This is not a new thing just getting really annoying here lately. We load all fonts to the windows directory. We also have a "Font Swap directory on our network. That way if a designer needs to pull up something designed by someone else and the font is missing font manager can load it as long as that person has their font manager set to look there. Anyway, on any given day we can pull up a file we were working on the previous day and the font is missing and also missing from the network directory. Today I begin a new doc and begin to design some parking signs. I try to choose the font we've used for years and the whole font family is gone. I can see them all in FM but can't install them from there due to a recent network rebuild (network problem with permissions os some thing). I have to copy them to the desktop them install them then delete them from the desktop to uncutter.
Aside from networking issues, CorelDRAW 2020 definitely does have internal problems at showing all fonts installed on the computer's local hard disc. I have to keep version 2018 running on my computer due to the fonts that come up missing in version 2020. They're all present in the 2020 Font Manager and Windows Fonts Folder, but not in the CDR 2020 application itself.
Here's a strange occurrence too. Maybe it's my misunderstanding of the whole embedding of fonts thing. I open a file I created a few days earlier and I go to copy & paste some of the text within that file. I get the pop-up message saying the font is missing and see that it can be installed via font manager. I click yes/ok but then the font still shows as an embedded font. I then copy and paste it. That text doesn't show as being embedded. Delete the embedded version and replace with the newly created.
Yeah, I never use the font embedding feature in CorelDRAW. Once my sign designs are finalized I convert all type objects to outlines. It's easy enough to repopulate text objects if needed.
I can see maybe creating a duplicate within the finalized with fonts converted and leaving one with live fonts. Wouldn't make sense to have two seperate files. How would it be " easy enough to repopulate text" otherwise? Unless you include a note of the fonts used. We, too, leave fonts live and convert on output to the print RIP.
For most kinds of signs there really is no advantage to leaving the layout with active fonts present. And there are multiple potential drawbacks. The only exception is a layout that has large passages of text. That's not very common for most signs. And when that does occur I either include a copy of the specific font file(s) used in that folder or at least include notes about it on the project spec sheet. That way if I have to open that file 10 years from now I'll at least have some chance of opening it accurately.Most finished sign designs should behave digitally no different than a logo file. I don't have to install any fonts when I open a logo file or other branding assets to use on a sign project for a large company. When the fonts are converted to outlines any co-worker that accesses the artwork across the network to use on a routing table, vinyl cutter, etc won't have to install any fonts. The file can be opened 20 years from now and there won't be any danger of a certain font format being deprecated or even eliminated. I have some old Type 1 Multiple Master fonts I can use only if I fire up a 90's era PC (and 90's era Adobe software) or run an old version of Windows in a virtual machine. I worry support for regular Postscript Type 1 fonts will be completely removed from Windows. I have a bunch of old T1 fonts I still use.Type objects can get really twisted around and distorted in sign designs (especially with some of the hacks working in this industry). Having the artwork "flattened" (to use an Adobe term) will make it more reliable to open if the artwork has to be re-used years later.
We get calls all the time from "old timers" every day who want the same sign we did for them in 1998 just change the text to read "blah ,blah, blah" Hmmm that would have been before my time here and a Signlab file that was moved to a floppy and stacked in a box on a shelf with no notes in the hard (paper) file.
Maintaining good archives (both data and paper) is important. Too many users simply don't do that. For instance, we could have a serious hail storm that breaks channel letter faces on a really old sign. If you still have the original full size art file and the type is already converted to outlines it will be easy to make a perfect replacement. If the lettering is live text then the exact file file originally used must be loaded. I have duplicates of some typefaces in multiple formats (TT, T1, OTF) and multiple release versions through the years. Even if the lettering is converted to outlines it's still a good idea to know specifically what font files were used in case the client wants to change something. I've lost track of how many versions of Helvetica I have in my collection, including knock-offs like Swiss 721, Nimbus Sans, CG Triumvirate, etc. They all differ in very subtle ways. God forbid if someone squeezed or stretched the original lettering. That makes it more difficult to match up the correct face.
When I first started here we were using data tape cartridges for "high capacity" data backups. Those were lots of fun (sarcasm). By the late 1990's I had moved on to Iomega Zip Drives and CD-R/RW discs. Eventually space-wasting stacks of CD-Rs gave way to external hard discs. I can open my own sign layout files dating back to around 1999 with no technical issues. Things start getting funny going earlier.
My company used CASmate for full scale sign design work from 1993 to 2000. I would often export that artwork to CorelDRAW to create client proofs and scale shop drawings. Scanvec was bought by Amiable Technologies and CASmate was discontinued in favor of Flexi. Existing CASmate license holders were shifted to a new version of Flexi that could open/edit CASmate SCV files and read CASmate's proprietary SCF fonts. It worked reasonably well, but not 100% all the time. Results were better if text objects in the SCV files had already been converted to outlines.