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• • February 13, 2019 at 6:11 am #114377
    Allan Colombo

    Member

    Hello guys.

    I’m so bitter today. I have received a big book, 600 pages. It’s done, ready to print, only need few things to be corrected.

    The package was generated, so all links and fonts are there (supposedly).

    However, that was generated in Mac and most fonts are type 1 (T1). Also, the fonts in the documents fonts folder, are 0kb. From what I understand, Mac didn’t allow for some reason to save these fonts in the package.

    So, in a nutshell:

    This feature of package seems totally silly sometimes. The designer followed the basic procedure… Get the book done, closed it and generate the package. Then I open it and I can’t use it. I can not even replace the fonts for others cause this book is extremely complicated. Every page has tons of symbols, tables, columns. If I replace the fonts, all the text will move out of position.

    So.. the only option I have left is to create the book again.

    Wouldn’t this issue be something that Adobe needs to address? It is really annoying.

    Another option (from what I understand again) is to use only OpenType Fonts (OTF). I believe if the Designer had used only this format, I’d be able to open the file without any problem. Is it true? Or may be, TTF fonts as well.

    How do you guys get around in situations like this? Is the package feature useless as the way I think? Am I missing something here?

    Please, I’d love to discuss this problem. I have received so many books with the same problem and we have had to recreate these books all times.

  • February 13, 2019 at 6:46 am #114380
    Tim Murray

    Member

    “Also, the fonts in the documents fonts folder, are 0kb. From what I understand, Mac didn’t allow for some reason to save these fonts in the package.”

    I would bet dollars to donuts the package was saved on a Windows server. Windows does not allow for the resource fork (or maybe it’s the data fork) of a Type 1 font, and turns it to zero. But in any case, type 1-based OTF is the way to go. Not TrueHype.

  • February 13, 2019 at 7:48 am #114382
    Allan Colombo

    Member

    Thank you for answering!

    I don’t get it. Isn’t OTF a different file format than type 1? What do you mean type 1 BASED OTF?

    We actually send this package to a person who owns a Mac, so we could see if that would help us if She generates the package again. We received the file today but we noticed the same problem persists. Most fonts that she have replaced, are in the documents fonts folder but still 0kb.

  • February 13, 2019 at 7:58 am #114383
    Tim Murray

    Member

    There are OTFs “based on” Type 1 and OTFs “based on” TrueHype. The file structure of OTFs don’t have what are called “forks”, and so Windows won’t break them. I said go with the Type 1-based OTFs because I simply don’t like TrueHype — thus the name change! — for some technical reasons, even when they have been turned into OTF.

  • February 14, 2019 at 7:36 am #114386
    Skiddy Doodah

    Member

    Also I would be careful when using fonts supplied to you. As I understand it you must hold a licence for each and every font on your machine, using supplied fonts may be infringing copyright laws.

  • February 14, 2019 at 12:00 pm #114387
    Colleen Shannon

    Member

    This is the hard reality that our systems and our software eventually needs replacing. Fonts are software and simply won’t work on newer systems.

    You can try to bandage the problem by .zipping font folders to protect them in transit, or by using a font manager like Suitcase, but the writing is on the wall: switch over to .otf as soon as possible. (And hold onto any font that has an .otf or .ttf extension)

  • February 14, 2019 at 5:17 pm #114405
    Tim Murray

    Member

    Colleen, the phrase “Fonts are software and simply won’t work on newer systems” isn’t accurate.

    Back in the day, Type 1 and TrueType fonts were *made” for Mac or *made* for Windows. The problem is that Mac files (most often fonts and applications) used to have a resource fork and a data fork, and [unless the disk was set up to accommodate] a Windows device would kill one of the forks (I forget which). When you looked at it later you saw 0 bytes.

    The fork thing was a bane to a very large customer. They stored many gigs of Mac fonts and apps on a Novell server that was not configured to house Mac files, and trashed them. I warned them, but nooooo….

    But basically, you can use even back to 1982 bitmapped fonts and T1 fonts on a machine shipped last week. (Umm, not sure about Multiple Master. But I never met anyone who used them.) You just don’t want to push old Mac faces onto a Windows platform. You can store old Windows-made fonts on a Mac, but that’s only store; you can’t use them in apps.

    You also need to be careful of a font with TTF extension. Generally, but not always, an old Mac font did not ship with an extension at all, but if an extension were to be added, just looking at the file name won’t tell you if it is a Mac-rename or a Windows-native file.

    That said, it’s still a good idea to move to OTF.

  • February 15, 2019 at 4:58 am #114406
    Niels JÌürgen Pedersen

    Participant

    A 600 pages book, that you recieve from a trird party, and need to work on on a different operating system before printing?

    Thats a disaster waiting to happen. So many things can and will go wrong.
    All fonts and text will be altered, and so much work wil be needed.

    In my opinion, send it back, and make them correct it, and ask them to send you a pdf, ready to print.

    • February 15, 2019 at 7:10 am #114408
      Allan Colombo

      Member

      It is my dream to send it back if We had known the Designer who made it. I got this file from other company and this is an old book. We have to open it here to be able to make adjustments and send it for review and then I can print it.

      Anyways. I really hope Adobe can come up with solutions down the road. This feature of packaging has been useless.

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