Here’s another important tidbit about the Creative Cloud that may have been overlooked by many folks in the wake of the news that Adobe apps were going subscription-only. Among the upcoming features of Creative Cloud is Typekit fonts for desktop apps.
This means that subscribers will soon have the ability to browse, search, download, and install fonts for use in any application: Photoshop, InDesign, Word, you name it. Currently, Typekit fonts are for Web use only, but that will change next month when the first batch of 175 font families from 7 foundries will be made available for download.
Of course, you’d be wise to wonder what happens to those fonts if you cancel your Creative Cloud subscription. Simply put, they’re uninstalled so you won’t be able to use them for future work without purchasing them outright or re-subscribing. However, every font available on Typekit is also available as a standalone purchase from the foundries, so your files won’t become unusable and you’re not locked in to the Creative Cloud by using Typekit fonts.
Another thing to be aware of is the licensing restriction on copying Typekit fonts. Even with an active Creative Cloud membership, you’re not allowed to copy the font files. This means that packaging an InDesign file with the fonts, and sending that package to someone else is a no go. Anyone who receives the files would need to have their own copies of the fonts. However, embedding Typekit fonts in PDF and ePUB is allowed.
You may also wonder if the Typekit for desktop fonts are somehow altered from the ones offered for sale by the foundries. This is not the case. Fonts synced from Typekit are identical to what you can purchase from the foundry. So there will be no missing font problems or text reflow if you send your InDesign file built with Typekit-synced fonts to someone else who has purchased those fonts.
If you’re one of those folks who doesn’t need or want a full Creative Cloud subscription you can get the full library of Typekit’s desktop fonts for just $50 per year with the standalone Typekit Portfolio plan.
To see how Typekit for the desktop will work, check out this sneak peek from Adobe:
This article was last modified on January 8, 2023
This article was first published on May 24, 2013
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