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   I want to purchase the latest trio of Serif's desktop software: Affinity Publisher, Photo, and Designer.
   However, I've a question about type faces and fonts that needs sorting out before I buy:
   I had previously been relying on a library of TTF and Postscript fonts and faces. But now, with my Windows 10 computer, I've found that Microsoft won't allow me to use my own fonts; the only way to add new type to Win 10 is to purchase 'em from Microsoft.
   So, the question: Is it possible to import or somehow add my TTF and PSD type to the Infinity programs, or will I again be limited to Microsoft's extremely limited library of faces and fonts?
   Thanks,  rh

 

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17 minutes ago, Novelist said:

But now, with my Windows 10 computer, I've found that Microsoft won't allow me to use my own fonts; the only way to add new type to Win 10 is to purchase 'em from Microsoft.

That is not, in general, true. Windows 10 does not restrict font installation. 

On the other hand, I suppose it's possible that Windows 10S does, if that's what you're actually using. 

19 minutes ago, Novelist said:

Microsoft.
   So, the question: Is it possible to import or somehow add my TTF and PSD type to the Infinity programs, or will I again be limited to Microsoft's extremely limited library of faces and fonts?

The Affinity applications use the fonts installed on your system. 

More than that, they lack some support for very old fonts, but I don't know the details. They also lack support for newer Variable, vector, and color fonts, which is a problem for some users.

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

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You should take care not to install too many fonts, because that could kill your system. I would recommend to use a Font Manager, that allows to install fonts only into the Font Manager Library and activate or deactivate them if you need them or not. Font Base is a good and free Font Manager. You can also activate fonts with it while Publisher, Designer or Photo are already running. A very helpful app.

One additional hint: the support for Type 1 fonts will end soon or already has ended. None of the existing operating systems, not even Linux, will support them any longer. So you should better deal with using Open Type fonts in the future.

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14 hours ago, Novelist said:

Microsoft won't allow me to use my own fonts

Perhaps you refer to lack of support for Type 1 fonts in current Office applications? They no longer support legacy PostScript fonts.

As far as I know, desktop operating systems are not going to end support of installing and using legacy PostScript fonts in the near future. Even if they might limit their use, even installation via user interface at some point, I have not seen announcements on dropping their support at operating system level (e.g. GDI on Windows); I am not sure how if ever that can happen considering the need to have files with embedded PostScript fonts printed, rasterized, etc.

Mobile operating systems and sub systems (including desktop frameworks) are a different thing. As long as operating systems support legacy fonts, it is possible for apps to use them for editing and embed them in e.g. PDF files. All apps, including Adobe apps, will continue supporting legacy PostScript fonts embedded in placed files. But the life with legacy PostScript fonts is going to become increasingly difficult.

As for Affinity apps, they work reasonably well with old PostScript fonts but there are limitations, and some fonts e.g. will not show correctly in the Glyphs panel, some cannot be exported to PDFs without converting to curves, on macOS kerning is not supported, etc.

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   I'm using a Windows 10 system on an HP 17.3 laptop with a terrabyte of room, and I have an extensive library of TrueType and PostScript fonts, which I began collecting circa 1990. I used both types in Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign. Despite the then-popularity of the Swiss type faces (Helvetica, Futura, Universe, etc), I settled on the Dutch 801 face because of its broad variety of fonts, from narrow italic to ultra bold and black. Dutch 801 is actually a vamp on Times Roman, but Times is really limited in its variations. Dutch 801 is like Times Roman on steroids.

   I was able to literally typeset and prepress a 500-page novel in InDesign using Dutch and just two other faces for leaders and headers. I'm a novelist and previously an ad agency guy — both writer and designer and eventually owner and creative director  — at my own boutique ad shop in L.A. So I can hit with either hand, and kick as well: Writer, Page Designer, Cover Designer, and PrePress guy. But I chose not to update from Adobe's CS-2 to the current rental model, and am thus without the chops that Adobe provided.

   My plan is to use Affinity Publisher to compose and prepess my current novel, PDF the puppy, and fire that off to my printer/bindery guys. Does this sound overly ambitious? Do you think I might have to bite the bullet and buy the outrageously-priced Adobe programs?

   To get a view of my chops, check out thelastdaysoflasvegas.com. I put that together single handed—including the animation on the facepage—back in the paleolithic era. Or you can get a battered copy of one of my books (The Hungarian Game or The Last Days of Las Vegas … to be renamed A Requiem for Las Vegas in the revised edition) via abebooks.com / eBay / or Amazon.

   Thanks to Lacerto, Iconoclast (any kin to H. L. Mencken?) and of course the ever-thoughtful and good-hearted Walt, with whom I spoke previously about importing my coded InDesign files to Affinity (it didn't work!). I'll copy and digest all the advice.

   I'm guessing that the purchase of the Serrif trio is nominal ($150 total, I think) compared to the Adobe set, and I'll just buy Publisher, Designer, and Photo … and see if I can do any hacks to get things rolling. I've been diddling around with computers since the old CP/M—S-100 Buss days, when I joined the Valley Computer Club of Burbank CA in 1978. I even recall when a certain William Gates stated that no-one needed more than 64K in a computer. Also, a running joke at the club was that there were exactly 10 kinds of people in the world: Those who understood binary, and those who didn't.

   And, errrmmmm, Walt? I looked into importing my own faces and fonts, but was informed that the only way to add fonts to the Windows library was via purchase from Microsoft. Is it possible that Affinity has a separate, proprietary type library, distinct from that of Microsoft?

   rh

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The Affinity applications can use (most of) the fonts which are installed in your Fonts folder – see above for some restrictions.
You can obtain fonts to install in that folder from many different places.
Download the font, right-click on the font file and choose Install – then press the Install button when the font preview window pops up.

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31 minutes ago, Novelist said:

I'm using a Windows 10 system on an HP 17.3 laptop with a terrabyte of room, and I have an extensive library of TrueType and PostScript fonts, which I began collecting circa 1990. ...

If you have such a bunch of fonts then follow the above advices of using some Font Manager app for overall organization, like for example (...just linking to two free ones here) ...

 

☛ Affinity Designer 1.10.8 ◆ Affinity Photo 1.10.8 ◆ Affinity Publisher 1.10.8 ◆ OSX El Capitan
☛ Affinity V2.3 apps ◆ MacOS Sonoma 14.2 ◆ iPad OS 17.2

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48 minutes ago, Novelist said:

And, errrmmmm, Walt? I looked into importing my own faces and fonts, but was informed that the only way to add fonts to the Windows library was via purchase from Microsoft. Is it possible that Affinity has a separate, proprietary type library, distinct from that of Microsoft?

No, Affinity just uses the fonts installed on your system.

What "informed" you that you had to buy fonts from Microsoft? If you tried to install another font, and got some error message, what was it?

What does Windows say your Windows version is if you use the winver command, or click Start and type About?

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

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