add a file extension .dfont. Convert them by uploading to http://www.fontconverter.org/ and the download the windows version ttf, otf or whatever option you picked on uploading.

if you cant see the resource folder, try doing the tools>view option while veiwing the files on your usb.