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What does “convert fonts to outlines” or “embed fonts” mean?


Fonts aren’t automatically transferred with a vector file when it is created in a program like Adobe Illustrator. When using fonts in the program, the text is linked to a font file located on your computer. If that text is not converted to shapes or outlines or “embedded”, in the program, when you send that file to us if we don’t have the font installed on our computer the font you have used will be substituted for a different font that is installed on our system.

To get around this you need to convert fonts to outlines or embed the fonts. To do this in Adobe Illustrator you can right click on the text and choose “Create Outlines” alternatively if you go to Type>Create Outlines or finally you can use the hotkeys Shift+Ctrl+O. This will convert all you type to shapes and it will transport within your file.