PDF and Word to InDesign 2024, and why Arial Narrow turned into Arial
Testing on InDesign 2024 for Windows showed a quiet failure: no missing font warning, wider text, and the end of a story hidden. Here is what caused it and how our files avoid it.
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Versions we open the files in
The same 233 files, 1,115 pages in all, opened by script in real InDesign: documents in more than 80 languages, two long documents translated into 24 languages, and our sample scans. In each we look for errors, missing fonts, missing glyphs and text hidden in overset, and what a run turns up is what we work on next. In this set all 233 came out with the same number of pages on each version. Your own file can differ, so check it in the Preflight panel before hand-off.
| Version | Build | System | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|
| InDesign 2021 | 16.3 | Windows | Right-to-left and Indian text can stand elsewhere than on the newer versions. |
| InDesign 2022 | 17.2 | Windows | Sets four Noto faces in Myriad Pro: 15 files in Armenian, Georgian, Ethiopic script or Canadian syllabics. |
| InDesign 2024 | 19.5 | Windows | Reports Cambria Bold and Italic as unavailable in any document, and prints them. |
| InDesign 2025 | 20.3 | Windows | Reports Cambria Bold and Italic as unavailable in any document, and prints them. May close while setting some Chakma lines, a bug in InDesign itself. |
| InDesign 2026 | 21.6 | Windows | May close while setting some Chakma lines, a bug in InDesign itself. |
| InDesign 2026 | 21.6 | Mac | May close while setting some Chakma lines, a bug in InDesign itself. |
A font that goes missing without a warning
Word calls it Arial Narrow. On Windows the font also holds a second, typographic name, family Arial and style Narrow, and InDesign goes by that one. A file naming Arial Narrow, Regular gets plain Arial and reports nothing missing. The text is wider, so it runs out of its frames and the end is hidden.
That combination is the dangerous part. A missing font announces itself. A wrong font that passes for the right one does not, and a story's hidden end shows only as a small red plus on its last frame.
What we tried, and what works
| The file names | InDesign 2024 on Windows | InDesign 2026 on Windows |
|---|---|---|
| Arial Narrow, Regular | Plain Arial, no warning | Plain Arial, no warning |
| The same, with the PostScript name | Plain Arial, no warning | Right font |
| Arial, Narrow, with the PostScript name | Right font | Right font |
Our files use the last form, which sets correctly on Windows in 2021, 2022, 2024, 2025 and 2026 and on a Mac in 2025 and 2026. A copy of the font in a Document Fonts folder did not help either.
The same goes for other Office fonts
We read these names from Windows' own fonts rather than keeping a list by hand. The same mechanism covers Calibri Light, Arial Black, Segoe UI Semibold and Light, Candara Light and Corbel Light, which we tested on 2024 and 2026 for Windows and 2026 on a Mac.
Without Office
Arial Narrow comes with macOS and, on Windows, with Microsoft Office. On a Windows computer without Office, InDesign reports it missing, which at least is a visible failure. Our font list says so when your document uses it.
Cambria Bold reported missing, and printed anyway
InDesign 2024 and 2025 on Windows report Cambria Bold and Italic as unavailable, and this happens in a new empty document with none of our files in it. The PDF they make holds the real Cambria Bold, so the report is wrong. We check for this by reading the fonts in the PDF, not the status InDesign gives. If you see the same report, export a PDF and look at its fonts before you change anything.
What the last run found on 2024
Build 19.5 on Windows, with 233 files and 1,115 pages. In this set all 233 have the same number of pages as on 2026. Your own file can differ, so check it in the Preflight panel before hand-off.
Against InDesign 2026, every line in every script stands within a few points of where it stands there, so a file can move between 2024 and a newer version with its lines in place. In the PDF's text, 66 right-to-left lines and 3 others hold different words, though they stand in the same place.
We test Chakma apart from the 233 files, because it can close InDesign 2025 and 2026. It does not close this version, but part of the text can stay overset, so check Chakma pages in the Preflight panel and by eye.
If your IDML came from somewhere else
- Open Type > Find Font and look for Arial where you expected Arial Narrow.
- Use Change All to set it to family Arial, style Narrow.
- Check the Preflight panel: the overset should have gone.
Questions
My IDML from another tool looks wider in InDesign 2024 than in the PDF. Is this the cause?
It may be. Check Type > Find Font: if you expected Arial Narrow and see Arial Regular, it is.
Why does my font list say Arial Narrow if the file says Arial, Narrow?
The list uses the name you know the font by, the one in Word. The file uses the one InDesign knows it by.
Does this happen on a Mac?
The Mac's own copy of Arial Narrow has no such second name, so the file finds it under either form.
Try it on a file you would otherwise rebuild
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