Font name used in files shared between OSX and Windows

Question

Our designer uses OSX, and creates InDesign or AI files. They are then passed to us for changes.

When we open the files on Windows, we are told that fonts are missing. In this example, the Futura font is being used.

The Windows machine has Futura installed, from BitStream. The nane of the font is "Futura Std", whereas on OSX, it is simply Futura.

So InDesign chooses a random font to substitute Futura with on Windows, it does not choose Futura Std.

Now we can use the Find Font feature, and change all the instances of "Futura" to "Futura Std", but if we pass the file back to the designer, they have to then do the reverse.

What is the right way for managing this?

Answer 1

A solution that can be done once and will apply to all future files is to use Font substitution in Windows.

Font substitution is set with the registry entries under the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\FontSubstitutes.

For example, adding an entry under this registry named Helvetica with the value of Arial, indicates to substitute Helvetica font with Arial font. Also, the registry entry of Arial,0 with the value of Arial,161 will substitute Arial with ANSI_CHAERSET to Arial with GREEK_CHARSET.

This way, you can define Futura on Windows to be the same as Futura Std, so you can in effect have on Windows a font that is named Futura that is only an alias for Futura Std.

This solution will surely work in the case where OSX files are transferred to Windows. You will have to experiment to see if this also works the other way when using the Futura alias, as it might depend on how exactly does the editor that you are using on Windows handle font names.