More than a few weeks ago I shared my “Where’s My Glyph” post with you. In that post I was complaining about not being able to access all of the glyphs for a font I purchased.

It wasn’t long after that post that I saw a meme, comment or newsletter in which someone was asking why a font they had wasn’t showing up in Photoshop Elements. And that’s what spurred this post.

Font Not Found

Before I get started just a quick reminder that I use Photoshop Elements 2024. If you use a different version, some of my screen shots may look different than what you see on your screen.

There are multiple reasons that can cause you to receive an error/warning box regarding missing fonts. Most commonly this kind of warning box appears when opening a layered PSD file (typically a template).

This happens when the person who designed the template you opened used a font that is not available on your computer. The error/warning box looks something like this:

So, what should you do? First, make note of the font(s) PSE couldn’t find. Then just click OK to get past the error/warning. Then you need to figure out why the font isn’t being recognized by PSE.

Note: I will also strongly caution you to NOT click the “Don’t show again” box. Why? Two reasons; 1 – there may be an issue with your fonts/system that needs investigating, 2 – you might want to see if the “missing” font is a new one you’d like to grab online! Either way, you probably want to know about any missing fonts in the future.

One of two things is possible. Either you have the font and it’s not installed. Or, you don’t have (or can’t find) the font. The first possibility is easier to rectify. The second may require a bit more thought! But I’m here today to help with that.

If you read my “Ready To Add Words?” post back in March of 2023, you already know that I highly recommend that you don’t install every font you have acquired. And why is that? Installing too many fonts will use up system memory and can lead to performance issues.

So, like me, you may have a separate folder on your hard drive in which you store all the unzipped fonts that you download. And you likely have not immediately installed all of these fonts. If you aren’t using a font manager (more on that in a bit), PSE only looks in the system folder on your computer where installed fonts reside.

If you know how to view that system font folder, check to ensure that the font you thought you have is actually installed and shows up in that system folder. If it’s not there then go back to the “storage” folder and just install it and you should be fine.

But this isn’t a sure-fire answer to the mystery. Checking for fonts simply by name is not always the most reliable way to check. I’ll tell you more on this in the next section.

Worst case scenario, if you don’t have or can’t find the “offending” font or one that is similar, you can either select another font from your collection or just delete/ignore the font layer altogether until you come up with an alternative.

For tips on finding alternate fonts please refer back to my “What’s That Font?” post from May of 2023.

Font Names

Believe it or not, there are multiple fonts out there that have the same name but are completely different from one another. Again, this is something I talked about in my “Ready To Add Words?” post.

But it is possible for a given font to have a different name than what the PSD file may be expecting. So how on earth does this happen? Easy. The designer who created the template should be using a font that was purchased for Commercial Use.

Generally speaking, I tend not to purchase fonts. Mostly because I don’t (nor do I currently plan to) sell any products. Therefore, I look for free versions of more than just a few commercial fonts.

For example, I have a free version of a font named “Golden Hopes” which I downloaded from dafont.com:

But this font is also commercially available at MyFonts. When I downloaded the free version the actual font name was “GoldenHopes_PERSONAL_USE_ONLY”. Since I don’t own the commercial version, I can’t say with 100% certainty what the actual font name is. But I suspect it could simply be either “Golden Hopes” or “GoldenHopes”.

Therefore, if I opened a template that was using the commercial version of that font, even if I had my free version installed, PSE likely wouldn’t recognize it as being the same font. Consequently, the error/warning.

In cases such as this I just click past the error/warning. Once the template is open, I look for the “offending” font layer which should look something like this:

Then I just double-click on the “offending” type layer to activate it. In the Type Tool options, I just use the “font name” dropdown and choose my free version of the font to replace the “offending” one.

And as I mentioned above, if the font that you do have isn’t the same as what the designer used, just use or look for a suitable replacement.

Font Manager vs. Installed Font

If you are using a font manager to organize your fonts you may find that either you don’t have your font manager open (running in the background) or the “offending” font just needs to be activated. For more information about how font managers work, please refer back to my “What Is A Font Manager” post from March of 2023.

If you don’t see the “offending” font in your font manager then you either don’t have the font or you have placed it in a folder to which the font manager isn’t linked. Double-check all the other places you may have stored the font.

If it’s in neither your system font folder or your font manager then you’ll need to look for a suitable replacement font.

Adobe Fonts

Adobe Fonts partners with the world’s leading type foundries to bring thousands of beautiful fonts to designers every day. This is an online service that provides subscribers with access to a font library, under a single licensing agreement. The fonts may be used directly on websites, or synced via Adobe Creative Cloud to applications on the subscriber’s computer.

If you run into a font listed in your error/warning box that you don’t already have, do a search for the font on the internet. Generally speaking, if that font is an Adobe font, then Adobe Fonts should be the first “source” listed in the search results:

If you are using Full Photoshop & Creative Cloud, you should have access to Adobe fonts. Unfortunately, if you are using PSE and do not have a paid subscription to Creative Cloud, you will not be able to use the Adobe fonts.

As far as I can tell, there is no way to use Adobe fonts if you have the free desktop version of Creative Cloud. That means you cannot use Adobe fonts in PSE, Microsoft Word of any other graphics related software.

I would like to think that most designers would avoid using Adobe fonts in their templates. But that’s not to say it couldn’t happen. So, if you run into a font that seems to be an Adobe font, you may just need to see if you can find a free font that is similar.

I hope all the information above will help you understand and reconcile any “Missing Font” errors you encounter.

Extra Tips

Never assume your font is missing. Unless you’re using a font manager it may just be an issue of having not actually installed the font.

Even if your “missing” font shows up in your font manager, you may still need to activate it in order to access it within your chosen software.

Remember multiple distinct fonts can have the same name.

If you run into an Adobe font, your only option may be to look for a similar alternate.

Other than that…when you encounter a “missing” font that you actually don’t have…try to find a free version of it on the internet.

If all else fails just replace the “missing” font with a suitable alternate font that you do have.

Thanks for reading this week’s Tuesday Tip. Remember, if you have any suggestions or questions please don’t hesitate to “Message Me“. Check back next week for another tip about vellum letters! Click “Follow Me” to stay in touch. I hope you have a wonderful week!