Quotes and Invoices in Whatever Font Word Picks

The brand stops at the office printer

The logo was drawn in a particular typeface, and the website uses it or one chosen to match. Then a quote goes out in Calibri, the default in recent versions of Word.

The invoice comes from the accounting software in Arial. The price list by the till was made by someone who liked a script font, and the letter about a warranty claim is in Times New Roman.

Each choice was made by whoever needed a document that day. Together they make the paperwork look as if it came from four different businesses.

A customer reads a quote more carefully than any page of the website. It is often the document that decides the job.

Where the stray fonts show up

• Quotes typed over an old quote, in whatever font it had.
• Invoices in the accounting software's default type.
• Letters where the logo is the only branded part.
• Price lists and signs printed in the office.
• Forms and agreements made by whoever needed one first.

The fourth is the one most people see. A price list on the counter or a sign taped to the door is read by every visitor, and a different font on each makes a careful business look improvised.

Why the brand font is missing

The logo's typeface was usually bought by the designer, or chosen from a library the designer subscribes to. It was installed on the designer's computer, not yours.

The website may load its font from a web font service. That works in browsers and nowhere else: Word cannot see it, and a web font licence usually does not cover installing it on office computers.

When Word opens a document that names a font the computer does not have, it quietly substitutes another. A template made on one machine can look different on the next.

Find out what the brand uses

Ask the designer which typefaces the logo and the website use, and what the licence allows. If the designer is long gone, whoever maintains the site can read the font names from its style sheet.

Some typefaces are free under open licences and can be installed on every computer. Others need a desktop licence for each machine, usually a modest one-time cost.

Many logos use a decorative face that suits a name but not a page of text. That face belongs in the logo, which goes into templates as an image, so it does not need installing at all.

When it cannot be installed

If the brand typeface cannot be licensed for the office, choose one close relative that comes with Windows or Office and use it everywhere.

Match the feel rather than the details: a rounded, geometric face to Century Gothic, a classic serif to Georgia or Cambria, a plain modern face to Calibri or Arial.

One body font and one heading font is plenty. The discipline is using the same two every time, not finding a perfect match.

Write the choice down: which fonts, at what sizes, for which documents. A short note saves the next new employee from picking their own.

Build templates, then use only those

Make a Word template for each document the business sends: quote, letter, price list, form. Set its styles, the built-in settings for body text and headings, to the chosen fonts and sizes.

Place the logo at a fixed size in the header, from a proper image file, and set the brand colours for headings and dividing lines.

Store the templates in one shared folder, and move old documents somewhere people will not copy from. In the accounting software, pick the nearest font it offers and add the logo to the invoice layout.

Give each template a plain name, such as Quote or Letter, so nobody has to guess which file is the current one.

A worked example

A glass etching studio with a sandblasting booth and three staff etches company logos onto office doors and boardroom glass, frosts bathroom windows and makes decorative panels for entrance doors.

Lettering is its trade. It cuts stencils in dozens of typefaces every week, and its own logo and website use an elegant serif chosen by a designer five years ago.

Its quotes went out in Calibri, typed over whichever old quote was nearest. Invoices came from the accounting software in Arial, and the price list for etched panels was set in a script font.

A property manager comparing quotes for a new lobby remarked that the studio's paperwork looked less careful than its glass.

The designer confirmed the logo typeface's licence covered five computers. It went onto both office machines and into a Word template for quotes and letters, and the invoices were set to Georgia, the nearest match the software offered.

Quotes now go out as PDFs, and the old quotes live in an archive folder nobody types over.

Send documents as PDFs

A Word file sent to a customer opens in the customer's fonts, not yours. If they do not have the brand typeface, Word substitutes one and the layout shifts.

A PDF carries its fonts inside it, so the quote looks the same on every screen and printer. It is also harder to alter, which suits a document with prices on it.

Keep the editable Word file in the office, and send the PDF.

The counter-case

Some paperwork cannot be changed much. Industry software for bookings or dispatch may offer one font and a logo slot, and that is the limit.

A sole trader who sends three quotes a month does not need a system of templates. One good quote template and one letter template cover nearly everything.

Where fonts cannot match, the logo, the colours and a consistent layout carry the brand. But every document you control should use the same one or two typefaces, from a template.

Before the next quote goes out

1. Ask your designer which typefaces the brand uses.
2. Check the licence covers office computers.
3. Install the font, or choose a close common one.
4. Build templates for quotes, letters and price lists.
5. Set the invoice software to the nearest match.
6. Send documents as PDFs, not Word files.
7. Archive old documents people copy from.

Step seven keeps the rest from slipping. As long as last year's quote sits in a shared folder, someone will open it, type over it and send it in the old font.

Tidying the mark itself, so it holds up on paper as well as on screens, is covered in a glossy logo from the Web 2.0 years.

Frequently asked questions

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.