(see also: Text Overview and "Font" in The Text Menu)
The key thing to know about Fonts is that Flexi does not manage fonts. Windows manages your fonts. It does not add them, it does not remove them, and when you transfer preferences it does not bring them with it. When you first load Flexi, it will retrieve a list of the fonts that are loaded into windows. When you select a font in Flexi, it is a font that was loaded into Windows.
While Windows may support multiple types of Fonts, Flexi only supports .TTF and .OTF (TrueType Fonts and OpenType Fonts, respectively.)
Managing your Fonts
To Manage your fonts, you will need to locate your font folder in Windows. Typically, it is located here:
C:\Windows\Fonts. When you open this folder, it will look like this:
To get a full preview of a font, right click a font and select Preview.
Adding and Removing Fonts to Flexi
To Add a font to Flexi, you will need to add it to Windows. There are two ways to accomplish this:
- Locate the .TTF or .OTF file in Windows and Double-Click it. You will get a preview window. Click Install.
- Drag and Drop the file in the Windows Font folder as shown above. If you have a large list of fonts to add to windows, this is the fastest way to add them all. Just drag and drop them all at the same time.
To Remove a font to Flexi, you will need to remove it from Windows:
- In the Windows Font Folder, right click the font and select
Whenever a font is added or removed from Windows, Flexi will know, and you will get this dialogue box:
Clicking yes will update the Font List in Flexi. Unless you are removing a font from windows while working on a file with that font in Flexi, you should always click Yes.
Note: Some computers might have font management software on them (including Adobe's font management system.) If you are getting the above dialogue box frequently while using Flexi, it is a direct result of this software. In addition, if you are struggling with finding and using a font in Flexi and you use a software of this type, you will need to figure it out on the font management software. SAi does not officially support or endorse any font management software.
Missing Fonts
Occasionally, you might open an existing Flexi file or a .pdf with text that requires a font that is not installed in Windows. In that case, you will get this dialogue box upon opening:
You can select a font to substitute the missing font. All text in the document will change to match that font. Any effects applied to that font will also apply as well. Do note that there is a high chance that the existing design may not appear desirable given the difference in text sizes and shapes.
If you still want to maintain the appearance of the design without the font, click the checkbox that says "Convert Text to paths". This will maintain the appearance of the text and font, but it will no longer be editable text.
Note that Flexi will fail to find a font if the font's name has changed in the windows font folder. If the name is different, find the font in the list in the window above and select that. It will look the same but it will update the font to have the new name.
Casmate Fonts
The only exception to Flexi controlling the fonts are Casmate Fonts. Most people won't have or need these, as these are old fonts included with the Casmate Software that is over 25 years old. If you need them, you will need to place them in the CASFonts folder in the Flexi Installation folder. The default installation is C:\Program Files\SAi\SAi Production Suite 21\. If you are on Flexi 19 or earlier, it will be located in C:\Program Files(x86)\SAi\SAi Production Suite XX.
If you need them you will find a pair of .zip folders containing them at the end of this article.