Missing fonts source?

[SaucyWeeTart]

Hey,

 

Just wondering where Affinity Designer (not sure about Photo) downloads missing fonts from when you open up a document without them installed. Never really needed the feature, just curious.

 

Popped a screenshot in to highlight my question.

 

Cheers!

[stokerg]

Hi SaucyWeeTart,

 

Can't say i've seen that message before  

 

What kind of file are you opening and can you attached it here?  I've opened many a PDF with missing fonts but never had the option to download them.  Also are you on a Mac or Windows, if Windows is it from the Microsoft Store or direct from our store?  

 

[SaucyWeeTart]

Hey,

 

Yea, it is strange indeed having a mysterious download option! I’m on Mac and I was trying to open a native .afdesign file. I downloaded AD from the MAS.

 

Cheers.

 

 

[stokerg]

I just setup a test document with Arial Black, saved it, closed Designer and then deleted the font from Font Book, reopened the test file in Designer and only got the attached warning. No option to download and i'm also on a Mac.

 

If you could attach the .afdesign file that would be a big help, i can setup a dropbox link in the morning if you'd rather not share it publicly.  I'll also show the error to the QA guys tomorrow as they may have seen it before.

[Alfred]

What OS are you on, Gareth? Apparently macOS Sierra (and presumably also High Sierra) prompts to download missing fonts.

 

[stokerg]

18 minutes ago, Alfred said:

What OS are you on, Gareth? Apparently macOS Sierra (and presumably also High Sierra) prompts to download missing fonts.

 

 

Thanks Alfred, it does look like macOS is just being helpful. I'm also running High Sierra and from checking Google, it does appear users of 'other' photo/design programs got the same message when updating to Sierra/High Sierra.  Odd that my system doesn't want to do it.  I've not really changed anything in system preferences, other than setting a calibrated display profile.

 

@SaucyWeeTart This might thread might help  there are a lot of replies, but i'd start with checking the font out in Font Book and enabling it if disabled and then re-opening the file.

[R C-R]

FWIW, according to Apple's Fonts included with macOS High Sierra, "HeadLineA Regular 13.0d2e5" is among the fonts that are available for download in High Sierra. There is a similar entry for the corresponding Sierra font file list, although the font version number is 6.1d5e2. I could not find a similar Apple article for El Capitan, but the one for Mavericks lists that same 6.1d5e2 version as installed (by default?) in Library/Fonts.

 

1 hour ago, stokerg said:

I'm also running High Sierra and from checking Google, it does appear users of 'other' photo/design programs got the same message when updating to Sierra/High Sierra.  Odd that my system doesn't want to do it.

I am running High Sierra, too. According to the Apple High Sierra font list article, "Fonts available for download appear dimmed in the list of fonts." That wasn't happening for me when I checked for the two DIN fonts not on my system that were mentioned in another recent topic about font copyrights. In fact, whether I select All Fonts, Computer Fonts, or any other category in Font Book, I never see any dimmed fonts in the list, including the ones available for download that are not on my system.

[SaucyWeeTart]

Well, I guess to answer my initial question, it's an feature on the OS level and not in Designer, so there's that.

 

With regards to how Font Book and OSX handle fonts, who the hell knows. I've been messing about for a few hours, disabling/enabling/deleting/reinstalling fonts and I can't work out what the process is. As RC-R says he never has any dimmed fonts in the list therefore can't download them. I do have all dimmed fonts available and can download/delete as I see fit, however a work colleague of mine has dimmed fonts but a slightly different overall list. And don't get me started on how to work out what fonts you can safely disable or delete.

 

Very weird, I don't get it Apple.

[R C-R]

2 hours ago, SaucyWeeTart said:

As RC-R says he never has any dimmed fonts in the list therefore can't download them.

While I have no dimmed out fonts in Font Book, I have discovered that items on the "Fonts available for download in High Sierra" list in Apple's article that I do not already have installed on my iMac do appear in the "All Fonts" list as undimmed items. When Font Book is set to the font Info view (CMD i) the Location field is a link named "Downloadable font asset," which I presume if clicked would download the font from Apple's servers.

 

EDIT: I finally worked out that they are undimmed because in System Preferences > Accessibility I have "Increase Contrast" enabled. If I disable that they do show up dimmed in Font Book.

2 hours ago, SaucyWeeTart said:

And don't get me started on how to work out what fonts you can safely disable or delete.

In general, it is not safe (or normally possible) to disable or delete any fonts stored in the /System/Library/Fonts folder. If you have admin privileges, you can delete fonts stored in the Library/Fonts folder. (Note that there are several different Library folders & that the /System/Library folder is different from the /Library one.) You can also safely disable or delete fonts stored in the per user ~/Library/Fonts folder if you are signed in as that user.