Resolve missing fonts in desktop applications

If you see a Missing Fonts message upon opening a file in one of your desktop applications, this means that the file uses fonts that you don’t currently have on your computer. If you proceed without resolving the missing fonts, a default font will be substituted in. Since this affects the appearance of the document — sometimes dramatically so — we recommend resolving the missing fonts.

InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator have Adobe Fonts (previously named Typekit) fully integrated with the desktop software.  When you open a file that uses fonts which aren't available on your computer, the missing fonts window will show which of those fonts are included with your Creative Cloud subscription.

Use the checkboxes to choose the fonts you want to activate, and then click the Activate button to add them to your computer.

Once the fonts have been added to your computer, they will be applied automatically to the text in your document. You can then continue working with the text as usual.

If there is any problem activating the new fonts, you’ll see an error message in the Missing Fonts dialog and in Creative Cloud desktop.

• Error message: “A font with the same name is already installed”
• Error message: “Unable to activate one or more fonts”

If you see any other problem when adding new fonts, consult the troubleshooting guide.

For applications that don’t have a font integration built in, you will see a variety of different messages when fonts are missing from the document. Some applications may not have a missing fonts alert at all, and will simply replace the fonts automatically with defaults.

You can browse or search for the missing fonts from the Adobe Fonts website, and activate them through Creative Cloud desktop. Once they are added to your computer, they will be available to use from your desktop software programs.

You may need to restart the application after adding new fonts before they show up in the font menu.

If you need a font that isn't included in the subscription library, it will be available to purchase from the font foundry website or from a font reseller, such as Fontspring.