Just loaded up a fresh install of this new 2022 update on a fresh install of Win 11. I opened Font Manager and pointed it to a folder on my desktop that has all of my "downloaded fonts" that I like to use. When adding the folder in Font Manager, it looks like it sees all of the font files and lists them all, but the preview for all of them just show up as Arial it looks like. When I go in to CorelDraw and type in some text, go to the font dropdown, I can see all of those same uninstalled fonts and the previews are the same Arial font. If I select one of those fonts, the text in the document also just shows up as Arial. It looks like the CorelDRAW fonts and system fonts are working, so it's just the outside fonts that are "uninstalled".
I thought Font Manager might just need some time to work through updating the previews so I let it sit for quite a while. I also restarted Windows and brought Font Manager back up, same result.
Is anyone else running in to this or is there a workaround for this sort of thing? Seems like I saw another post where fonts in CDR files opened from older versions of Draw where doing something similar to this with the fonts in the document? Not sure if it's a related issue?
SETUP ===
Font Manger - V 24.0.0.301 - March 2022 Release
CorelDraw - V 24.0.0.301 - March 2022 Relase
Windows 11 Home - V21H2 (OS Build 22000.527)
Running Win 11 ARM version on Parallels Desktop 17 for Mac (Pro Edition) V 17.1.1 on M1 MacBook Pro 2021
I'm on the Windows platform. CorelDRAW and its Font Manager have had issues handling fonts for years. Some type objects will get turned into Arial when I try to select certain fonts, particularly a good number of them downloaded from the Google Fonts web site. I have some other type families where the upright and italic styles of fonts cancel out one or the other (either all italic or all upright). Some of those are commercially purchased, high quality families (some static, some variable). Others are synced from the Adobe Fonts service. The March 2022 Update of CorelDRAW did not fix any of those type bugs.Basically if I want to use certain type families I have to fire up Adobe Illustrator or some other rival application.
Bobby, thanks for that info. I just moved up from CDR 2019 that I was running on Win 10 on a full license I bought just as the subscription stuff was starting, so I haven't been on the 2020 or 2021 versions yet to see this issue. I have a pretty big collection of downloaded fonts that I work with on a daily basis. I've had some minor issues here and there, but nothing big. Being able to have access to all of those fonts that didn't require installation is a HUGE part of my workflow. I also noticed that the 'Refresh Font List' button in the 'View' dropdown stays greyed out. I actually was able to click it when I first opened and selected my folder of downloaded fonts which populated all of the font names within a few minutes. Since I have a pretty ridiculous number of fonts in that folder, I'm hoping it may just need some time to index it all or something? I actually had even more fonts in my Win 10 / CDR 2019 setup and it worked fine.
I just went ahead and submitted a ticket with support. Hope to hear back from them soon on this one.
I wonder if that's a Windows 11 issue?
Depending on the computer hardware it can take a long time for Corel Font Manager to analyze a large collection of fonts. If it's an older system running traditional magnetic, platter-based hard discs the process will be painfully slow. Even on brand new hardware with a fast CPU, lots of RAM and a M.2 NVMe solid state hard disc it can still take at least a few minutes for CFM to cycle through a collection of several thousand fonts.
I don't think CorelDRAW or its companion Font Manager know how to process large type families effectively, hence all the conflicts with italic and upright styles in some families. It's a mystery why some super-families work properly and others have technical issues. If these were errors in type authoring I would likely see the same glitches occur in other applications.
I suspect there is some kind of common code in fonts hosted at the Google Fonts web site that CorelDRAW just does not like at all. It's shocking how many fonts from that website just kick out to Arial when selected in the font menu.
I've spent a good part of the day chatting with support from Corel, Parallels and Windows. They all seem to be pointing at each other at this point, haha! At this point, I'm thinking the issue I'm seeing may be at the intersection of Parallels 17 and Windows 11 ARM on an M1 Mac. Looks like there is something betwween Win and parallels but I haven't pinpointed it yet.
I did my own test by going in to Parallels and setting up a brand new Win 11 virtual machine. Fresh install, no changes to it, I just put 2 files on the desktop, one OTF font and one TT font. Both gave me the error message that they were not a valid font file. I tried to move the file to a different folder and open it, no luck. The only file you could preview fonts in was the Windows "Fonts" file. I mention all of this because I wonder if this issue has something to do with why Font Mgr can't do it's thing.
I left font manager open all afternoon, hoping it might just need to index things. The View > Refresh Font List button finally came up where it wasn't greyed out. No changes to things so I clicked it again to try to refresh, it's been greyed out for about an hour now. Maybe if I leave it open for a day or two it will get squared away.
Long story short, I'm sort of stuck for now, trying to troubleshoot the issue as I can. If anyone else has any info or luck with any solutions, please let me know.
Oh, and if you decide to pick up a new M1 MacBook for more power and you're planning to run CorelDRAW on Parallels (because you just can't make the switch to the Mac version, I promise, I TRIED to love it and make it work).... do your research beforehand.