Oh %$@#...Where'd My Fonts Go?

"Okay...help!! Half the fonts on my Mac are not accesible from within Illustrator—yet they're still installed in the Fonts folder!! What gives? And what can I do to fix the problem!? Any ideas??? Thanks—D"

Eesh...that's a doozie of a problem there, which I've only run into on a small scale—as in, maybe a single font either not showing correctly, or not showing at all. The main thing I recall ever doing for this problem is to remove the font from the Fonts folder and replace it with a fresh copy...then restart, if necessary.

(This is assuming you're in Mac OS 10. I don't remember much about how fonts worked before OS 10...sorry, you're on your own there.)

Another possible problem—though not likely—is if the font family is already in its own folder, inside the Fonts folder. In this case, maybe try putting the fonts out on the top of level of the Fonts folder. (In other words, no 'nested-folder' business.) But that would be a real pain to do—and become quite disorganized—for more than one font. Also, in OS 10, 'nested' Font folders should work fine...

The only other thing I can think of is: You know there's more than one Fonts folder in OS 10, right? Yeah, there's a system-wide Fonts folder in the Library of your hard drive's directory; as well as one in the Library of your personal Users folder...also found in the hard drive's directory. (The the idea is that the fonts you put in that folder are only accessible under your user account...no one else's. Kinda confusing system, but you get used to it.)

I don't know in which Fonts folder(s) your fonts reside. But if they don't work properly in one place, maybe they'll work if installed in the other? It's worth a try...

Anyhow, that's all I got. Yeah, when fonts are on the fritz, it's like the world is coming to an end. But there's usually a simple fix. (Like reinstalling them or something.) Only thing is, if the fix isn't obvious, it may take some time to figure out. The key is to stay calm, so you can be methodical in your troubleshooting. Because if you freak out, what do you think the client's gonna do?

Hope this helped—Grif