Affinity 2, Google installed fonts not working correctly

[Bill.R]

Problem: Installed full Montserrat font from Google font website, Only Montserrat thin is available in Affinity. Font works in Microsoft Office apps.

Affects: Affinity v 2 (Publisher, Photo, and Designer)

Windows 11 (all Windows updates applied as of 1 Feb, 2023)

Versions: Publisher 2.04, Photo 2.04, Designer 2.04

Hardware OpenCL accel ON (Nvidia RTX 2070)

Happens with new and existing documents.

 

Installed, deleted, reinstalled fonts. Rebooted apps and Restarted Windows several times.

Copy/Paste text from Word in Calibri font. Attempted to change font to Montserrat shows only Thin available in Publisher 2.04

See Picture 1

 

Changed font of text within Word to Montserrat medium, shows up in Publisher 2 with a question mark (?) in Font drop box in toolbar, substitutes Thin. Next screen capture shows how fonts appear in Word on the same computer.

See Picture 2

 

[Komatös]

Hi @Bill.R

You have installed the variable fonts version. Variable fonts are not supported yet. Install the static fonts instead.

[kenmcd]

Looks like he installed both the statics and the variable.

@Bill.RGoogle Font's variable fonts are designed to be interchangeable with the static fonts. This means the named instantances in the variable font have the same names as the static fonts. So if you have both installed you will have font name conflicts. So even if you are using a application which does support variable fonts, you should not have both the variable and statics installed.

[Bill.R]

To install the Montserrat font I went to the Google font web site, selected the font family, then clicked install. There is no obvious indication on if it was static or variable font. I was clueless that there was an issue with the application until it didn't work. I looked at the Affinity Publisher help file regarding static fonts, variable fonts, or how to determine font type and there are no entries. There was no hint on what to do or what was wrong. Ideally the software should use all mainstream font types or present options to detail how to resolve issues in the documentation.

I didn't select that font on a whim, I was seeking a job and the client had been using Montserrat for years and was not keen to switch.  Can someone point me to a source to find static equivalents? I am a bit nervous to use similar named fonts I may find on the internet that will not layout correctly.

I am switching to semi-retired status and getting back into taking layout and publishing jobs after two decades. This feels like a teething issue on getting back into the field. Can anyone point me to a good source to educate myself on how to identify and resolve this font issue or do I give up on this experiment to ditch InDesign?

[MikeTO]

33 minutes ago, Bill.R said:

To install the Montserrat font I went to the Google font web site, selected the font family, then clicked install. There is no obvious indication on if it was static or variable font.

I went to the Google Fonts page for Montserrat and clicked Download Family. https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Montserrat

That download expanded to a folder containing two TTF files with VariableFont in their names and a folder named Static with one font file per weight.

Google made the options clear compared to some vendors. Were you seeing something different, or maybe you downloaded the font from a different source?

[Bill.R]

Well, once the obvious is pointed out, my confusion seems pretty lame. Thank you for your kind reply. I have the font installed and hopefully will be able to navigate my way through the learning curve on my own.

I still think some mention in the documentation is needed. It would have saved me a lot of time.

Thanks again!

[R C-R]

8 hours ago, Bill.R said:

I have the font installed and hopefully will be able to navigate my way through the learning curve on my own.

Note that if you have the two variable font versions installed, you cannot use them with the Affinity apps. To use this font family in Affinity, you must install only the static font versions, not both the static & variable ones.

[dim p]

When will variable fonts be finally supported???