Font Forum

Today I "synced" several fonts from Adobe TypeKit, accessed via InDesign. They function in InDesign just like all my other fonts, some from TypeKit but most acquired other ways and already managed by MainType. These new TypeKit fonts all show up with red circles and no previews or other information except that they are Open Type CFF. The red circle apparently means they were installed with another application (true) and that MainType doesn't know where they are. I also don't know where they are; I understand that the way Adobe TypeKit works is by burying somewhere in my computer the fonts that I'm temporarily "renting". What confuses me is that I have other TypeKit fonts "synced" (downloaded) over the past few months that are handled properly by MainType. Do you know if Adobe has changed the secret place or method of hiding these TypeKit fonts? Is there some way that MainType can be made to find these fonts?

Maybe they just load them without actually storing to on your PC. It could also be a bug in MainType, but how to tell?

TypeKit fonts are, as mentioned, copied to a hidden folder. Because I would never use any such font service, I don't really know in what way they are activated.

If they are available to other applications then I suspect a shortcut is created in the OS' font folder.

If they are not available to other applications then likely they behave like InDesign's normal private font folder(s). That is, one can create a folder in the ID project folder named "Document Fonts." ID will them lead those fonts when the document is opened but they are not installed fonts. The same happens with are couple other locations.

Adobe products do not use the OS font subsystem for rendering or using fonts. This is how they can do such things, including choosing to not use the kerning tables in fonts.

These latest TypeKit downloaded fonts do show up in other, non-Adobe apps. Windows Explorer doesn't show any shortcuts in the Windows\Fonts folder, but maybe they have some way of hiding a shortcut or other ways of hiding them. I don't understand why TypeKit fonts that I downloaded earlier are handled by MainType but these latest ones aren't.

I use these TypeKit fonts when I see something that I like. I'm paying $20 a month to rent InDesign and I get 100 TypeKit fonts "free" as part of that rental, so the price is right. I realize that if I drop my subscription to InDesign I'll lose these fonts.

Has the problem been solved?

If TypeKit doesn't store the fonts and doesn't install them, then MainType won't be able to find them as file resource.

So I don't think there is a problem, unless you think TypeKit shouldn't try to hide fonts, but then you should talk to them.

Fortunately MainType has a feature to export fonts, so you can get the file resource if needed.