This article explains why the fonts in a PowerPoint presentation can look different when it plays on your ScreenCloud screen, and what you can do to fix it.
You may notice that text appears in a different font, size or spacing than it does in PowerPoint on your computer. This is most common with custom, paid or company brand fonts.
Why this happens
A PowerPoint file only saves the name of the font you used, not the font itself. Microsoft only allows some fonts to be saved inside the file, and many fonts are blocked from this by the company that made the font.
When you upload a presentation to ScreenCloud, our servers rebuild each slide as a picture before it plays on your screen. Our servers do not have your font installed, so they swap it for a similar one. The tool that does this conversion also cannot reliably read fonts that are saved inside a PowerPoint file.
This applies to any method that keeps your file as a document, such as PowerPoint files, PDFs and Google Slides. Google Slides only has its own set of fonts, so fonts can change there too.
This is a limit of how presentation files work, and it is not a setting that ScreenCloud can change.
Fonts least likely to change
The fonts below are free Google Fonts that you can choose from in ScreenCloud Studio. To find them, go to Account Settings > Look & Feel, then create or open a theme and look under Fonts. See How to Use Look and Feel To Create Custom-Branded Themes for more detail. Using one of these in your presentation is the best way to avoid a font swap.
Abril Fatface
Anton
Arimo
Bitter
Bree Serif
Caveat
Chewy
Crete Round
Dosis
Droid Sans
Droid Serif
Exo 2
Fjalla One
Lato
Lobster
Lora
Montserrat
Noto Sans
Noto Serif
Open Sans
Oswald
PT Serif
Playfair Display
Quicksand
Raleway
Roboto
Roboto Condensed
Roboto Slab
Rubik
Saira
Titillium Web
Varela Round
Work Sans
Most of these fonts are free to download from Google Fonts.
How to fix it
Try these options in order. Option 1 helps you avoid the issue, Option 2 may work for some fonts, and Option 3 is the most reliable. Before you start, make a copy of your presentation and work on the copy so your original stays safe.
Option 1: Use a font that ScreenCloud has
Install one of the fonts from the list above on your computer, then change your text to use it.
Go to Google Fonts and download the font you want.
If the download is a zipped folder, open it and extract the font files.
Install the font:
On Windows, right click the font file and select Install.
On Mac, double click the font file and select Install Font.
Close PowerPoint and open it again.
In your presentation, select the text you want to change.
On the Home tab, open the font box and choose the new font.
Save the file, then upload it to ScreenCloud again.
Option 2: Save your PowerPoint with the fonts included
This may work for some fonts, but it is not guaranteed. Many fonts cannot be saved inside a PowerPoint file.
On Windows:
Open your presentation.
Click File, then Options.
Click Save.
Tick Embed fonts in the file.
Select Embed all characters (best for editing by other people). Do not select Embed only the characters used in the presentation.
Click OK.
Click File, then Save As, and save the file with a new name.
Upload the new file to ScreenCloud.
On Mac:
Open your presentation.
In the top menu bar, click PowerPoint, then Preferences.
Click Save.
Tick Embed fonts in the file.
Select Embed all characters. Do not select Embed only the characters used.
Close the window, then click File, then Save As, and save the file with a new name.
Upload the new file to ScreenCloud.
If your presentation has hidden slides, delete them from your copy before saving, as they can cause problems.
Option 3: Turn each slide into a picture
This is the most reliable fix. The font becomes part of the picture before the file reaches ScreenCloud, so there is nothing for our servers to swap. Do this on the computer where your presentation looks correct.
On Windows:
Open your presentation.
Click File, then Export.
Click Change File Type.
Under Image File Types, select PNG Portable Network Graphics (*.png).
Click Save As, choose where to save the pictures and click Save.
When asked which slides to export, click All Slides.
On Mac:
Open your presentation.
Click File, then Export.
Next to File Format, choose PNG.
Tick Save every slide.
Click Export.
You will now have a folder with one picture for every slide. Check that the fonts look correct, then:
Upload all of the pictures to ScreenCloud Media.
Add the pictures to your playlist in the same order as your slides. The file names are numbered, so the order should be correct.
Set how long each picture shows on screen.
Please note that animations and transitions from PowerPoint do not carry over when you use pictures, and you cannot edit the text in ScreenCloud afterwards.