Today’s Question: When I go to use the Type tool in Photoshop no matter which font I select, the font reverts to Myriad Pro when I add a text layer to the image. I then type in what I want and highlight the text and then I can switch the font to something other than Myriad Pro. Anything else you might suggest?
Tim’s Quick Answer: You can correct this issue by turning on the “Fill new type layers with placeholder text” checkbox on the Type tab of the Preferences dialog in Photoshop.
More Detail: At first this seemed like a very odd issue that I assumed would only affect a small number of users, perhaps even only affecting the one person who sent the inquiry. But I have been able to reproduce the issue and find the somewhat unexpected solution.
In short, if you select the Type tool in Photoshop and then select a font from the Options bar before adding a text layer, the font will revert to Myriad Pro. I’ve confirmed this behavior on several different computers, so I believe it is a general bug in Photoshop.
However, I have discovered that if you turn on the “Fill new type layers with placeholder text” checkbox on the Type tab of the Preferences dialog, the font is retained even if you select the font before adding the text layer. Regardless of the setting, you can always successfully change the font after adding the text layer.
So, if the Type tool in Photoshop seems to insist on making use of the Myriad Pro font, open the Properties dialog by choosing Edit > Preferences > Type on Windows or Photoshop > Settings > Type on Macintosh. Note that on older Macintosh operating systems the menu command is found at Photoshop > Preferences > Type.
In the Type Options section of the Type tab of the Preferences dialog you can then turn on the “Fill new type layers with placeholder text” checkbox. Click the OK button to close the Preferences dialog.
With this option turned on, you can select a font before adding a text layer and the layer will retain the selected font. The layer will also be filled with the “Lorem Ipsum” placeholder text, which will be highlighted. You can therefore simply start typing the text you wanted to add, and the placeholder text will be replaced while retaining the selected font.
