About font license restrictions
Fonts installed on your computer are licensed by their manufacturers for specific uses. For example, a font license might allow you to use the font to display on your monitor and print on your desktop printer; however, the license might restrict you from embedding the font when you save your publication.
When you take your Microsoft Publisher file to a commercial printing service, the printing service needs to have the fonts that you used in your publication so that they can print your publication correctly. If you use a non-embeddable font, your printing service cannot load the font to print your publication. Instead, they must purchase the font or substitute another font.
Fonts that come with Publisher do not have license restrictions, which means that they can be embedded in your publication. Fonts that do not come with Publisher, however, might be restricted.
The following table lists license restrictions and how they affect working with your publication on another computer or at a commercial printing service.
| Font license | What the font license description means | How the license affects your printing service |
|---|---|---|
| Preview-only | You can embed this font, but if you edit the publication on another computer, you cannot save those changes. | Your printing service can open your Microsoft Publisher file and make changes to your publication, but they cannot save the changes. Consider changing this font to one that is not restricted. |
| May embed | You can embed this font. For best results, use fonts with this license description. | Your printing service can load this font, make changes to your publication by using this font, and then save the changes. |
| May not embed | You cannot embed this font. | If the font is not installed on your printing service's computer, Microsoft Windows will display the text by using another font. To use the font you chose, your printing service must either purchase the font or substitute another font. Consider changing this font to one that is not restricted. |
Publisher only embeds TrueType fonts. You can check the license restrictions on the TrueType fonts that you've used in your publication by using Publisher's Fonts dialog box (Tools menu, Commercial Printing Tools). If you used a restricted font, you can either change to an unrestricted font or ask your printing service for advice.