Legend

Announcement – Adobe Ends Support for Type 1 Fonts for Content Editing & Creation

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
February 4, 2021
15 replies
17869 views

Adobe has announced its intention to end support for Type 1 fonts in January 2023. The full announcement may be found at Type 1 Font Announcement. We strongly recommend that any user of Adobe Creative Cloud applications as well as Adobe FrameMaker read this announcement and plan accordingly.

While you can continue using Type 1 fonts until January 2023, we encourage you to explore alternative fonts in the interim so that you can make a smooth transition when support for these fonts is removed.

Some further considerations and clarifications:

(1) Adobe has already deprecated support for Type 1 fonts in Photoshop in 2021. Microsoft totally eliminated support for Type 1 fonts in Microsoft Office on Windows a number of years ago.

(2) Type 1 fonts are an integral part of the PostScript and PDF specifications . Neither PostScript nor PDF are affected by this announcement. PostScript, Adobe PDF Print Engine, and Adobe Embedded Print Engine-based RIPs/DFEs and printers will by definition continue to support Type 1 fonts.

(3) Adobe PDF-based products including Adobe Acrobat Reader, Adobe Acrobat Standard, Adobe Acrobat Pro, and the Adobe Mobile Readers (iOS and Android) will continue to support the display, printing, and text editing of PDF files using Type 1 fonts. This is required by the ISO PDF specification.

(4) Even with the deprecation of Type 1 font support in applications such as InDesign, Illustrator, and FrameMaker in January 2023, you will still be able to place EPS and PDF content with embedded Type 1 fonts into these application documents and subsequently be able to display, print, and export PDF content from same.

(5) The Adobe Fonts service never has supported Type 1 fonts in any manner whatsoever. Thus, if you are using fonts from Adobe Fonts, you are not affected at all by this announcement!

(6) The announcement applies strictly to new releases beginning in January 2023. It does not affect support for Type 1 fonts in earlier releases. Thus, you can continue to use Type 1 fonts for editing legacy documents after January 2023. Of course, given the continual incompatible operating system updates by Apple for MacOS and increasingly by Microsoft for Windows, the ability to run these older versions may be limited as time goes on. Furthermore, it is possible that Apple and Microsoft may also discontinue support for Type 1 fonts in the future.

The bottom line is that we are encouraging users of Adobe products to examine existing source documents (i.e., not PDF or EPS with embedded fonts) for use of Type 1 fonts and make appropriate formatting updates as soon as possible to minimize problems beginning in January 2023.

This topic has been closed for replies.

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Pip278706691ztr

Participant

I hope someone can help clarify for me:

(4) Even with the deprecation of Type 1 font support in [...] FrameMaker in January 2023, you will still be able to place EPS and PDF content with embedded Type 1 fonts into these application documents and subsequently be able to display, print, and export PDF content from same.

(6) The announcement applies strictly to new releases beginning in January 2023. It does not affect support for Type 1 fonts in earlier releases. Thus, you can continue to use Type 1 fonts for editing legacy documents after January 2023. [...]

So, if I have and use FrameMaker 2019, and I use Type 1 fonts such as Helvetica,

a) will old documents with Type 1 fonts in Frame continue to function, as "legacy", and

b) if I create new documents, but in Frame 2019, will they also continue to function because it's not a new release, it's good ol' Frame 2019?

Hope this makes sense - having a hard time finding an answer to which part applies to my situation.

Thanks for any assitance you can offer!

G

Graydesigns

Participating Frequently

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to get some font advice if that is possible. I have been a graphic designer for 25 years now so have lots of fonts, so a bit stressed about the new Adobe Changes for 2023.

• My first question is in my Suitcase Fusion I can see fronts labels as (OpenType - TT) and (OpenType PS) I’m confused as to why there is a TT and PS, I know that stands for TrueType and PostScript. Would both be acceptable for Adobe with the new 2023 rules or should I just stick with OpenType TT?

• My second question is, are Truetype fonts ok re the change going forward with Adobe or should I stick with OpenType?

Thank you so much, I really appreciate any advice, I run a graphic design business from home so a bit stressed about making sure I make the right decision with the fonts going forward.

Cheers

Andrew

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JoBo

Known Participant

As long as you don't use Type 1 fonts you will be ok. OpenType PS are not Type 1. But try to use OpenType even though TT are ok as well...for the moment.

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Graydesigns

Participating Frequently

Thank you 🙂

K

Kathleen22662965p9e0

Participant

This is an outrage. Postscript and the resulting Type 1 font standard is what really put Adobe in business. Prior to that, the general design community had only bitmap typefaces, unacceptable for professional work. Then there is the money; years of investing in Type 1 fonts. Even worse, thousands of portfolio pieces dependent on this standard. Sometimes those pieces need to be updated. Portfolio pieces are a large part for designers and art directors to get jobs. And now, in the same year, Adobe is dropping support for PANTONE colors? This is another industry standard relied on for years. It's as if Adobe executives suddenly have no regard for customers who have put them in those highly paid positions.

Abambo

Community Expert

Did anyone tell you that Adobe stopped issuing new Type 1 fonts 25 years ago?

This is an outrage. Postscript and the resulting Type 1 font standard is what really put Adobe in business.

By @Kathleen22662965p9e0

I doubt that, but as you are there: The True Type standard has been developed by Microsoft and Apple to counter the quasi Type 1 vector font monopoly from Adobe. There is always competition. 😉

Open Type fonts address some problems inherent to Type 1 fonts:

Number of characters that a font file can include; you see Type 1 fonts for different language regions!
Several languages require a huge number of characters (Chinese, for example). With an OTF CFF (successor of Type 1) you can include in the same font file Chinese (TC and SC), Japanese and Korean.

Open Type fonts also address problems inherent to TTF fonts, notably exchangeability between macOS and Windows computers.

Open type fonts are an evolution of the computer font technologies. I wonder why you do not find it outrageous, not to support the different bitmap font standards? I got a nice collection with my first HP inkjet printer a couple of decades ago.

And now, in the same year, Adobe is dropping support for PANTONE colors? This is another industry standard relied on for years. It's as if Adobe executives suddenly have no regard for customers who have put them in those highly paid positions.

By @Kathleen22662965p9e0

Maybe the drop of PANTONE colours is not related to this. Pantone is a company making money from ink that they sold to industrial printers. That business broke away with the arrival of digital printing. So, what does a company do when it's business breaks away? It looks for new business opportunities. So, Pantone sells a product, of inferior quality according to some specialists, that does what the PANTONE colour codes did for free* in the Adobe products. I'm certain that Adobe would have wanted to continue the licensing deal with Adobe, for part of their monthly revenue. And I'm convinced that the part asked was higher than what Adobe was prepared to pay.

*I'm convinced that Pantone granted a licence for free as long as the printers paid for the ink.

ABAMBO | Hard- and Software Engineer | Photographer

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Joan24767899qssl

Participant

I hate to be the only person who is a bit upset by all this...I've been using Macs for over 20 years. Fonts migrated from computer to computer with little or no problem. I actually have clients from a decade ago that will need something done to an old file before reprinting. If the font will not be called out with the name of what is missing like it does now (am I wrong??) this is going to be very difficult. After 20 years I don't even know what I actually own or where I would have kept that information. Any suggestions for people that are 'vintage' users??

Abambo

Community Expert

Sorry about that, but Adobe did support the depreciated Type 1 fonts for now about a quarter-century, after the successor technology was available. My only counsel I can give you is to keep an old version (the now current) of InDesign and Illustrator on your machine(s), just in case it will be needed.

ABAMBO | Hard- and Software Engineer | Photographer

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JoBo

Known Participant

Ok, but how long do you think that older versions (todays versions) of Indesign will be able to log in to CC?

I

Ignatius Fay

Inspiring

Is there a relatively easy way to identify which of my typefaces are type 1 without examining each individually? Then I could get on with replacing them.

Thanks in advance.

Ignatius

Abambo

Community Expert

Is there a relatively easy way to identify which of my typefaces are type 1 without examining each individually? Then I could get on with replacing them.

Thanks in advance.

Ignatius

By @Ignatius Fay

Windows: Open type fonts have the extension .OTF, True Type fonts .TTF.

Type 1 fonts have a triplet of .AFM/.PFB/.PFM extensions. .PFM is the Type 1 font file, the other 2 are helper files.

Applications like InDesign tell you about the problematic fonts. You will need to be careful with upgrading, the 2023 version will not support Type 1 any more. I suggest that you check all current files for Type 1 use and to replace those files with their respective OTF counterpart. Font names will probably change slightly.

https://helpx.adobe.com/fonts/kb/postscript-type-1-fonts-end-of-support.html

ABAMBO | Hard- and Software Engineer | Photographer

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adamtwar

Known Participant

My understanding is that the you are legally allowed to use an app such as TransType to convert the Type 1 fonts from the Adobe Font Folio package into OpenType, provided that you then use the resulting OTF fonts according to the terms of the original EULA. From the Adobe Font Folio 11 EULA:

»14.7.4 You may convert and install the font software into another format for use in other environments, subject to the following conditions: A computer on which the converted font software is used or installed will be considered as one of your Permitted Number of Computers. Use of the font software you have converted will be pursuant to all the terms and conditions of this agreement. Such converted font software may be used only for your own customary internal business or personal use and may not be distributed or transferred for any purpose, except in accordance with Section 4.4 of this agreement.«

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Jonas Bohlin

Participant

How about Font Folio 7?

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adamtwar

Known Participant

Jonas,

if you have FontFolio 7 (I don’t), please kindly check its EULA and share your findings. 🙂

J

JoBo

Known Participant

Hi!

It would be nice if there was a simple way of upgrade our Font Folio 7 and/or some easy available information if with case we actually need to upgrade. We have the Font Folio 7 CD but we dont know what to do with it.

Met1

Legend

There is, it's called Adobe Font Folio 11.1...

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Jonas Bohlin

Participant

We dont need another Font Folio. We need to convert type 1 to OTF.

Carol F Metzger

Inspiring

Here's a new one for me. All the spreadsheets on my desktop Mac displayed empty cells that were not supposed to be empty. This happened in Numbers and in Excel, so it could not have been either an Apple or a Microsoft issue.
The Numbers files were normal on my phone. On the iMac, even the backups were not displaying data.
The data came back when I changed the font.
One of the invisible fonts was Times Roman from the System's "True Type Collection."
But wait, there's more. Almost all my Apple system fonts are True Type (.ttf) (Catalina). What am I supposed to do about that?

A

adamtwar

Known Participant

TrueType is Apple’s font format, from which OpenType evolved. Microsoft owns the OpenType trademark, Apple owns the TrueType trademark, but the font formats are mutually compatible (it’s mostly a “branding” issue). However, if you have Apple’s “Times Roman” installed, and you also have another font named “Times Roman” installed (for example a Type 1 font), then you may get the problems.

Carol F Metzger

Inspiring

I got so confused I mixed up ttf with ps. What a morning!

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tonyr3704728

Known Participant

Thanks everyone for their replies. I will need to think about what direction I do take. We purchased the whole Adoble fonts set way back in 1996 and have been using then ever since. They were purchased directly from Adobe so they are the originals. I dare sya that Adobe won't let us 'update them' or will they?

We obvioulsy have purchased other fonts along the way but we always look through our Type 1 fonts if we need to open another first.

I just loooked at the Helvetica I have open and yes it is owned by Linotype but it Truetype so that must be the the font that came with this mac and that will be Ok right.

This is only going to affect Type one fonts right? Truetype and Opentype will be OK. Do I have that right?

So if I go through as mentioned, Font by font, which will be very painful, and replace our type 1 fonts only that should get us out of trouble. IS that right?

Thanks

Tony

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adamtwar

Known Participant

As far as I remember, the Adobe Font Folio collection had a EULA that permitted conversion and modifications, as long as the resulting font was only used on the machines for which the original font was licensed.

The OpenType versions of Adobe, Linotype and Monotype fonts adopted a new family naming schemes (with a Std or Pro suffix) so they won't work with old documents.

On the other hand, this means that you can convert the FontFolio fonts with an affordable app like TransType, and then you can consider gradually purchasing some fonts in their better, company-made OprnType versions — and you can install both the purchased and converted versions without conflict.

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adamtwar

Known Participant

For many years, Adobe had licensing deals with Linotype, Monotype and ITC. All those companies are now part of Monotype. I think Adobe no longer sells individual fonts and licensing deals don't cover the Adobe Fonts subscription offering, I believe. The best place to get the new OpenType versions would be MyFonts (I'm one of the co-creators of that service, but am no longer working there).

When Adobe created the OpenType versions of their own originals and of the licensed Linotype, Monotype and ITC fonts 20 years ago, the families were restructured. Some fonts were merged (e.g. the Expert and Cyrillic fonts were merged into the basic fonts, which was possible thanks to Unicode support). But this meant that there was no longer a 1:1 correspondence between the old Type 1 fonts and the new OpenType fonts.

So Adobe introduced the Std and Pro suffixes. Those meant that users could install both the Type 1 and the OpenType versions at the same time. (Which means that OT fonts that you convert from Type 1 fonts will work alongside the MyFonts-purchased OT fonts.)

The idea was that you'd still be able to open and edit old documents, but for new documents you'd gradually switch to the new fonts — but there was no automatic process.

While supporting the Type 1 format is not hard in software, it's still tedious to maintain a completely different codebase. This contributes to software bloat and whenever a company makes a new version of the app, they need to test the old functionality as well. Also the old code needs to be rewritten whenever you go from 16-bit to 32-bit to 64-bit architectures etc.

So in the end, there are good reasons for a company to drop support for an obsolete format. Also Mac Type 1 fonts had a very particular structure, with much info stored in the so-called resource fork. This format of packaging is no longer really supported by Apple and sooner or later your fonts will not work at all on macOS.

As someone who has been working in the font & software industry for 20+ years, I can say that I fully understand that Adobe is dropping a font format that they themselves declared obsolete in 1999.

Type 1 fonts are now longer "obsolete" (22 years) than they were "not obsolete" (15 years).

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tonyr3704728

Known Participant

Hi there, if Adobe are stopping the support for Type 1 fonts in 2023, how will we use fonts like good old helvetica that are not available on Adobe fonts.