Check PCB Text After Font Substitution or Workstation Transfer

A PCB file can open without an obvious error while substituting a font unavailable on the receiving workstation. The new characters may have different width, stroke shape, or spacing. That can change silkscreen readability or, for copper text, the actual manufactured geometry.

Altium’s text-object documentation describes TrueType font embedding and substitution options. Review the supported storage behavior of the installed version and the actual project settings rather than assuming that a font name guarantees identical rendering elsewhere.

Identify text that affects the product

List revision marks, polarity labels, connector names, serial-number placeholders, and other required markings. Separate them from purely internal drawing notes. For text on copper or mask layers, review the geometry as part of those layers, not merely as a typographic choice.

Include special strings whose displayed content is generated from project parameters. A correct font cannot compensate for an unresolved revision variable or a stale variant label. Confirm both the content and its final rendered shape.

Compare before and after transfer

Inspect the final output at an appropriate scale and compare representative strings with the approved reference. Include characters that distinguish the selected font, not only simple digits that may look similar across several fonts. Verify any barcode or machine-read marking through its intended reader and process separately; visual resemblance alone does not establish that changed geometry retains reliable decoding under production conditions.

Verify the manufacturing output

1. Open the project in the receiving environment.
2. Identify missing fonts or substitution settings.
3. Regenerate the relevant layer and drawing outputs.
4. Review them in an independent viewer.
5. Check clearances and required label content.

Do not manually shrink all text to make overlaps disappear without reviewing readability and the intended marking requirements. Resolve the font dependency or choose an approved alternative, then review its geometry deliberately.

Keep the source text editable where the workflow requires future revisions, while ensuring the release output preserves the intended appearance. Record any font or geometry dependency needed to reproduce that output. A screenshot is useful for comparison but does not replace the actual fabrication-layer review.

The output-release guide helps ensure that a corrected text export replaces the old file throughout the delivered package rather than only in the working directory.