Should you outline your fonts before output?
InDesign offers the ability to outline your fonts before output, much the same way as Illustrator. Outlining the fonts (sometimes known as converting to paths) prevents the potential for missing font errors and a host of other issues. But it’s not without a catch.
There was a time when service bureaus and printers wouldn’t accept your files unless the fonts were outlined, but for the most part, that time has long since passed.
InDesignSecrets has the definitive guide to outlining fonts that offers a new way to outline your fonts in Acrobat DC, preventing that gotcha when you do it in InDesign.
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Please people, PLEASE – make sure you ask your print provider before you go outlining everything! It can interfere with a number of processes at the production stage. Not to mention making those very last minute changes impossible.
Though I was happy to share this article from InDesign Secrets, I must admit that I haven’t outlined fonts for the purpose of sending for output since the late 90s. If you’re working with a printer with a modern workflow, there’s just no reason to send anything other than a PDF with the fonts embedded, or at the most a fully editable InDesign/Quark file collect.
But there are always exceptions, and this article is an excellent reference for accommodating those exceptions.
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