Select File > Open (Windows) or Illustrator > Open (macOS).
Last updated on
Oct 27, 2025
Learn how to manage missing fonts to maintain design consistency and reduce manual font replacement.
When you open a file with missing fonts in Adobe Illustrator, a Missing Fonts dialog box appears, showing a list of the fonts. If you see Available on Adobe Fonts and a selected checkbox next to a font, it indicates that the font is available in Adobe Fonts. If you see Preview only and a greyed-out checkbox next to a font, it indicates that the font isn’t available in Adobe Fonts and can only be previewed.
In the Missing Fonts dialog box, do one of the following:
- To add the fonts available in Adobe Fonts to Illustrator, select Add Fonts.
- To replace missing fonts with another font from your file, recent fonts, or your computer, select Replace Fonts.
- To preview the file without adding or replacing missing fonts, select Close.
Note
Add Fonts works only if Adobe Fonts is enabled in the Creative Cloud Desktop app. Open Adobe Creative Cloud, select Main Menu > File > Preferences > Services, and then enable Adobe Fonts.
Some fonts may not be compatible with the preview capability, so they are automatically substituted with the default font and highlighted.
Set up automatic addition of missing fonts
With the automatic addition turned on, when you open a file that contains missing fonts, Illustrator may perform the following actions:
- Add the fonts in the background if all the missing fonts are available in Adobe Fonts.
- Display the Missing Fonts dialog box, which contains a list of the missing fonts and an option to add them if only some are available.
- Show the Missing Fonts dialog with a list of fonts to replace if none are available in Adobe Fonts.
Select Edit > Preferences > File Handling (Windows) or Illustrator > Settings > File Handling (macOS).
In the Preferences dialog box, select Auto-activate Adobe Fonts in the Fonts category.
Select OK.
Once set up, Illustrator adds the missing fonts in the background without showing a notification. To see the progress, select the spinner icon in the menu bar.
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