I have an illustrator document (.ai) that was created on a Mac using CS3. I'm now trying to open this file on my PC, also using CS3, but Illustrator complains that there are missing fonts: HelveticaNeue, HelveticaNeue-Italic, and HelveticaNeue-Bold.
I have (or I think I have) HelveticaNeue installed on my machine already. HelveticaNeue shows up with an asterisk next to it, though, when I see it in the font list within illustrator (shows up as HelveticaNeue*). Within HelveticaNeue, the regular, italic and bold all have asterisks next to them as well.
How do I get illustrator to open this file using the fonts I have installed?
This Question has been solved and asker verified All Experts Exchange premium technology solutions are available to subscription members.
Experts Exchange has been collecting answers to technology questions since 1996…3 million and counting! If you have a question, chances are we already have your answer.
If you can't find the exact answer you're looking for, ask our exclusive community of 50,000 experts. You’ll get a personalized answer from a trusted professional.
Thousands of free tech tips, tricks, how-to’s and tutorials are available in our peer reviewed articles section. See for yourself how smart our experts are, no login required.
Save solutions to your questions, answers you’ve discovered through searching plus helpful articles in your personal knowledgebase for easy future access.
Access the answers to your technology questions today.
30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.
Members of the expert community talk about why the experience at Experts Exchange is different than what you will find anywhere else.
Try it out and discover for yourself.
30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.
Join the community of experts here and help other tech pros by answering question in your area of expertise. You can earn FREE access to all Experts Exchange's premium features and resources.
Business Accounts
Answer for Membership
by: captainreissPosted on 2009-10-06 at 11:29:07ID: 25508176
Hi
if your fonts are installed on the PC you will be able to see them in your font folder (Windows\Fonts).
Usually when they are displayed with an asterisk, it means that Illustrator rcognises the font name but has no font information that it can retrieve from the system . This makes sense in so far that it allows you to identify which element should have had which font rather than defaulting all by name too.
So I suspect that you don't have the fonts if the asterisk is the only indication you have.
There are a few ways to bring illustrator to open the files with the fonts. The simplest is to install the fonts on the PC system. If the fonts are ttf or otf types then you can simply copy them from your Apple onto a network share or USB stick and then install on your PC by dragging them into the font folder or right click > install.
If they are not ttf or otf types you can purchase them online:
http://www.linotype.com/12
Or you can substitute these with another font in Illustrator. This way the document does not open with the Helvetica and you will have to choose another font which is similar. This may not be what you want but itr is probably worth knowing just in case. In Illustrator go to Menu|Type > Find Font, this allows you to select a font and replace with another which saves time. Select 'system' from the replace dropdown to list all the available fonts .
hth
capt.