Fonts with same names not working

[CES020]

Okay, fonts aren't a strong point for me, so forgive me for asking what may be a really stupid font related question.

I have a file that a customer sent me and when I try to bring the pdf into illustrator to the work I need to do, it tells me the fonts "Helvetica-Bold" and "Times-Roman" are not installed.

However, I have both fonts showing up in my font list. I suspect it's because it's from a different foundry (?????), but none the less, I'm stumped on how to overcome this problem. I bought Minion a while back, before I had Illustrator and a repeat customer kept sending me files with Minion in it. However, every time I try to open it, it says the font isn't installed, even though I can use it myself.

So my only guess is they are from different sources and there's some bit of code that isn't right that shows them as being different.

Any solutions for this?

 

[Steve C.]

I don't think you can install fonts with the same name in the Font Folder.
How many fonts do you have installed? If you have over 4-6 hundred sometimes
it will cause fonts to act weird.

 

[CES020]

I don't think I'm trying to install fonts with the same names. I've only got 1 font installed, but when it tries to open the file, it tells me the font isn't installed. Yet, I can close that out, click on text, and pull the font right up.

 

[SebastienL]

LOL, I have about 4 version of both HELL-vetica and Times on my computer.

To resolve your problem, you can use the Vector doctor place PDF trick:
http://www.signs101.com/forums/showthread.php?p=106514#post106514

Or, from the illustrator menu: Type---Find font

You will see a list of the font in the document. You can select one font on the top and replace it with a font already installed on your system in the bottom field.

If you don't have to edit the text, The Vector Doctor Trick is the way to go!

 

[CES020]

Thanks, I'll give all that a try after the job is done, I just spent 10 minutes searching for Eric's trick before you posted this and it worked out (at least I think it worked ).

I'll revisit this once the job is out and I can spend a little time with it, as you mentioned a couple of things I haven't had any experience with and I'd like to learn it.

Thanks!
Steve

 

[Colin]

Never accept files with fonts. Have them prepare the file so that all fonts are converted to curves/paths.

I get this all the time when people send me Word documents with their "design ideas". Grrr.

 

[Rodi]

I would not advise clients to create to outline, they will save the original document and you have no editing. Have them supply the fonts, or just figure on certain sets for certain clients, that has worked quite well for me.

 

[The Vector Doctor]

I would not advise clients to create to outline, they will save the original document and you have no editing. Have them supply the fonts, or just figure on certain sets for certain clients, that has worked quite well for me.

Most font EULA's prohibit you from doing this. Or you are supposed to delete the font from your HD after completing the job. Yeah right

Fonts can come from many sources and even with the same name so even though it is called Helvetica in the file and you own Helvetica, you can run into problems

I have had pdfs with live fonts and it says something like font TT10102023.TTF is missing and when I look at the actual file it is nothing more than Times, Arial or some other simple font. Some programs alter font naming when converted to pdf's.

 

[SebastienL]

I have had pdfs with live fonts and it says something like font TT10102023.TTF is missing and when I look at the actual file it is nothing more than Times, Arial or some other simple font. Some programs alter font naming when converted to pdf's.

Most likely from Powerpoint. I have a customer that used to send us .ppt files to print 16' x 16' bilboard from. After I complained that I couldn't do s**t with his files, he started sending us pdfs. Of course, exported from Powerpoint! When I opened these pdfs in Illy, I got those crazy number font names and a whole lot of rectangles with the X in the center all lined up. But someone here directed me to a thread on this very forum that talked about this magic trick in Illy described by a non-raster health specialist... solved the problem.



Hey, I just found where Fred hides these crazy big smilies