Missing Fonts in a Letterhead

Pat is trying to make a letterhead document for her office. The document is simple, consisting only of text. However, Pat noticed that the fonts used in the letterhead (to get the look she wants) aren't available on all systems. If she sends the document to someone who does not have the font, then it does not look right. Pat wonders if there is a way to create a letterhead document that will look correct on other systems, whether they have the font or not.

There are a few approaches you can take to getting the letterhead to work properly. The first thing you should try is to embed the fonts used in the document. You can accomplish this by following these steps:

1. Display the Word Options dialog box. (In Word 2007 click the Office button and then click Word Options. In Word 2010 or a later version, click the File tab of the ribbon and then click Options.)
2. At the left of the dialog box click Save. (See Figure 1.)



Figure 1. The Save options in the Word Options dialog box.

3. Make sure the Embed Fonts In the File check box is selected.
4. If your letterhead uses only a small number of characters in a particular font, choose the Embed Only the Characters Used in the Document check box.
5. Click OK.

When you next save your letterhead document, Word includes the fonts used in the document in the file. Thus, when you share the letterhead with others, they will automatically have the fonts and the letterhead will look correct.

It is possible, however, that embedding fonts won't work in all instances. Some fonts are restricted, by their creators, in how they can be shared. If the creator has limited what can be done with the font, then embedding it won't really work. In that instance, you should consider changing to a different font that can be embedded in your document.

If changing to a different font is not possible, you might consider doing an "end run" around the whole font issue. You could create the textual portion of your letterhead in a graphics program, save it out as a graphic, and then add the graphic to your document in Word. As a graphic, it will print correctly, regardless of the machine on which you use it.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (9738) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Word in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Missing Fonts in a Letterhead.