Protected Fonts

[Arjay418]

Hi everyone,

I just got an error message when I tried to save my Illustrator artwork. The message said that "Protected fonts cannot be embedded." This is the first time I've seen this message.

It leads me to two questions: first, what are the legal obligations associated with using a particular font, and second, what will happen when I take this artwork to press? If I was just printing from a desktop, I know I could just install the font on the machine, but what if I was to go to a commercial press? Would the printer be as willing/able to do the same or would I have to pick a new font there at the time of press?

Thanks for your knowledge,
RJ

 

[Eggles]

There are certain fonts that the manufacturer's have decided they do not want to allow embedding in PDFs.

As you note, it means you can print to your desktop printer from the computer on which those fonts are installed, but if you want to send it out for commercial printing as a PDF, you can't embed the fonts and will mean that you should probably choose another font. I don't think the licensing will allow you to hand the font over to the printer.

 

[tad1952]

The simplest way to avoid font problems with Illustrator is simply to "Select All" and then "Convert Type to Paths". We are a large format printer and it's frustrating receiving a file with a missing font or a different version which might not produce exactly the same results. Remember to first make a copy of your working file in case you have to go back in to update or revise the type.