Expert: Candice Anderson - 11/21/2007

Question
QUESTION: Hi Candice,

I have been using InDesign around 2 months now; and I am facing a major problem of fonts not reflecting in InDesign CS3. My query is very much similar to this one-

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Adobe-Indesign-1839/fonts-InDesign-2.htm

and I tried to solve it by applying the solution provided here-by installing all the fonts in InDesign font folder without desired result.

I want to install 'Avenir'font with all its variations. I have tried it by the regular way by installing them in the hard drive-fonts folder and afterwards as I said earlier by installing them in InDesign fonts folder. Although I can see and use all the variations of Avenir in photoshop, in InDesign I get only 'oblique' version of all fonts in the character formatting controls, so is thetre any other way to solve this? It will be a great help to me.

-Supriya

ANSWER: Hey there,

forgot the last question. I'm looked it up and it seems that you need to clean out your font caches. Something hasn't been updated, and cleaning out your chaches, like you would on your internet programs, will update everything. This is how:

Font Cache troubleshooting

If your fonts are not appearing correctly in the font menu or in documents (“garbled” is a common term for this), then one of the best solutions is to clear your font cache. Depending upon your system and application programs, this may entail deleting multiple font cache files.

What is a font cache file?
These are files used by the operating system and certain applications to keep track of what fonts are installed. If the font cache gets corrupted a variety of problems can ensue, including fonts not appearing in the font list in an application, or wrong fonts (or missing fonts) in documents.

How to clear the font cache
The best approach to delete the font cache file(s). It’s OK to delete these files, as they will automatically be restored once your system is restarted, or when you relaunch an application.

Windows 2000/XP/Vista
The Windows operating system has a font cache file that is located here:
C:\Windows\System32\FNTCACHE.DAT
Delete this file, and restart your system. A new FNTCACHE.DAT file will be created on startup.

Mac OS X
The Mac OS X operating system has numerous font cache files. The easiest way to automatically reset all the font cache files in Mac OS X 10.4 (“Tiger”) and later is to restart in Safe Mode (also known as a “Safe Boot”):
• Shut the computer off.
• Press the power button.
• Immediately after hearing the startup tone, hold down the SHIFT key.
• Release the SHIFT key after the Apple logo and spinning gear (progress indicator).
• Restart the computer without holding down any keys.

For older Mac OS X versions, or to manually remove the font cache files, they are found here:
• com.apple.ATS.System.fcache
• com.apple.ATSServer.FODB_System
• /Library/Caches/com.apple.ATS
• /Library/Caches/com.apple.ATS/501/Classic.fcache
• /Library/Caches/com.apple.ATS/501/Local.fcache
• /Library/Caches/com.apple.ATS/501/System.fcache
• /Library/Caches/com.apple.ATS/501/FondResourceCache
• /Library/Preferences folder: com.apple.ATS.plist
• /System/Library/Caches/com.apple.ATS.System.fcache
• /System/Library/Caches/fontTablesAnnex

Application Font Caches:
Mac Office
\Users\User_name\Library\Preferences\Microsoft – delete the “Office Font Cache (10)” or “Office Font Cache (11)” file.

Adobe Acrobat, Creative Suite
Search your computer for “adobefnt*.lst” file(s). Delete all these files. (note that this works on both Mac OS X and Windows systems)



Another solution is to put the font in the Indesign program folder itself. I'm not sure if that will work, but I saw it on google, looks like it could ;)

Candice

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi candice,

sadly I did everything but am still continuing with my problem. :(

Supriya

Answer
ok,

Start off with updating your adobe files, just to make sure no updates to fix this has come up.

The only other thing I can think is that it may be the font itself. I have the same problem with my Illustrator fonts sometimes. If it was a free font, some programs won't take it due to licensing, it's too old, there's missing information, or because it sucks. Fonts you pay for should never have that problem. So...

First try: look at the font, is there numbers or dashes at the beginning or end of the font? Take them out and rename the font. Then put the font in. If not:

If it's a free font:
Go get it somewhere else.

If you paid for it:
Call Adobe and see what they suggest doing. It may be something silly easy that no one's thinking about.

If it came from a friend, but wasn't a freebie: Get the font again.


evil fonts.

Candice