by AJ George 
When creating PowerPoint presentations and moving them from one computer to another, one area of concern is fonts. If you've used specific fonts within a presentation, the same fonts need to be installed on any computers that will open the presentation. To prevent missing fonts from being an issue, there's a good chance you can embed the fonts you used to ensure your presentations look the way you designed them.
Good chance? I say "good chance" because not all fonts are embeddable. Fonts must be of the TrueType variety. Additionally, fonts must not have licensing restrictions that prevent embedding. If you are using standard fonts (Arial, Times, Verdana, etc), you probably won't need to worry about licensing restrictions. That being said, if you're worried about someone not having your font on their system, you probably aren't using the standard fonts.
Determing if a Font Is Embeddable
If you're using a Mac, I've got bad news... the Mac versions of PowerPoint can't embed fonts, nor can they use fonts embedded in a PC-born presentation.
If you're using a PC, the fonts need to be TrueType for them to embed. In PowerPoint, you'll notice all fonts have either aTT (TrueType) or an O (OpenType) next to them in the font list. But here's the catch: some OpenType fonts have TrueType font data and can also be embedded. If you'd like to know if your OpenType font contains TrueType font, view your computer's Fonts folder (Start > Control Panel > Fonts). Right-click within an empty space within the folder and choose View > Details. Fonts with file names ending in .ttf (whether TrueType or OpenType) contain TrueType font data and can be embedded.
But wait, there's more! All embedding licenses are not created equal. There are three different types of embedding licenses.
Installable: Fonts may be embedded in documents and permanently installed on the remote system.
Editable: Fonts may be embedded in documents, but must only be installed temporarily on the remote system.
Print & Preview: Fonts may be embedded in documents, but must only be installed temporarily on the remote system. Documents can only be opened as read-only.
Installable is great, but is pretty hard to come by. In most cases, you're going to be looking for an Editable font. Unless you just want your presentation to be viewed, and not modified or edited in any way, I would steer clear of Print & Preview fonts.
So, how do you know which type of license your font has? The easiest way is to download and install Microsoft's TrueType Font Properties Extension. Doing so allows you to right-click a font from the Fonts folder and chooseProperties to see the Embedding license (among many other properties).
Note: Navigate to your Fonts folder and right-click a font before downloading the properties extension. You may already have a Properties option there.
Whew, that was an awful lot like work! On a positive note, finding out whether or not your font is embeddable is the hardest part. Once you know that a font can be embedded, embedding it is a simple process.
If you're using a PC, the fonts need to be TrueType for them to embed. In PowerPoint, you'll notice all fonts have either aTT (TrueType) or an O (OpenType) next to them in the font list. But here's the catch: some OpenType fonts have TrueType font data and can also be embedded. If you'd like to know if your OpenType font contains TrueType font, view your computer's Fonts folder (Start > Control Panel > Fonts). Right-click within an empty space within the folder and choose View > Details. Fonts with file names ending in .ttf (whether TrueType or OpenType) contain TrueType font data and can be embedded.
But wait, there's more! All embedding licenses are not created equal. There are three different types of embedding licenses.
Installable: Fonts may be embedded in documents and permanently installed on the remote system.
Editable: Fonts may be embedded in documents, but must only be installed temporarily on the remote system.
Print & Preview: Fonts may be embedded in documents, but must only be installed temporarily on the remote system. Documents can only be opened as read-only.
Installable is great, but is pretty hard to come by. In most cases, you're going to be looking for an Editable font. Unless you just want your presentation to be viewed, and not modified or edited in any way, I would steer clear of Print & Preview fonts.
So, how do you know which type of license your font has? The easiest way is to download and install Microsoft's TrueType Font Properties Extension. Doing so allows you to right-click a font from the Fonts folder and chooseProperties to see the Embedding license (among many other properties).
Note: Navigate to your Fonts folder and right-click a font before downloading the properties extension. You may already have a Properties option there.
Whew, that was an awful lot like work! On a positive note, finding out whether or not your font is embeddable is the hardest part. Once you know that a font can be embedded, embedding it is a simple process.
- Open your presentation in PowerPoint.
- If you are using PowerPoint 2007, click the Microsoft Office Button > Save As. If you are using PowerPoint 2010, choose File > Save As.
- From the Save As dialog box, click the Tools button and select Save Options.
- Select Embed fonts and then click OK.
- At the bottom of the Save area, select Embed fonts in the file. From there you can choose whether to embed all the characters, or just those used in the presentation. If you are forwarding the presentation for further editing, you may want to include all characters.
- Click OK.
Keep in mind that embedding fonts will increase the file size of your presentation, especially if you embed all of the font's characters.
***AJ teaches a live, 3-hour class that offers tips/tricks for improving the look and feel of your PowerPoint presentations: Slide Sprucing: Remodeling Lackluster PowerPoint Slides for eLearning and Presentations.
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