If you use TrueType fonts when you create or edit a document, you can save or "embed" them in the document. That way, others can view, modify, and print the document with its original fonts — even if they haven't installed the TrueType fonts on their computers.

Note that TrueType font vendors determine the licensing rights for embedding fonts. For example, some fonts can't be embedded, and other embedded fonts can be viewed and printed but not modified.

In some cases, a document may contain fonts other than TrueType fonts. If these fonts aren't installed on your computer when you view the document, you can substitute the fonts that most closely match the missing fonts.

By default, Microsoft Word 97 and later versions use fonts to determine document layout. That way, as long as the fonts remain unchanged, anyone can view and print the document with its original line breaks and page breaks.

If you open a document created with an earlier version of Microsoft Word or with WordPerfect, Word uses your printer to determine document layout. If you prefer a document layout that's independent of the printer, you can instead have Word use fonts to determine document layout.