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 What is Font Substitution?
We realize that most people have never even heard of font substitution, let alone know what it is. Font substitution has been a major headache for the graphic arts industry for years but what can you do to prevent it?
Font substitution occurs when a particular font is used in a computer graphics file (such as PowerPoint) and then that file is moved to another computer that does not have that same font installed. When the PowerPoint file is opened on a computer that does not have the same font installed, that font is then substituted for another font. Sometimes this will only mean that you'll see a slightly different looking font from what you had originally chosen. Other times, special symbols will disappear completely or unexpected symbols will appear in their place.
To see if you have font substitution, go to the Format menu and select, "Replace Fonts". Click in the top drop-down menu labeled, "Replace" to see a list of every font being used in your PowerPoint file. Do any of the fonts have a question mark beside them? If so, this PowerPoint file is calling for those fonts but the computer doesn't have them installed. Font substitution is occurring!
Many people are not aware of all the fonts that are being used in a given file. An inserted figure from Excel may have brought in with it a special symbol font. Even the bullets in a PowerPoint slide are a different font then the rest of the text in the same paragraph.
 Embedding Fonts in PowerPoint
One of the easiest ways to avoid font substitution is to embed the fonts into your PowerPoint file. To do that, go to Tools menu select "Options" and then click on the "Save" tab if it's not already selected. At the bottom, check the box labeled, "Embed TrueType fonts" and then click the "OK" button. The next time you save the file the fonts will be embedded. You may notice that it takes a little longer to save the file and the file size will now be larger.
If you get an error message about a font, that means you are using a font somewhere in your presentation that PowerPoint cannot embed. OpenType, PostScript, and WordPerfect fonts cannot be embedded by PowerPoint.
What can you do if you get such an error message? First off, try and determine if you are actually using the font that's causing the error message to be displayed. Go to the Format menu and select "Replace Fonts". Click in the top drop-down menu that's labeled "Replace" to see a list of every font being used in your PowerPoint file. Is the font that was displayed in the error message listed there? If not, just ignore the error message. Sometimes old, reused PowerPoint files will retain font information for fonts that are no longer in use.
However, if the font that was displayed in the error message is listed there, you will need to:
- Change that font in your presentation.
- Send that font along with your PowerPoint file.
- Call us to see if we have that same font installed on our computers.
Failure to embed fonts may result in font substitution. Even though it looks correct on your computer, unexpected results may occur when we print your PowerPoint poster!
 Changing the Font
The quickest way to change a font is to go back to "Replace Fonts" in the Format menu. Click in the top drop-down menu labeled "Replace" and select the problem font. Then click in the bottom drop-down menu that's labeled "With" and select the new font that you want to take it's place. Click the "Replace" button and automatically, throughout your entire PowerPoint file, that font will be replaced with the new one you just selected.
 Sending the Font
 Now it might be that you cannot change the fonts or maybe you simply don't want to. You like that font! In that case you should send the font file along with the PowerPoint file. To do that, open you computer's fonts folder by clicking on Start and go to "Settings > Control Panels > Fonts". Find the font and copy it to your computer's desktop.
 Not so fast! If you were to just do the normal left mouse click and drag of the font to your desktop, the font will be moved out of the fonts folder, and uninstalled from your computer. To prevent that from happening, be sure to RIGHT mouse click on the font and then drag it to your desktop. When prompted, select "COPY" so that a duplicate font file is created on your desktop and the original font file stays installed.
When a font is in the Fonts folder you will see its full display name. However, once outside of the fonts folder, you will only see the font's file name. TrueType fonts have a .TTF extension so Verdana Bold becomes verdanab.ttf. Note that you can double click on the font file to view the font if you're not sure what font file you're looking at.
If the font comes in several typefaces (Bold, Italic, Bold Italic, etc.) be sure to send the entire font family or font substitution could still occur.
 Additional Resources
Creative Communications installs all of the fonts available from the Microsoft Office Suite. If you are using any of the standard Microsoft fonts embedding is not necessary. However, if you have used additional fonts in your poster, embedding is recommended.
If you need additional information please call us at 716-4298 or email us at creative@wfubmc.edu so we can help you! |