Missing Fonts in Illustrator CS4

I have been having an issue with the "missing font"
My problem is that Illustrator recognizes the fonts sometimes and not other times. I have had no problems for the past week or so and I just restarted my computer and now a number of fonts that worked fine suddenly are replaced with the "missing font" default.
The fonts I'm currently concerned with are all in the default LaTeX family (i.e. cmr10, cmmi10, cmbx10, etc...) I have all of them installed on my computer and they work fine in every other application.
Does anyone have any idea what is going on or how I can solve this problem? Why does illustrator "lose" them and how do I get them back? !!
Thanks!

Thanks for the link. I'm actually using Windows 7 and in the mean time my illustrator "found" the fonts again (still can't figure out why). I don't know how well the solutions for the Mac OS will work but I'll take a look. If anyone else comes up with an answer I'd love to hear it!
Thanks!

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Replace missing fonts in photoshop cs4

Is there a way to find and replace all missing fonts in Photoshop CS4?
Please help.
Elizabeth

if you wish to use that font (ie not substitute it) install the font on your mac...:
check here: http://www.fontyukle.net
great source...
G

How can I use my fonts in Illustrator (CS4) without Suitcase?

How can I use my fonts in Illustrator (CS4) without Suitcase? InDesign has a fonts folder, but not Illustrator.

i found this info from this link: http://forums.adobe.com/message/3466307. The user who asked this question stats this solution worked for them.
First in Language and text preferences in the system preferences select Hebrew as the input method.
The in Illustrator click the text tool in your document or drag to create a text frame.
While the cursor is active select a hebrew font
then go to the menu bar for the finder and where there is the American Flag pull it down and select hebrew
now go back to the document and start typing.
Remember if you do not have the ME version you have to have it flush right and type backwards.

Missing fonts in InDesign CS4 - even when 'open' in Suitcase Fusion 3

Hi all, I'm running InDesign CS4 on a Intel Mac Pro (tower), about 4 years old, running OSX Snow Leopard (all updates applied).
Using Suitcase Fusion V3 for font management.
I have a document that previously had no font issues at all. Now when I open it InDesign throws up a 'Missing font' error.
I have the correct fonts installed and 'open' in Suitcase Fusion.
The font is available in Simpletext and Pages, but not InDesign and Illustrator.
The troublesome font was OK the other day and has been since it was installed.
I've not changed anything that I'm aware of... but now InDesign won't 'see' the font.
In the 'Find Font' dialogue box the 'Path' says it's 'Unkown or missing'.
InDesign can see the other weights in the font family (bold, italic etc) but not regular. And yet the entire font family is in the same folder on my hard drive.
I've tried deleting all the' Adobe.lst' files. No Joy.
I've run Font Doctor on the whole font family, its says it's OK.
I've tried re-installing the font from a back-up. Nada.
If anyone has any suggestions..... feel free to let rip!
As ever, I await your expertise and unstinting knowledge in these matters And, needless to say, I'll be mighty appreciative for it!
RP

Hi Bob, strangely... I've put the troublesome font, Dax (T1) Regular, in the Applications/Adobe InDesign CS4/Fonts folder and it seems to be working.
Never had to do that before.
Would be great to get back to 'normal'. If possible.
Although I have many duplicates spread across back-up drives and collected artwork folders, I've also tried to eliminate any duplicate 'open' versions. But the above solution is the only one that works at the moment.
RP
p.s. I also tried removing any AdobeFNT**.lst files, (where ** is a number) before the above work around. That didn't work either.

Error message: "Missing required plugins" - Illustrator CS4 will not load OS X 10.4.11

The install went fine but when I go to load the program I get the an error saying I am missing required plugins (artconverters.aip, pdf format.aip, & rasterize.aip). If I open the package content in finder I can clearly see these files there. I am running OS X 10.4.11
Any insight would be great. I have tried a full uninstall & reinstall, the problem is still there. I would really like to be able to run my software.

Did you do a search this was recently posted and there was an answer to this as well.
did you try Trash the settings folder the Adobe Illustrator CS4 Settings folder in your User's Preferencessning the Ad

List missing fonts in Illustrator

Hi all,
I've been working on a script to try and build a list of font's that not loaded in Illustrator. I know that Illustrator will alert missing fonts when a document is opened but this routine will be part of a larger script that will have the user dialogs turned off. My process is to build a list of fonts that are available to the the application, then build a list of fonts that are used within the active document and cross reference them to see if there are document fonts that are not in the application fonts list.
I have used a great function that I believe was posted originally by Moluapple and with some some brilliant advice from the always helpful CarlosCanto I thought that I had found the soultion but it appears to have some limitations. If I get a list of fonts available to the application and the document that I want to cross reference them against is open, the list that's returned contains fonts that are used in the document. Then when I get a list of fonts used in the document and cross reference them they will all be in the application list regardless of whether they're loaded or not.
The only way that I can get accurate results are if I run the script without any documents open and build a list of application fonts, then open a document and build a list of document fonts and then cross reference. This is the only way I can find out what fonts aren't loaded.
Does anybody know of another way to build a list of missing fonts without having to close documents first? I have searched through the XMP data and this doesn't seem to give me any clues and I've tried writing the code in applescript but it appears to work in the same way. Any help or comments would be welcome.
Here's my code:
#target illustrator
var doclist = app.textFonts
var appFontList = new Array ();
for (i=0;i< app.textFonts.length; i++){
    var fontName = app.textFonts[i].name;
    appFontList[i] = fontName;
var myfile = File.openDialog ('Choose a file');
app.open (myfile);
var docFontsList = getUsedFonts(activeDocument);
// function accredited to Moluapple
function getUsedFonts (doc ){
     var xmlString = new XML(doc.XMPString);
     fontsInfo = xmlString.descendants("stFnt:fontName");
     var ln = fontsInfo.length(), arr = [];
     for (var i = 0; i<ln; i++){arr.push(fontsInfo[i])};
     return arr;
var missingFontsList = checkFonts();
alert(missingFontsList);
function checkFonts(){
    var fontArray = new Array ();
    for (i=0; i < docFontsList.length; i++){
        var thisDocFont = docFontsList[i];
        var activeFont = false;
        for (j = 0; j < appFontList.length; j++){
            var thisAppFont = appFontList[j];
            if (thisDocFont == thisAppFont){
                activeFont = true;
        if (activeFont == false){
            fontArray.push (thisDocFont);
    return fontArray;
Many Thanks,
Nik

Mark,
you are a legend!!!!
with yours and Carlos' help I think I have raged against the system that is Adobe and come out victorious!!!!!!!!
I Finally have a script that doesn't tell me lies.
Building a list of fonts that are available from InDesign, then building a list of fonts that the active Illustrator document is using and comparing the 2 lists I've managed to locate the fonts that aren't active. I'm sure the script could have some fine tuning but hopefully it might help others who just want to know if fonts are missing before creating a PDF that contains false font information.
Thanks again all,
Nik
#target illustrator
var docFontsList = getUsedFonts(activeDocument);
// function accredited to Moluapple
function getUsedFonts (doc ){
     var xmlString = new XML(doc.XMPString);
     fontsInfo = xmlString.descendants("stFnt:fontName");
     var ln = fontsInfo.length(), arr = [];
     for (var i = 0; i<ln; i++){arr.push(fontsInfo[i])};
     return arr;
//////////////////////////////////////////get a list of available fonts using Indesign///////////////////////////////////
var bt = new BridgeTalk;
bt.target = "indesign";
var msg = "app.updateFonts();var fonts = app.fonts.everyItem().postscriptName;obj = fonts.toSource();"
bt.body = msg;
bt.onResult = function(resObj) {
    eval("var idFontlist = " + resObj.body);
    doSomethingElse(idFontlist);
bt.send();
function doSomethingElse(idFontlist) {
    appFontList = idFontlist;
var missingFontsList = checkFonts();
if(missingFontsList.length > 0){
    alert("List of missing fonts:\n" + missingFontsList.join( '\r' ));
else{
    alert("There're no missing fonts!");
function checkFonts(){
    var fontArray = new Array ();
    for (i=0; i < docFontsList.length; i++){
        var thisDocFont = docFontsList[i];
        var activeFont = false;
for (j = 0; j < appFontList.length; j++){
            var thisAppFont = appFontList[j];
            if (thisDocFont == thisAppFont){
                activeFont = true;
        if (activeFont == false){
            fontArray.push (thisDocFont);
    return fontArray;

Missing Fonts in Photoshop CS4

I opened an existing CS2 photoshop file in CS4 and I get a missing font error. The font that it can't find is on my system.
How do I "add" this font so PS can see it?
Thanks.

Yeah, I hear ya. But this seems to be a big complaint with 64 bit systems. And since all fonts show up and work fine in all other programs... seems like another adobe bug to me.
If you want to be a bit specific, Arial has 10 types. Only two show up. Regular and bold. And I'm not alone with this problem.
This was a bug (from what I read) in office 2007. But I never used 2007. However it wasn't a problem in office 2003 nor is it with my current version of 2010. As I said, no problems whatsoever with anything except... photoshop cs4 64. (works fine in 32 bit vista)
Now, FWIW, I haven't played much with font directories in the past, but it seems win7 is putting them into their own... kind of "folder". (could be wrong)
That is, in arials case, for instance, they aren't spread out. As... arial normal, black, bold, etc. They seem to be all lumped in to one. Click on it and they all open for display and are all there but I don't remember them that way in older windows progs.
But as I said, everything is fine in notepad, wordpad, excel, word, etc. etc. etc. A corrupt font is one thing, but I can't see a corrupt font working in everything but one program. And they DO work in dreamweaver.
Ok... update. As I said, tried putting them (the arials) in the adobe font directory (which I said was empty). Nothing. Tried again and it duplicated them. Still nothing. Went in and dumped the duplicates... seems to be working.
So, problem kinda solved. Just no clue why.
I need a drink and a few excedrins.

Missing Fonts in Illustrator CS5

In the font pull down menu I have fonts displayed with "< >" symbols on the sides. I assume this means that illustrator thinks the font is missing or it has replaced the font or both? The font is loaded in Suitcase Fusion 3 (the only font management software on my MAC Pro) and it is activated. So why does these < > symbols still appear? How can I get rid of them? What is the font issue?

unclefester67 wrote:
so the "< >" symbols around the font name is actually just a way of telling that they are "Symbol" fonts. They are in fact not missing or have been replaced?
The bottommost font is not a Symbol font. I think it just indicates that the name of the font is not in that font itself (all other font names are), because the font does not contain Latin characters.
Missing fonts show up in square brackets [Like This] in InDesign, at the very top of the font list, and I think it's the same for Illy.

Missing tools in Illustrator cs4

hey,
This problem is driving me crazy. I have Adobe Illustrator cs4 installed (win.Vista), it runs o.k but I'm missing a lot of tools- I get all the main tool groups but the groups wont open` so I have the line tool but not arc or spiral, I have warp tool but not twirl or bloat, text area but not text path and so on.
I have tried redirecting to plugins>tools via the edit>preferences>plug-ins and scratch disks dialog, but then when I load the software I get an error notice saying that some of the plug-ins conflict with... and it doesn't work. I've also tried deleting the AIpref. file from appdata but that didn't help.
What am I missing? this situation consumes too much of my time and sanity!
thanx

Let me ask a question, are you launching AI from an alias located on your desktop? Another Question did you move the Illustrator folder out of the Illustrator application folder and perhaps to a place where you could more easily launch it?
An alias is a copy of the icon of a folder or directory of fie that links it to the original and looks like the actual originl.
The aliases you know are My Computer, Internet Explorer, Documents etc that you find commonly on a PCs desktop.
This is the scenario that often takes place on a mac and probably would cause the same problem on a PC.
Instead of creating the alias to use as a link to launch the application you either copied the application it self or you moved it to the desktop.
What that means is that some essential links between the application are now broken such as some of the tools and menu items that reside in the Applications folders such as filters and effects, file formats and extensions.So they are not showing.
The way to fix this is either move the application back to to the Illustrator folder and read about how to make an alias or just launch it from the Start menu or delete the copy if you have a copy of the application on the desktop and again either make a proper alias or launch from the Start menu.
I do not know how this might effect the preferences on a PC but on the Mac it sometimes corrupts the preferences and they have to be trashed as well as correcting the problem.
Having written all of this there was another way this can manifest itself on both a Mac and PC and you might do a google search if what I describe above does not apply to you.
It was actually posted here about four or five months ago and it involved deleting a file.

Detecting Missing Fonts (jsx ai-cs4)

I know, it's impossible.
However, I've built the following function and I think it's getting close to working. What I'm trying to do is get a collection of the fonts available to the system and match those against fonts I find in my document. It's getting hung up because my technique for gathering the system fonts is also getting the document-declared fonts.
So my question is, is there a way to specify that I want system fonts only?
Here's what I've got so far:
//================================================
//target illustrator;
var docRef = app.activeDocument;
var missingCount = detectMissingFonts(docRef);
function detectMissingFonts(docRef){
     //start counter at the number of fonts being used in the document
     var missingcount = docRef.textFrames.length;
     alert("FRAMES LENGTH: " + missingcount);
     //collect available fonts in a variable
     var availableFonts = [];
     var fontlist = [];
     for(inc=0; inc<textFonts.length; inc++){
          var sysFont = textFonts[inc].family;
          availableFonts[sysFont] = 1;
          fontlist[inc] = sysFont;
     alert(fontlist);
     //collect document fonts
     for (k = 0 ; k<docRef.textFrames.length ; k++){ // loop thru textFrames
          //set current frame into obj variable
          var frame = docRef.textFrames[k];
          //set the font family attribute into a variable
          var font = frame.textRange.characterAttributes.textFont.family;
          //alert("FOUND FONT: " + font + ": " + availableFonts[font]);
          //test if found font is in the associative array of available fonts
          if ( availableFonts[font] == 1){
               alert("Matching " + font + ": " + availableFonts[font]);
               //decrement the counter to account for this not-missing font
               missingcount--;
     return missingcount;
alert("COUNT: " + missingcount);
//================================================
An emergency work-around would be to hard-code in my list of system fonts, but I'd hate for it to come to that. I really appreciate any advice and thanks for reading!!!
p.s. I'm still learning all of this stuff so I'd also be grateful for any advice for making my code more streamline.
p.p.s. Sorry for all of the alerts. I like to be sure every variable I set is working correctly.

Using Jongware's suggestion, here's the updated script that is finding missing fonts:
//===========================================
var availableFonts = getFonts();
var docRef = //OPEN A NEW DOCUMENT NOW;
var missingFonts = detectMissingFonts(docRef, availableFonts);
function getFonts(){
     //create blank document
     //collect available fonts in a variable
     var availableFonts = [];
     var fontlist = [];
     for(inc=0; inc<textFonts.length; inc++){
          var sysFont = textFonts[inc].family;
          availableFonts[sysFont] = 1;
          fontlist[inc] = sysFont;
     alert(fontlist);
     //close document, return list
     return availableFonts;
function detectMissingFonts(docRef, availableFonts){
     //start counter at the number of fonts being used in the document
     var missingcount = docRef.textFrames.length;
     alert("FRAMES LENGTH: " + missingcount);
     //collect document fonts
     for (k = 0 ; k<docRef.textFrames.length ; k++){ // loop thru textFrames
          //set current frame into obj variable
          var frame = docRef.textFrames[k];
          //set the font family attribute into a variable
          var font = frame.textRange.characterAttributes.textFont.family;
          //test if found font is in the associative array of available fonts
          if ( availableFonts[font] == 1){
               alert("Matching " + font + ": " + availableFonts[font]);
               //decrement the counter to account for this not-missing font
               missingcount--;
     return missingcount;
alert("COUNT: " + missingcount);
//===========================================
Thanks again, Jongware!

Change font in Illustrator cs4 js

I need to assign specific font to my text and it doesn't work. What am I doing wrong:
var my_OUTSIDE_TextFrame = myInstrLayer.textFrames.add();
my_OUTSIDE_TextFrame.geometricBounds = ["1.6 in", "1 in", "1.85 in", "2.75 in"];
my_OUTSIDE_TextFrame.contents = "OUTSIDE";
var myParagraph = my_OUTSIDE_TextFrame.paragraphs.item(0);
try{
myParagraph.appliedFont = app.fonts.item("Myriad Pro");
catch(e){}
try{
myParagraph.fontStyle = "Bold";
catch(e){}
myParagraph.pointSize = 30;
And it's not placing it where I want it either.
Thank you very much for your help.
Yulia

Hi yulia,
i maked some changes on your script:
- what is it item(0) instruction ??
use instead paragraphs[0]
- moreover you can use fontStyle.. it doesn't exist , it's textFont.stye but only for read, you can't assign "bold" or other style...
to put a differents style, you need to attribute when you call the font name "MyriadPro-Bold".
(** to obtain exact name you need, i have attritube first manually, and check his name with myParagraph.characterAttributes.textFont.name, to be sure avoid error name OR use my second script below**)
- you use paragraphs instruction, but i'm not sure that is really usefull, because you have created a text first and you can thus include your properties (font name and style) exept if you envisaged to change font before a paragraphs
- what is it pointSize ? doesn't exist also.. simply use size if you want change the size of textFont
For this remark, i recommande you to see this post
now, below an updated of your script
#target illustrator
var doc=app.activeDocument;
var myInstrLayer=doc.layers.add();
var my_OUTSIDE_TextFrame = myInstrLayer.textFrames.add();
my_OUTSIDE_TextFrame.geometricBounds = ["1.6 in", "1 in", "1.85 in", "2.75 in"];
my_OUTSIDE_TextFrame.contents = "OUTSIDE";
var myParagraph = my_OUTSIDE_TextFrame.paragraphs[0];
try{
myParagraph.characterAttributes.textFont=app.textFonts.getByName("MyriadPro-Bold");
catch(e){alert(e)}
myParagraph.characterAttributes.size = 30;
Also for 1$ more* i can propose you (for CS4) the same with drop down list below:
#target illustrator
var doc=app.activeDocument;
var myInstrLayer=doc.layers.add();
var my_OUTSIDE_TextFrame = myInstrLayer.textFrames.add();
my_OUTSIDE_TextFrame.geometricBounds = ["1.6 in", "1 in", "1.85 in", "2.75 in"];
my_OUTSIDE_TextFrame.contents = "OUTSIDE";
var myParagraph = my_OUTSIDE_TextFrame.paragraphs[0];
try{
var ressource="dialog { text: 'Font List'}";
var item=new Array();
var dlg=new Window(ressource);
var dd=dlg.add('dropdownlist',undefined);
for( j=app.textFonts.length-1;j>-1;j--){dd.add('item',app.textFonts[j].name); }
dlg.btnRND=dlg.add('button',undefined,'Choose this font.',{name:'ok'});
dlg.btnCANCEL=dlg.add('button',undefined,'Cancel',{name:'cancel'});
dlg.show();
for (k=dd.items.length-1;k>-1;k--){
if (dd.items[k].selected){myParagraph.characterAttributes.textFont=app.textFonts.getByName(dd.items[k])}
catch(e){alert(e)}
myParagraph.characterAttributes.size = 30;
See you, art.chrome
* this is a joke, i didn't ask for money !

Problem scrolling fonts in Illustrator CS4

Hi- I've had issues from day 1 using AI CS4. When I am deciding on a font style, I highlight the text, then click on the font type and scroll through the fonts. Then I will encounter 2 problems:
1. Some fonts won't let me continue to scroll. It stops at that specific font. I have to manually go back to the font drop down list and change the type. OR
2. When I am scrolling, it automatically takes me to the end of the font list w/ some weird fonts like Adobe 楷体 Std R.
Any idea how I can fix this?

You have a bad font somewhere inbetween that messes up the font handling. Remove any suspicious fonts you recently added and do not permanently need (e.g. free fonts that may technically suffer some issues like open contours etc.) and delete your AdbeFnt.list files so they get rebuilt next time you start an Adobe app.
Mylenium

Fonts in illustrator CS4

Hi I have a particular font that doesn't work in illustrator but it does in other applications.
I cleared the font cache and resolved duplicates.
Thanks in advance

Contact Adobe. Do give them the name of the font.

Missing font in Illustrator?

Hi All,
Strange thing here -
CS3 - Is Illustrator not able to read a font on my Mac? This is how every field looks - a garbled font. I've never seen this before. Everything was working fine yesterday, and now this.
Has anyone experienced this before?
I appreciate the help. Thanks!

Looks like you have a font confilct/corruption. I believe that font is supposed to be Lucida Console.
Find all the .lst files on your computer and trash them
close down any fonts you recently opened or do not use

Problem with embedding fonts in Illustrator CS5

I have just installed Illustrator CS5, and have tested creating a PDF document based on one of my existing files, as well as a new file.
When I open these PDF documents in Adobe Acrobat Pro 9, I am told that Acrobat cannot access one of the embedded fonts (Korinna BT).
I have had no issues with embedding this font in Illustrator CS4, and (strangely), when I open these files in other PDF viewers (Preview and PDFPenPro), they report no issues.
Has anyone else experienced this issue?
I have removed and reinstalled the font in question, and tested/verified that the font is OK - but still not joy.
Regards
Jeremy

The error message I get is:
"Cannot extract the embedded font 'MVZTIW+KorinnaITCbyBT-Regular'. Some characters may not display or print correctly."
When I check the fonts in the PDF in "Document Properties" in Adobe Acrobat the following is shown:
"KorinnaITCbyBT-Regular
     Type: TrueType
     Encoding: Ansi
     Actual Font: Adobe Serif MM
     Actual Font Type: Type 1"
It seems that Illustrator is adding some strange "code" ('MVZTIW') to the beginning of the font, which means the actual font can't be found and extracted.

Missing Fonts in Illustrator CS4

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