: Folder to put fonts for Illustrator CS6 without having to install fonts in system I remember there used to be a folder I could just put fonts in and they would work for Adobe InDesign. I

@Samaraweera207

It's my favourite feature just from oldest versions (AI 8-10) and in Illustrator CS4 still works. Create subfolder with name "Fonts" in the Illustrator Application folder (path now is: /Applications/Adobe Illustrator CS4/Fonts), put in this folder some font files and restart Illustrator. Fonts now are included in the Illustrator font menu.

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@Angie364

Both CS5 and CS6 InDesign applications have implemented a new feature in attempt to "simplify" font usage and activation (in InDesign).

The packaging process saves the INDD file, Links, Instructions and Document Fonts into the same parent folder (specified in Package process). The idea behind the new "Document Fonts" feature is that anyone can open the INDD file and (if all the fonts used are in the Document Fonts folder) they should see ID automatically load all the fonts for use only in that document. So the fonts load, whether or not you have the fonts installed locally on that machine.

The fonts loaded from that Document Fonts folder will appear at the top of the Type > Fonts list as “Document Fonts”.
Seems pretty awesome, but without any explanation, many older (Postscript Type 1) font types won’t auto-activate from the Document Fonts folder. So this is not a truly fail-safe method for activating fonts.
Not to mention this only works for InDesign. Illustrator does not use this method to load or activate fonts. :(

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@Cooney243

I believe this is what you're after. I've always thought it a strange practice but, Adobe has provided it's own fonts directory going back a long way.

Windows Program Files/Common Files/Adobe/Fonts

Mac OS Library/Application Support/Adobe/Fonts

I believe some font managers also allow you to activate a set of fonts based on application.

-- update --

FontExplorer is my favorite font manager and apparently it has app-based sets (I knew I remember that from somewhere ;)


Activation control with application-based sets and font request view


This is news to me, but apparently InD has supported document-level activation since CS5:


Fonts in a Document Fonts folder that is in the same location as an InDesign document are temporarily installed when the document is opened.

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