Embedding rules

[marshahopp]

Under Font description > advanced, there is a drop-down menu for "Embedding rules." The options are:

Installable (all) embedding
No (unlicensed) embedding
Preview & print embedding
Editable embedding

Below that, there are check boxes for "No subsetting" and "Bitmap only."

I have not found any documentation as to the differences among these settings or exactly how these settings work. The "Installable (all) embedding" would seem to allow the font to be used in any way one wants -- it is the setting that I have been using during my development work. What about "No (unlicensed) embedding" -- how does that work -- is there some check that occurs somehow about licensing? I would appreciate as much detail as possible about each of the settings. Thank you.

[Allan Murray]

From the OpenType specifications ((https://www.microsoft.com/typography/otspec/os2.htm):

Installable Embedding: Fonts with this setting indicate that they may be embedded and permanently installed on the remote system by an application. The user of the remote system acquires the identical rights, obligations and licenses for that font as the original purchaser of the font, and is subject to the same end-user license agreement, copyright, design patent, and/or trademark as was the original purchaser.

Restricted License embedding (No unlicensed embedding): Fonts that have only this bit set must not be modified, embedded or exchanged in any manner without first obtaining permission of the legal owner.

Preview & Print embedding: When this bit is set, the font may be embedded, and temporarily loaded on the remote system. Documents containing Preview & Print fonts must be opened “read-only;” no edits can be applied to the document.

Editable embedding: When this bit is set, the font may be embedded but must only be installed temporarily on other systems. In contrast to Preview & Print fonts, documents containing Editable fonts may be opened for reading, editing is permitted, and changes may be saved.

No subsetting: When this bit is set, the font may not be subsetted prior to embedding. Other embedding restrictions specified in bits 0-3 and 9 also apply.

Bitmap embedding only: When this bit is set, only bitmaps contained in the font may be embedded. No outline data may be embedded. If there are no bitmaps available in the font, then the font is considered unembeddable and the embedding services will fail. Other embedding restrictions specified in bits 0-3 and 8 also apply.


How and if these rules are enforced is up to the application that you are using. Some applications may not honor the rules. Adobe software though (eg InDesign etc), for example, will look at this flag, and will not allow you to embed a font if the license does not allow it.

[marshahopp]

Thanks, Allan, especially for the link to the details at the Microsoft typography page.