How to set a different default font

[Former Community Member]

Is there a way to set a different font other that Myriad Pro as the default font so that you don't have to continually reset it for every field or label???

[Former Community Member]

I second that question!

[Former Community Member]

During import, Designer attempts to match fonts in the PDF file with fonts that are available on your computer. If the file contains an unavailable font, Designer displays a dialog box showing the missing font and a suggested replacement. You can accept the replacement font or change it.



This font substitution is not permanent. Designer must map the unavailable fonts every time the form opens. You can make the font substitution permanent by selecting File > Save As and then selecting Permanently Replace Unavailable Fonts before saving the file. This method is recommended for permanently substituting fonts.



You can also set up a font-substitution table in the file ConvertPDF_FontMap.txt in the Designer installation directory. If you add a font-substitution rule to this file, all occurrences of the substituted font are changed to the new font when you import a PDF, regardless of the font-mapping table and regardless of whether the substituted font is available on your computer.



ConvertPDF_FontMap.txt is empty by default. Each entry you add should have the following syntax:



input_font=Designer_font



where input_font is the name of the font used in the input PDF file, and Designer_font is the name of the font that is installed on your computer. Asterisks (*) represent wildcard characters. For example, the string *Cour* refers to all font names that contain the string Cour. Question marks (?) represent single-character wildcards. Adding wildcard characters before and after the input_font name accounts for any slight variations in the name of the font in the form. For example



*Arial*=Arial



*Helv*=Arial



*Cour*=Courier New



*=Times New Roman



Processing occurs in descending order. The last line in the example converts all remaining fonts to Times New Roman.

[Former Community Member]

Not sure if you are talking about importing or just setting the font globally before designing your form. Jimmy has covered the import, but if your looking for the second option than you are basically out of luck.



Unfortunately, there is currently no way to set the default font for all objects from the Designer GUI or for other properties for that matter. I am hoping this will be added to Designer in the future.



The only alternative is to edit the files representing each object to change the properties you want. The objects in the library are stored as XML snippets in XFO files and are stored in the following location



C:\Documents and Settings\{username}\Application Data\Adobe\Designer\en\objects

[Former Community Member]

Dave - you answered my intended question and I must say I'm disapointed. But thanks for getting back. It's a real bummer to be stuck with someones favorite 'myriad pro'.



Is there a wish list somewhere??? I feel like Designer is like PC's were way prior to Windows95. You had to type in code for alot of what you had hoped you paid someone to program for. Programers then tried to preserve some hierarchy for those that knew code. Seems like the same philosophy applies to the Designer crew!!! I hope I'm wrong. I'm certainly glad Photoshop and Illustrator are not as obtuse.

[Former Community Member]

An alternative to David's suggestion - when you set the properties of an object to something that is your "standard", simply drag the object back to the standard objects palette. When prompted for a name, use the same name as the original object (e.g., "Text Field"). You will be prompted if you want to replace the object - answer 'Yes". From then on, your Text Field object that you drag from the Standard Palette will have your defined properties.



Of course, this is doing the same thing that David suggested, only from inside the Designer instead of editing the object files.

[Former Community Member]

SGreen

Thanks - That way gives a few options and I'll try them out.

One real basic question - How do you edit the XFO files? and will it be obvious where to change the text? I'm curious since your method seems easier.



David - sorry for the rant - I guess I didn't understand I had these options.....I do hope though that The Designer Crew Has a wish list....

[Former Community Member]

I can understand your point of view, but I do believe that Designer is a good step forward with respect to forms building within Acrobat. The old process was more developer orientated and while it has its good points is not as flexible as designer. The current Designer has only been around for the last year or two and is not as mature as Illustrator/Photoshop. These products have had 10+ years development. Designer will get there. You better believe it that there is a wish list for future requirements :) - And this is definitely on it (as well as the scripting language default)



SGreen suggestion is a good one, especially if you want to set more than just the font.



For those who wish to know about XFO, these are basically XML snippets which represent the objects within the Library tab. They are usually stored in the users default application data directory under

C:\Documents and Settings\{username}\Application Data\Adobe\Designer\en\objects



Each represents an object and if you wish to set the font, just use something like NotePad, TextPad, UltraEdit, etc to open each one and do a search + replace on



typeface="Myriad Pro"



and change it to



typeface="Arial"



or whatever font you need

[Former Community Member]

Thanks David - very helpful!!!



Is there a place on this or another forum for the "wish list"??

[Former Community Member]

Windows GREP is a great tool for making universal edits like what David is suggesting. You can get a copy of this tool at http://www.wingrep.com/download.html



I just spent 15 seconds changing all occurences of "Myriad Pro" to "Arial".

[Former Community Member]

Seems like Adobe has a long way to go with this product. Why is it that so many of my fonts are unavailable in Designer? And even some of them that are listed as available...when I select them, Designer just reverts it back to Myriad Pro.

[SciMax]

I too would like to be able to set the global font to our corporate standards of Arial and Times New Roman. But I don't think it will happen too quickly!



Therefore I came up with a workaround! I created a number of objects with all the specs I wanted, and then saved as custom objects in the Library.



For example: I created a text object with the caption font set to Arial 7 point, value font set to Arial 10, plus all the other attributes (border, paragraph positions, etc.) and then dragged it into the Library and labelled it 'CoL Text Field' (CoL being my corporate initials).



Now when I want a text object, I simply drag 'CoL Text Field' from the Library and voila... it is already set up with my fonts, etc. I've found by doing this is it saves me a lot of time, and keeps form layouts consistent.



I even set up a custom object with my company's logo too! So simple.

[Former Community Member]

In Designer 7 Help, under Menu, Command and Dialog Reference, Menus and Commands, Dialog Box Reference, Font and Color Settings it talks about a Font and Color Setting Dialog box....I have searched through all of the menus and settings in the program and I cannot find this dialog box....Does anyone know where it is? If it exists it could solve the problem. maybe?