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Word 365 does not display Open Type CFF fonts, shows Arial instead

Anonymous
2021-09-16T01:45:06+00:00

The problem started about two weeks ago. Adobe Open Type fonts (e.g. Adobe Garamond Pro, Adobe Text Pro, Adobe Minion 3, Adobe Arno) do not display or print properly, even though the font name is properly displayed in Word's ribbon. Arial (or something similar) is displayed and printed instead. The problem occurs both in new documents and in old documents which displayed and printed properly when created, but display or print in Arial. Microsoft Open Type fonts (e.g., New Times Roman, Georgia) still work okay.

In researching online, I see that others have run into the same problem with earlier versions of Word going back at least to Word 2013. I tried suggested solutions such as reinstalling the fonts and uninstalling and reinstalling Office 365, but nothing worked.

The problem seems limited to Word. Excel, Publisher and One Note all show the fonts properly.

I am using Microsoft 365 Apps for Business, Version 2102, Build 13801.28064 Click-to-Run.

One possible differentiator between the fonts that still work okay and those do not may be the type of outlines used in the fonts.

Current Adobe Open Type fonts use CFF outlines, whereas Microsoft Open Type fonts use TrueType outlines. I found a couple of old Adobe fonts online that use TrueType outlines. Those display and print okay, just as do the MS fonts with TrueType outlines. The problem seems to occur only with Open Type fonts with CFF outlines.

For those unfamiliar with the two types of outlines: Adobe developed the first scalable fonts using cubic equations to generate Bezier curves for the outlines of the letters and numbers. Those were known as Postscript fonts. The modern version of Postscript outlines is known as CFF outlines. To get around Adobe's patents, Microsoft then developed TrueType outlines using quadratic equations to generate the Bezier curves. Later, to allow compatibility with both Apple and PC computers, the companies later developed Open Type wrappers which could include either Truetype or CFF outlines. Most fonts most commonly sold today are Open Type fonts, soon to be supplanted by Variable Open Type fonts. Adobe uses CFF outlines in its fonts. Microsoft uses TrueType outlines. Many type foundries offer Open Type fonts of both varieties.

Help would be most appreciated as Word's inability to properly display the fonts I normally use is requiring me to use WordPerfect in the interim and I much prefer Word.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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14 answers

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  1. Anonymous
    2021-09-24T23:59:32+00:00

    Issue remains in the latest Beta Channel build (14517.2000)

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  2. Anonymous
    2021-09-22T13:35:50+00:00

    I'm facing the exact same issue - it seems to be affecting OTF fonts not TTF more often. Tried reinstalling the fonts and reinstalling Office, no luck

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  3. Doug Robbins - MVP - Office Apps and Services 322.8K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2021-09-18T22:46:25+00:00

    I would suggest that you try reinstalling the font (probably best to delete the one that is installed first.

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  4. Anonymous
    2021-09-16T04:57:21+00:00

    Here, with a 64-bit installation of Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise, Version2108 (Build 14326.20348 Click-to-Run) Current Channel, the first paragraph is the Microsoft Garamond font and the second is in the Adobe Garamond Pro, which is a slightly heavier font, but does, I believe, display correctly.

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  5. Anonymous
    2021-09-18T10:05:15+00:00

    Hi

    I wrote this reply to follow up on this question, after you checked Doug2Robbins last reply,

    Did you solve your problems ?I look forward to your reply!

    Best Regards,

    Ethan

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