How do I install Variable fonts for use in Illustrator, InDesign, etc.

[SS000]

Hello...

How do I install a variable font so i can use it in CC? (I do not need it for web design.) The free ones I can download (open license) include a TTF file and some WOFF files. The TTF file does not install in Windows.

What do i do with them? Where do i put them?

Thanks.

[Derek Cross]

For InDesign you need CC2020. These fonts have their own icon – the Open Type symbol with the letters VAR.

See screenshot below. InDesign CC2020 comes with some already installed  and you can get some others by searching the web, for example: https://v-fonts.com

Having selected your variable font and highlighted the text you want to apply it to, you select the drop down widget that appears, and you can change the weight and other variances there. See the second screen shot below.

[Steve Werner]

Derek is correct. Support for variable fonts started with Illustrator CC 2019 and Photoshop CC 2019. And with InDesign with InDesign 2020.

[SS000]

Thanks...but I have CC20 and I know how to use the ones already bundled. What I need to know is how to install additional ones.

Steve

[Test Screen Name]

Please link to one of these variable fonts that is giving you a problem, so we can check whether it is the right kind of font.

[SS000]

This is the website that has them: 

https://v-fonts.com/

And this is the link to one of the open source fonts...just an example...there were many listed on the above site.

https://github.com/sursly/league-spartan

Thanks.

Steve

[SS000]

One more thing to clarify my question:

I understand how to add and use variable fonts in CSS. That is not what I am asking.

What I don't understand is how to add new variable fonts to the list of available fonts in CC20 apps: Illustrator and InDesign in particular...which files to use and where to place them on my computer...apparently not in the Windows font directory.

SS

[Peter Villevoye]

I haven't been able to check out the exact requirements and possible pitfalls for using variable fonts in InDesign 2020 yet, but I guess the rules are the same as in Illustrator: the file format needs to be an OpenType font – not a TTF, nor a WOFF (these are indeed web-inclined). Unfortunately, most of the free or trial variable font stuff development is based on these TrueTypes.

An interesting three years-old article on the technology behind variable fonts (I didn't understand it completely), gave me enough indications that these variable fonts can be quite messy. And with most of the download urls pointing to opensource GitHub repositories, I reluctantly refrain from using these wild cats...

[Laubender]

Hi,

Im on Windows 10 with InDesign 2020 version 15.0.0.155 and I have no issue with this League Spartan Variable font saved as TTF file. I just saved it with a Document fonts folder and my InDesign is recognizing it as variable font with 8 main font styles. It seems that this font has one single design axes, weight:

Regards,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

[SS000]

Laubender...

Thanks for your input...you seem to be able to make it work.

However, how do you save it? When I tried to install LeagueSpartanVariable.ttf, Windows says it "does not appear to be a valid font file?".

Are you saving to to a specific directory rather than using the usual way to install a file? (Are you just copying it to the Windows font directory?)

Steve

[SS000]

Oops.. I just re-read your post...I'll try saving it to the Documents Font folder.

(I really need to read mroe carefully.)

Steve

[SS000]

Me again...sorry...but I cannot figure out where to copy them. I copied LeagueSpartanVariable.ttf to the InDesign2020/fonts folder, but that did not work.

[Laubender]

Hi,

no. I did not install the font file to my Windows system. I just used it for InDesign only. The most subtle way you can do it: I stored it to a Document fonts folder in the same folder where my InDesign document could pick it up. It should work with the InDesign's Fonts folder in InDesign's application folder as well.

Regards,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

[Laubender]

SS000 said:

Me again...sorry...but I cannot figure out where to copy them. I copied LeagueSpartanVariable.ttf to the InDesign2020/fonts folder, but that did not work.

Just tested this with my InDesign 2020 on Windows 10.

It's working as expected.

Here an untitled document that has no access to any Document fonts folder.

The font is showing up:

Hm.

Did you restart InDesign 2020 after moving the font file to the application's fonts folder?

Regards,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

[SS000]

Hi...

I am totally stumped. I did restart InDesign with the file LeagueSpartanVariable.ttf in the Indesign2020/font folder...even added the OTF indivdual files. None showed up. I tried several other Font folders in the Adobe section of both Program Files and Program FilesX86, including Common Files/Adobe/Saved Fonts/Current.

Nothing works.

Just checking: Are saying this worked with only the LeagueSpartanVariable.ttf in the Indesign2020/font folder and no other files needed anywhere else? I'll try it again. And I'll restart my computer before doing it.

SS -- and thanks for your patience.

[Laubender]

Exactly. I did a subfolder in InDesign's Fonts folder and copied the file LeagueSpartanVariable.ttf  to it.

No other file. Just LeagueSpartanVariable.ttf

Regards,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

[SS000]

Hi...

I appreciate all the time you have spent, but I cannot make this happen. Apparently my InDesign (and Illustrator) are looking somewhere else for additional fonts. I'm not exactly going to give up...but over the next week or so, I'll try putting the file in each of the more than a dozen "fonts" folders in the Adobe directory, one at a time. I can't find any setting that directs the apps to find extra fonts in any specific directory.

Thanks again.

Steve

[Laubender]

Hi,
I'm out of ideas.

Can only tell it's working on my German Windows 10 Pro version 1903, build 18362.418

Can also install it with my system so that InDesign 2020, Illustrator CC2019, 2020 and PhotoShop CC2019, 2020 can work with it.

Regards,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

[Barb Binder]

Does anyone know how do you pronouce Acumin? I've always used a hard c, but I heard Terry White use a soft c yesterday and now I'm confused!!

~Barb

[Steve Werner]

I would pronounce it like you, based on the fact that it seems to be related to the English word "acumen," which is pronounced with a hard c:

How to pronounce ACUMEN in English - Cambridge Dictionaryhttps://dictionary.cambridge.org › pronunci...

[Barb Binder]

Thank you, Steve. I'm presenting on what's new in InDesign at the Denver user group next week and it would be nice for me to say it correctly. 😊

~Barb