Can't use certain fonts?

Forum|Forum|8 years ago
February 21, 2018
5 replies
4057 views

So I downloaded Indesign on my Mac Pro, and after downloading it I got a notice that two fonts, Edwardian Script and Lucidian are not available to use for my Indesign. One of my friends suggested that perhaps it was because I didn't have Microsoft Word, so I downloaded Microsoft as well, uninstalled Indesign, and installed it again to see if it would have the fonts now. However, even after re-installing it, I still am not able to use those fonts. What should I do?

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Correct answer Barb Binder

Neither of those are available with your Adobe CC Typekit subscription and I can't tell you what fonts come with Microsoft these days.

You can license Edwardian Script here:

https://www.fonts.com/font/itc/itc-edwardian-script

And Lucian here:

Lucian - Webfont & Desktop font « MyFonts

Mike Witherell

Community Expert

Umm. You do know you can google a font and download it from thousands of websites? (I know, I know...!)

Mike Witherell

Brad @ Roaring Mouse

Community Expert

Soooooo...

What are you doing to have this error come up?

1. Are you importing a Word document into ID?

2. Are you opening an existing ID file from a previous Mac system?

In the first case, if the fonts are being used in a Word document, especially a recent one using current Office versions, the fonts used in it are likely MICROSOFT's Cloud Fonts, or previous fonts that were embedded by whoever created that Word document. These can ONLY be used in the Microsoft documents, and are not available for other applications. You can test this by opening the Word document (since you say you've installed that). If, say, Edwardian Script is listed in the font menu and it is showing correctly on the screen, the font is coming from the (Microsoft) Cloud. You might also see other fonts in the list with little cloud icons beside. If you try to use any of those, the font will then be "downloaded" (i.e. cached locally) for use in Office programs on your computer "offline". This does not make it available elsewhere. [I just did a check and, yes, Edwardian Script is listed as one of their current Cloud fonts. Not sure about the other as I believe you might have misspelled it. Do you mean Lucida? In which case, same scenario.]

As for #2. If this is an old file, then whatever computer that it was created on had those fonts installed in it at that time, wherever they may have come from. If you still have access to that computer, see if you can locate and copy the fonts over to your new machine. I know that the original* Lucida did come from Adobe at one point in its history, but certainly not in many many years. (*I suspect the rights to that face moved around a lot, as the original designers kept tweaking the typeface family anyway, so even they don't list the original on their webpage.. it has morphed into Lucida Serif and others)

S

ShazzaV

Participant

Hi @Brad @ Roaring Mouse.

The original message about indesign was not mine - I just searched for a
similar problem to see if anyone else had an answer. The only answer I
could get was that these fonts are discontinued and now I have to license
them from the makers.

I have a subscription now and i'm using photoshop and illustrator. I have
been using these programs for many years and joined the subscription in
2019.
I was using the font in my website as part of my branding.

I opened the photoshop to use it the other day - to continue working on a
project that I had created in photoshop - and it said Edwardian script
does not exist - not longer supported. I don't recall getting any
notification about fonts being discontinued, which for most graphic
designers would be a big issue.

I appreciate your time to make a response. But right now it seems my best
solution is to vectorize my branded material and use an old version of the
program that does still have these fonts in it's library. Fortunately I
have an older version installed from disk on my computer.

Sharon

Brad @ Roaring Mouse

Community Expert

I was replying to the OP, but let's look at your situation. I know no situation or previous software of Adobe where Edwardian would have been installed. From what I see, it came with Microsoft products as a TrueType font. (fyi, I just loaded my own and it works just fine on Photoshop CC2021). But if you have a brand new system, or somehow have a weird Type 1 version of it, then yes, you're going to have to obtain it somewhere. Microsoft no longer installs fonts with their current products as they have moved to Cloud-based. Still, there's nothing to say you can't copy an old font file from an old system.

What's your System and are you using any sort of font manager?

T

Test Screen Name

Legend

Why do you think Adobe took away any fonts? (Though they do add and remove fonts to the Adobe Fonts service all the time).

Are you assuming that all computers will just have the same fonts?

S

ShazzaV

Participant

So let me get this straight.

Adobe takes down fonts that we have been using for many years without telling us - and now we have to pay to use them?

What exactly am I paying a subscription for ?

What a nightmare - I have so many files with that as a font.

S

BobLevine

Community Expert

That is not how fonts work. They are no different than any other piece of software.

As already pointed out they are not Adobe fonts and had nothing to do with your InDesign subscription. You might benefit from a bit of research on this topic because you clearly don't understand it.