General Info

Vectorworks currently supports all  TrueType and most  OpenType fonts.  Older PostScript, Raster, and PS based  OpenType fonts may work but are not directly supported.  Using older imaging technologies i.e. turning off Quartz or GDI+ may provide better results when drawing these legacy fonts.

Font Mapping

When you open a Vectorworks file that contains fonts that are not available on your system, the Font Mapping dialog box opens. Map fonts from the original file to a font available on your system, or open the document quickly by automatically mapping fonts to the default replacement font.

To map missing fonts:

• 1. Populate the list of original fonts by selecting New Mappings or All Mappings.
• 2. If the default replacement font is acceptable for replacing all original fonts, click OK to open the document. Otherwise, proceed to Step 3. Font mappings can be changed at any time by clicking Edit Font Mappings from the Display tab of Vectorworks preferences.
• 3. Select an original font to map. The Replace field displays the selected original font, and the With field lists the default and all available fonts. Select the desired replacement font, and then select the next original font to map. Repeat the process until all desired original fonts have been mapped.
• 4. Click OK when all desired original fonts have been mapped.

To manually access Font Mapping, go to Tools > Options > Vectorworks Preferences > Display > Edit Font Mappings

AutoCAD Fonts

Most AutoCAD-specific fonts have an equivalent PostScript or TrueType font that can be acquired online. ACAD-native shx fonts and the like may not be directly compatible with Vectorworks, and you will need to use font mapping to associate the AutoCAD font to a font installed on your machine.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SHX_fonts

Fonts reverting to a generic typeface

With certain graphics hardware/OS combinations, sometimes a font will not display properly after editing is complete. The classic instance of this is when you start typing in a Text object, it appears correctly, but when you click out of the object it immediately changes to a basic font, then reverts back to the correct font when you attempt to edit the object again.

This is normally corrected in Tools > Options > Vectorworks Preferences under the Display tab; Toggle the setting for Quartz/GDI Imaging.

Why do tabs in my text objects show up as little boxes? (Windows)

A bug was introduced in VectorWorks 12.5 that can cause tab characters to show as boxes in text blocks. To work around this problem for all but a few Chinese fonts, go to the Regional and Language Options control panel and on the Languages pane turn on "Install files for East Asian language." Note that this will place additional fonts in your fonts menu, but will also cause the problem to go away.