# Font Embedding And Fallbacks > Embeds the brand fonts in a .pptx and sets a fallback stack so the deck does not reflow on a machine that lacks them. Not for choosing the typefaces or the type scale. - Skill: `andreworia/font-embedding-and-fallbacks` (Agent Skill) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add andreworia/font-embedding-and-fallbacks` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/andreworia/font-embedding-and-fallbacks/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: AI & ML - Author: andreworia (https://skillmd.com/u/andreworia) - Updated: 2026-09-17 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/andreworia/font-embedding-and-fallbacks --- # Font Embedding and Fallbacks ## When to use Use this skill when a deck looks right on the machine it was built on and wrong somewhere else: titles wrapping onto a second line, text overflowing its box, tracking suddenly loose, or a licensed brand font silently replaced by Calibri or Times. Also use it before any deck leaves the building — client, printer, conference AV desk. Do not use it to pick fonts or sizes; `theme-font-and-type-scale-enforcer` does that, and this skill assumes the typefaces are already agreed. ## What it does It decides whether to embed, substitute, or outline the fonts, applies the chosen route, and records a documented fallback so the failure is predictable instead of random. The output is an embedding decision per typeface plus a fallback stack written into the theme. ## Method **1. Understand why the deck reflows.** PowerPoint stores a typeface *name*, not the typeface. On a machine without that font installed, the operating system substitutes another one. Different fonts have different advance widths, so text that fitted on one line now takes two, a placeholder overflows, and a carefully aligned slide breaks. Nothing is corrupt; the file simply never carried the font. **2. Inventory what the deck actually uses.** Two sources, and they disagree more often than people expect: - The theme's major (heading) and minor (body) fonts, in `ppt/theme/theme1.xml` under `` and ``. Each carries a `latin`, `ea` (East Asian) and `cs` (complex script) typeface — a deck with CJK or Arabic content resolves through the `ea`/`cs` entries, not the Latin one. - Direct overrides applied to individual runs, which bypass the theme entirely. These are the ones that surprise people, because the theme looks clean. On Windows, `Home > Replace > Replace Fonts` lists every font name actually referenced in the file. That list, not the theme, is the inventory. **3. Check that each font may legally be embedded.** Fonts carry an embedding permission set by the foundry, exposed as four levels: **Non-embeddable** (restricted licence), **Preview/Print** (the reader can view and print but not edit the text), **Editable**, and **Installable**. PowerPoint honours these. A restricted font will refuse to embed and warn you on save; a Preview/Print font will embed but leave recipients unable to edit that text. Check the licence before promising a client an editable deck in a commercial typeface — many foundry desktop licences do not include document embedding at all. Format matters too. Embed OpenType (`.otf`) or TrueType (`.ttf`). PostScript Type 1 (`.pfb`/`.pfm`) cannot be embedded; if the brand font is only supplied as Type 1, obtain the OpenType cut or accept substitution. **4. Embed.** On Windows: `File > Options > Save`, then under *Preserve fidelity when sharing this presentation* tick **Embed fonts in the file**, and choose between: - **Embed only the characters used in the presentation** — smaller file, but recipients cannot type new characters in that font. Right for a final, read-only deck. - **Embed all characters (best for editing by other people)** — larger file, fully editable downstream. Right for a template or anything a client will edit. On macOS the feature exists in Microsoft 365 for Mac, PowerPoint 2024 for Mac and PowerPoint 2021 for Mac, under `PowerPoint > Settings (Preferences) > Save`, with the same two options. Older Mac builds cannot embed. Because Mac support arrived late and has historically been the weaker path, treat a Mac-produced deck as needing an explicit check rather than assuming embedding worked. The setting is per-file and applies on save, so tick it and then save — it does not retro-embed a file you only opened. **5. Verify the embed actually happened.** File size is the first tell: embedding a full-character weight typically adds hundreds of kilobytes per weight. To confirm properly, copy the file, rename the copy to `.zip`, open it, and look for a `ppt/fonts/` folder containing `.fntdata` parts — one per embedded weight and style — with a matching `` in `ppt/presentation.xml`. No folder, no embedding, whatever the checkbox says. **6. Set a documented fallback for the cases embedding cannot cover.** Embedding fails on: restricted fonts, Google Slides and Keynote imports, PowerPoint for the web, and any recipient on an older build. So decide in advance what the deck degrades *to*, and set it as the theme font rather than leaving it to the OS. Metric-compatible pairs reflow least because their advance widths match: | Brand font | Metric-compatible fallback | |:--|:--| | Calibri | Carlito | | Cambria | Caladea | | Arial / Helvetica | Liberation Sans | | Times New Roman | Liberation Serif | | Courier New | Liberation Mono | Where no metric twin exists, pick the closest widely installed face with similar x-height and width — Arial or Helvetica for a geometric or neo-grotesque sans, Georgia for a transitional serif — and test it, because a fallback with a larger x-height will still overflow. Aptos is now the Microsoft 365 default and is not present on older installs, so a deck that depends on it needs the same treatment as any licensed font. **7. Outline only as a last resort.** For a cover slide or a wordmark in a font that cannot be embedded, convert the text to shapes (`Format Shape > Merge Shapes > Union` on a duplicated text box, or supply a vector asset). Outlined text is pixel-perfect and permanently uneditable, unsearchable, and invisible to screen readers, so use it for a handful of display words, never for body copy. **8. Test on a clean machine.** The only real proof is opening the deck where the font is not installed. Check the slides with the tightest titles and the longest bullets first. ## Inputs - The deck, and the brand's heading and body typefaces. - The font licence terms, or confirmation that embedding is permitted. - Where the deck is going: PowerPoint desktop, web, Google Slides, Keynote, print. - Whether recipients need to edit the text. ## Output format - The font inventory: every typeface referenced, from theme and from direct overrides. - Per font: embeddable yes/no, and at which permission level. - The embed setting chosen (used characters vs all characters) and why. - The fallback stack written into the theme. - Verification: `ppt/fonts/` present, and the clean-machine test result. ## Example Input: a 30-slide client deck set in a licensed foundry sans, produced on a Mac, going to a client who will edit it. Output: - Inventory: brand sans (headings and body, via theme), plus stray Calibri on slides 7 and 19 from pasted text. - Licence: brand sans is Editable-embeddable; permitted under the firm's desktop licence. - Embed: all characters, because the client will edit. `PowerPoint > Settings > Save`, saved, verified `ppt/fonts/` contains four `.fntdata` parts (regular, bold, italic, bold-italic). - Stray Calibri rebound to the theme minor font. - Fallback: theme minor font set with Arial as the documented substitute; longest title on slide 22 tested against it and shortened by two words so it holds one line either way. - Clean-machine test: opened on a Windows laptop without the brand font; layout held.