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Postscript Type 1 fonts in CorelDRAW 2019

Bobby H

Arial Sucks.
I've come across a strange issue with the CorelDRAW 2019 installation on my work computer. Lettering set in Postscript Type 1 format fonts will not print from CorelDRAW 2019 to our Konica-Minolta office printer. Here's the funny thing: any T1 fonts in the document show up on screen in the print preview. Further, any PDFs generated by CorelDRAW 2019 containing T1 fonts will print properly from Adobe Acrobat Reader, and the CDR file containing T1 fonts will print properly from CorelDRAW 2018 (which remains installed on my computer).

I can't find any settings in either CorelDRAW 2019 or the print driver that involve disabling Type 1 fonts. I've seen some claims about Microsoft removing support for Type 1 fonts in Windows 10 recently, but can't find anything specific to back up that claim. Nevertheless the old T1 fonts I have still work just fine in other applications. They just won't print directly from CorelDRAW 2019.

Has anyone else using CorelDRAW 2019 run into this problem?
 

WildWestDesigns

Active Member
Acrobat has it's own internal ability to handle Type 1. Type 1 font support, I think was starting to be dropped by MS back in 2013 with Office. Been replaced with OpenType.

If you are getting it to work in other programs, they more then likely have internal support for it.
 

shoresigns

New Member
Have you tried this software?

windows31.png
 

Bobby H

Arial Sucks.
Those images remind me of using Adobe Type Manager on Win 3.1 (and 3.11 for Workgroups, Win95 and Win98). I still have a couple of floppy disc installers of ATM. But the issue isn't Windows. It's something to do with CorelDRAW 2019 itself. As I said before, Type 1 fonts work and print just fine from CDR 2018. But not CDR 2019.

The Type 1 fonts issue appears to be another concession to add with other concessions users have discovered with the latest version of CorelDRAW. One other drawback I discovered: in previous versions I used to change the setting to add 4 or more decimal points to size values of objects in CorelDRAW because sometimes the default of 3 decimal points was not enough. That setting appears to be gone in CDR 2019, I can't find it anywhere.
 
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WildWestDesigns

Active Member
But the issue isn't Windows. It's something to do with CorelDRAW 2019 itself. As I said before, Type 1 fonts work and print just fine from CDR 2018. But not CDR 2019.

Yes and no. Windows has removed functionality as far as I can tell. That means that it requires the program in question to have said functionality internally. I know Acrobat does, I don't know if all the other programs in the suite (check with InDesign, if it doesn't have it, I doubt others would as well).

It could very well be that Corel 2018 has that internal support, but 2019 does not. I wouldn't be surprised that this is the issue, your talking about a spec that has been around 20 or so yrs, it's considered legacy and has been extended by opentype.

Think of it like TWAIN. Windows doesn't support TWAIN anymore, so it depends on the program or separate 3rd party programs to implement that functionality. Same thing here.

The Type 1 fonts issue appears to be another concession to add with other concessions users have discovered with the latest version of CorelDRAW. One other drawback I discovered: in previous versions I used to change the setting to add 4 or more decimal points to size values of objects in CorelDRAW because sometimes the default of 3 decimal points was not enough. That setting appears to be gone in CDR 2019, I can't find it anywhere.

This is precisely why I don't like bleeding edge (or at least keep a copy of an older portable version of said software, sometimes having 2 versions of the same software traditionally installed can create issues themselves, I know with my embroidery program, if there were 2 different versions of DRAW installed, they would all get hinky). Things get deprecated and removed and when you are talking about certain programs, just have to deal with it. Nothing you can do except stay with legacy or grin and bear it with the future versions.

Considering the yearly release schedule for the mainstream applications in this area, this can happen at a much more rapid pace. Probably happens more then we realize, it just doesn't always affect our workflows.
 

WildWestDesigns

Active Member
This user seems to think it was the Fall Creator update (which would be a Windows issue) that borked Type 1 support in Corel. Why I just love rolling release OSs.

My suggestion though would be to start migrating over to a more "current" font spec if able for those fonts. Of course, even newer versions of those same fonts can have be slightly different, not able to be a true 1:1 port, but better then nothing. I just for sure wouldn't be dependent on those fonts for anything, time to get "modern".
 

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Bobby H

Arial Sucks.
WildWestDesigns said:
Yes and no. Windows has removed functionality as far as I can tell.

I'm on the latest build of Win 10 Pro. I can still install Postscript Type 1 fonts. And all the commonly used Type 1 fonts that were already installed have remained installed. I don't use MS Office, but I can open something like WordPad and set lettering in a Type 1 font.

Again, this printing issue with Type 1 fonts looks very much like a CorelDRAW 2019 issue and nothing else. I'm not seeing the problem repeated anywhere else in the OS or with any other applications.

WildWestDesigns said:
This is precisely why I don't like bleeding edge (or at least keep a copy of an older portable version of said software, sometimes having 2 versions of the same software traditionally installed can create issues themselves, I know with my embroidery program, if there were 2 different versions of DRAW installed, they would all get hinky). Things get deprecated and removed and when you are talking about certain programs, just have to deal with it. Nothing you can do except stay with legacy or grin and bear it with the future versions.

I do not need a lecture on the situation, I'm not a newbie user. I've already been running two versions of CorelDRAW on one computer for many years, not because of certain features that were removed (which seems pretty unique with CorelDRAW 2019), but because a brand new CorelDRAW release often has bugs. It usually takes Corel at least one significant maintenance release to deal with the most serious issues. Sometimes the bugs are minor and other times they're more serious.

Given the fact I ordered an upgrade of CDR 2019 pretty late in that version's cycle one would have figured any problems would have been fixed by now. There's lots of jokes at the Corel user forums about CorelDRAW 2020 really being the final bug fix for CDR 2019. But then the 2020 version will likely bring about a whole new set of bugs if the developers make any significant changes or updates to the program.
 

WildWestDesigns

Active Member
I'm on the latest build of Win 10 Pro. I can still install Postscript Type 1 fonts. And all the commonly used Type 1 fonts that were already installed have remained installed. I don't use MS Office, but I can open something like WordPad and set lettering in a Type 1 font.

Again, this printing issue with Type 1 fonts looks very much like a CorelDRAW 2019 issue and nothing else. I'm not seeing the problem repeated anywhere else in the OS or with any other applications.

It could be related to an update of Win 10 and how it affects DRAW specifically.

I have seen posts in the Adobe forum how they don't specifically support Type 1, at least in an official capacity. Now, of course, given Corel's lack of more modern type features, maybe that should play a part in them supporting older type specs longer.


I do not need a lecture on the situation, I'm not a newbie user.

I only go with how information is presented in the posts. That's it. I have no means of confirming anything else.

It usually takes Corel at least one significant maintenance release to deal with the most serious issues. Sometimes the bugs are minor and other times they're more serious.

Implication being that there could be more releases that are needed. And it appears that this is one of those times.

I also have to wonder, how well versed are the devs with the Mac platform. Did they bring on Mac devs to help or are these mainly Win devs learning by the seat of their pants? If it's the later, get ready for a very bumpy ride on both platforms.

I can tell, even though the frameworks that I use for hybrid apps is nowhere near the low level of C++, targeting Darwin systems is not fun. Oddly enough, Windows and Linux targets pretty much follow the same path with this framework (really odd considering Linux shares more with Mac then Windows, well, maybe not so much now with WSL).

Now, I don't know if the Mac version has this problem, I bring up the Mac version, because the devs are having to also get releases out to that and support that version and it's not like build the code one and deploy on many platforms. They aren't using frameworks that allow for that (at least not that I am aware of). That all adds into the amount of time that they would need to fix things as well. I doubt that Corel has the resources of say MS and remember MS no longer has an internal QC (which has it's own problems and why can't totally rule out a Windows issue here as well), so that makes one wonder about a smaller company and what they are able to handle.

Given the fact I ordered an upgrade of CDR 2019 pretty late in that version's cycle one would have figured any problems would have been fixed by now.

Normally, I would agree with that, problem is, they were also focusing on a Mac version. Their first one in a very long time, one that was it's own entity and not just a crude port. Personally, I would have waited longer. If they had followed the old release scheme, I would have waited until what would have been essentially the 2020 version of the new release schema.

Now, I was never a Corel fan, I only had it due to my digitizing program at the time and it came with it. Does Corel not allow for trial use of the program? Of course, with the subscription route, it doesn't really matter since that's a perk of the subscription, unless one is able to retain the older version for as long as they want/able to and Corel doesn't pull an Adobe and force an X-1 requirement.


There's lots of jokes at the Corel user forums about CorelDRAW 2020 really being the final bug fix for CDR 2019. But then the 2020 version will likely bring about a whole new set of bugs if the developers make any significant changes or updates to the program.

Ironically, that's actually what has a pretty good potential for happening with every major release. It doesn't necessarily have to be big changes either. I couple of lines of code can break a previously working version or make it unstable whatever. This is why bugs cannot be expected to be quashed in beta. Might fix one bug, but create another one.

This is not an new problem either. My mom was a programmer back in the days of punch cards and she would say that no matter how much they tested something, once it reached to the masses to where there were strange workflows, bugs showed up.

Also keep in mind, even though you don't consider Windows a potential point of concern with this issue, Windows updates have been known to break programs, I had posted a reply that a user had put up on a Windows update breaking Type 1 fonts on 2019 with the last major release of 2019 (we haven't had the first of this years major release, at least I don't think so). Now, I don't know if that user confirmed it or just idle speculation, but it's not outside the realm of possibility.

Did Type 1 fonts ever work in 2019 or was this always an issue since you had it? If they did work say in Update 2, but not 3, rollback to 2 or whatever version it did work.
 

shoresigns

New Member
What's wrong with this one?
Well, yes, Windows 98 supported PS Type 1 (as does Windows 10), but it wasn't the best choice for teasing someone about expecting a long-obsolete font format to work in the latest software.

Windows 3.1 was the first version of Windows that supported TrueType fonts, which means that PostScript Type 1 was essentially marked for obsolescence ~29 years ago.
 

WildWestDesigns

Active Member
Well, yes, Windows 98 supported PS Type 1 (as does Windows 10), but it wasn't the best choice for teasing someone about expecting a long-obsolete font format to work in the latest software.

Actually, if I recall correctly, for the 9x Windows lineup, it required a program from Adobe to provide true support for Type 1.

As to Win 98 being the best choice or not, I think people had issues with both versions. Although personally, Win 98 will always be my favorite version of Windows. Certainly more powerful then now (not computing power, but user control power, which also had its cons, but to me the pros outweighed the cons).

I keep on reading over and over again, that the 19.09 has reports of breaking what Type 1 support was there. In the Windows user community, in Adobe forums, pre press forums, that's what I'm reading.

Now, is this a breaking to finally remove functionality of an obsolete font spec, could very well be. Or is it just another case of another rollout of an update gone wrong, quite possible that as well.

Windows 3.1 was the first version of Windows that supported TrueType fonts, which means that PostScript Type 1 was essentially marked for obsolescence ~29 years ago.

Certainly by the mid 90s with OTF, it was definitely "doomed". Didn't Adobe have their library converted to OTF by '02?

I'm just surprised, certainly in this specific case, that such an old spec is still being used.
 

Christoph

New Member
Same issue here. Type 1 fonts are correctly shown in the print preview but are not printed. However if you connect the text to a curve or just rotate it e.g. by only 1° it will perfectly print out. May be it could be a hint to find a solution about this problem?
 

Bobby H

Arial Sucks.
Recently another further update of Windows removed any Type 1 fonts I had installed directly in the OS on my work desktop. Strangely my personal notebook at home still has a number of Type 1 families installed. Both machines are running Win 10 Pro.

On the work desktop computer I tried re-installing a couple families, such as Akzidenz Grotesk BE (one of the font families that came bundled in early versions of Illustrator). They wouldn't show up in the font menus of other applications like Adobe Illustrator and the fonts would disappear from Windows' fonts folder when the computer was re-booed.

I can still use T1 fonts in CorelDRAW (via the Font Manager functionality). I did end up getting them to print by using a different print driver for our office laser printer. The PCL driver would disregard them coming from CDR 2019 (but would print from CDR 2018). They would print by switching to the PS driver.
 

WildWestDesigns

Active Member
Recently another further update of Windows removed any Type 1 fonts I had installed directly in the OS on my work desktop. Strangely my personal notebook at home still has a number of Type 1 families installed. Both machines are running Win 10 Pro.

If I am reading this correctly, it reads as if it is looking like Win 10 updates are at least to some degree playing a part.

Did the rollout of the new update also make it to the laptop or did you initiate the update on your own to where both have it? If one has the exact update, but one doesn't, could explain why the laptop isnt affected (yet anyway).

Or it could be a random issue that affected your desktop, but not you laptop.
 
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