There are three important things to remember about fonts and graphic projects.

First, find out which platform was used to create the graphic file. The Mac platform and the PC platform have different font files. Font files from the Mac will not work on a PC and vise versa. The reason for this is the Mac uses Type 1 fonts (postscript) and the PC uses True Type fonts and PC designed Type 1 fonts. If you place Mac fonts into a PC font directory, the font will not function in the PC graphic software packages, you might even get an error. Determining which platform was used to create a project is essential. For example, if a Mac platform Adobe Illustrator file is opened on a PC platform, the PC version of Adobe Illustrator will open the file with the system's default or substitute fonts, making the layout look very different. Many software packages are smart enough to warn the user about missing fonts, but some will not. The latter will create headaches.

Second, insure that all font files used in the project are sent with the graphic file. There are hundreds of font files in existence and no computer has them all on its system. If a font is missing the computer will substitute it with a default font and the layout will be wrong. This will slow down the preflight process because the client has to be contacted and the font files sent for a proper preflight and output.

Third, if you are uncomfortable with sending the font files, or do not know how to gather and include them with a project, convert the fonts to outlines. Converting the fonts to outlines changes all the letters and characters in a graphic to individual elements (vector or raster depending on the software package, see Vector Graphics vs. Raster Graphics for more information). Software packages such as Adobe Illustrator and Corel Draw have this function and Adobe Photoshop can rasterize the font. Please note that Quark Express does not have the ability to convert fonts to outlines, all fonts must be collected.

There are programs available that will embed the fonts within the file but it is still proper practice to follow the three steps mentioned above.