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This is something I always wondered, and right now I'd really use. From time to time, our clients send work from illustrators using fonts that are outlined. Sometimes I can get the illustrator to tell us the exact font they used, but sometimes they're unresponsive, so we use any of the many font identifiers, and usually get the correct font name.

Now, I have this file with a logo using a font that looks like many different fonts, yet not exactly like any of them. I assume the designer used a font, and then modified it a bit, hence I can't find the exact match.

Either way, my question is: is there a way to tell which was the original font used in a document? Maybe some kind of metadata in the file?

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  • Unless the designer literally moved every single point of every character's path, you could try a point-for-point comparison against the paths of the best possible matches. If a character has not been modified, your result of outlining should exactly match the one in the file.
    – Jongware
    Apr 25, 2020 at 10:41
  • @usr2564301 but thet woudl require you to have all possible fonts installed
    – joojaa
    Apr 25, 2020 at 11:10

2 Answers 2

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If type is still live, meaning you can select and edit it as type with the Type Tool, then using Type > Find Font from the menu will list all the fonts and faces used in the document.

However, once a font has been outlined, Illustrator retains no information regarding the original font. Outlined type is merely a collection of standard shapes and paths with zero font data whatsoever - similar to any shape or path within Illustrator.

There is no way to retrieve any font names from outlined type.

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  • yes, I supposed that. Well, thank you for confirm it :)
    – Devin
    Apr 25, 2020 at 19:26
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If the font is live, then you just need to select it and check the Font name mentioned in the Characters area under properties. In case they are outlined, there is a chance for you to still be able to find it by closing the opened AI file. Since AI is all about vector designing, just drag the .ai file into a Notepad/Notepad++ editor and it should open up a plethora of tags. Locate 'fontName', you can simply search in Notepad++ and it should lead you to the font's name. Avoid applying any changes to the .ai file through Notepad/Notepad++.

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