I need help finding a specific Helvetica font.

[Simpson99]

Hello,

I have a PDF which i am trying to edit in Adobe illustrator

When the PDF loads it says: "The font Helvetica is missing.  Affected text will be displayed using a substitute font"

In Adobe Reader, Properties/Fonts the font in question is called:

Helvetica  (Embeded Subset)

Type: Type 1

Encoding: Ansi

I am unable to locate a matching font in the Adobe Store

Does anyone have any ideas as to how to match this font?

(There were two other fonts I was able to match - Helvetica-Bold and Helvetica-BoldOblique because the names matched a font on the font store)

Thanks for your help

Stephen Simpson

[company affiliation removed by host[

[Dov Isaacs]

First of all, please note that Adobe Illustrator is not, repeat not, repeat yet once again not a general purpose PDF file editor. The only PDF files that Adobe Illustrator can very reliably edit are PDF files saved from either the same or earlier version of Adobe Illustrator using the editability option. When that option is specified, the real Adobe Illustrator format is saved as private data within the PDF file and it is that private data which is used for the editing, not the actual PDF text. Otherwise, although Illustrator does attempt to provide editing services for the PDF, there are some constructs that are not part of Illustrator's document model. Some content may be lost or modified. Colors may be converted. (Note that except for content placed via links, Illustrator only supports either CMYK or RGB, not any mixture of same.)

Regardless of whether a font is embedded in a PDF file, Illustrator requires that any fonts referenced in an Illustrator PDF file must be installed on your system; the embedded font is never used by Illustrator. Helvetica Type 1 font is one of the original Base 13 fonts from PostScript. Such fonts are not licensed directly on Adobe.com anymore, but they can be licensed through Linotype and other font vendors. Alternatively, you can license the OpenType versions from Adobe, Helvetica Std, and change your content to use those fonts.

          - Dov

[anindoc67367855]

Dov,

While that is helpful, it is quite typical of the responses we get from tech people. It makes no sense to have over a hundred font options and not a common one like Helvetica, especially if earlier versions of AI have it, and there may be compatibility issues. Why eliminate a font? You have no idea how much trouble this is causing:

I've been a loyal Adobe user and purchaser for years, starting with AI 10. I have CS3 on my office desktop and CS5 on my laptop because I bought AI for my laptop later. Now, I have these files depicting summarized scientific results made with CS3 and I am 1000+ miles away from my lab, and naturally I am trying to open the files on my laptop, and I have hundreds of lines of gibberish boxes with Xs in them (Adobe said it 'replaced' the original font with Myriad Pro but it clearly did not work). So, my suggestion is this: you have a sophisticated and expensive program, why not at least have a substitute font that actually works?

Frankly, while I am an amateur when it comes to Adobe, you people are the professionals with the tech savvy, you should be able to come up with a solution that does not require the kinds of steps you are suggesting. All that is required is a simple font substitution that actually works. And no, I am not using AI to edit pdfs. I am having the problems with the actual .ai files.

Cheers

Anindo

[Dov Isaacs]

Anindo,

I definitely respect the problems and issues you are experiencing. I often comment in various presentations that ‘font‘ is a four letter word beginning with an ‘f‘ …

FWIW, Helvetica was not bundled with any Adobe end user product for many years (probably at least 15 years). It definitely was not bundled with Illustrator 10! However, what is also true is that if you do have a font bundled with Adobe software and upgrade that software, Adobe's uninstallers do not uninstall those fonts and you do have the right to continue to use those fonts even if the upgrade versions of the software do not include that font.

Helvetica is probably the best/worst example of problems associated with fonts and the naming and licensing of same.

Adobe licensed the Linotype version of Helvetica for its OEM Adobe PostScript technology and included the font in Type 1 format in Adobe PostScript printers, early versions of Acrobat, and some other Adobe applications. Even today, many Adobe PostScript OEMs will supply those same faces of Helvetica as “host fonts” for their printer/RIP customers in Type 1 format for Windows and MacOS.

However, Apple also released a similar (not exactly the same) version of Helvetica with the exact same name, but in TrueType format for MacOS, causing major problems for users of the “Adobe” version of Helvetica due to subtle differences in metrics and encoding.

On the other side, Microsoft wanted a Helvetica-like font for Windows 3.1 in Windows TrueType format and didn't want to license the font from Linotype. Thus, they and Monotype (which ironically now owns Linotype) hacked up a version of Arial to match the metrics of Helvetica and serve as a “work-alike” Helvetica replacement. Ugghh!

And of course, you can license any number of Helvetica and Helvetica-Neue fonts from any number of different sources - each of which is subtlety different from each other.

Yes, the issue of fonts is very difficult. What it does mean is that you must be very careful to keep strict control and backup of your font resources because you cannot count on those same resources being available into the indefinite future. And these aren't “tech people issues” but rather, issues of marketing.

In terms of the particular issue you cite, square boxes with an ‘X’ in them is what is called a .notdef character. If Illustrator or any other Adobe application replaced a missing Helvetica with Myriad Pro and you saw .notdef characters, the problem isn't the replacement font as much as the encoding of the original font. Even if you had the original Helvetica installed on your system, you might see the same issue! Almost sounds like an attempt to edit an arbitrary PDF file page in Illustrator where the PDF file had Helvetica encoded in some uncommon manner.

If you have an example that you would like to share with me, you can contact me privately via the forum's message facility and provide a pointer to where I could download the file from.

            - Dov

[chelebell0825]

Try www.fontyukle.com, they have a great selection of fonts.

Also, if you just need to modify other parts of the .pdf file in Illustrator (not the text itself), you can select File>Place and check the box that says "Link", then place your file. Then (with your linked image selected) go to Object>Flatten Transparency and check the box that says "Convert All Text to Outlines" and click OK. This will outline all of the text in your file without you having all of the fonts installed on your machine.

[juiceguentzler3]

Dude, you just helped me w/ the link idea after hours of struggling....Thanks!!!