MicroStation supports AutoCAD’s font format (including normal SHX fonts, SHX Unifonts, and SHX Bigfonts). You should use SHX fonts only when you must ensure AutoCAD compatibility, and TrueType fonts are not a viable option. SHX Unifonts are the current standard, and allow a single font (and font file) to contain characters in the entire Unicode range. Older SHX fonts only support up to 255 characters, and thus require a paired SHX Bigfont to support languages with more than 255 characters (e.g. Asian languages). In MicroStation, specifying a paired SHX Bigfont is optional, and is recommended if you require characters that cannot be provided by the base SHX font.

If AutoCAD is installed, MicroStation searches for SHX fonts in AutoCAD’s Fonts directory (the "Fonts" folder in the installation directory of the most recently used version of AutoCAD). With or without AutoCAD, MicroStation searches the directories specified by MS_FONTPATH, as well as the same directory as the design file requesting the font.

DWG Export: AutoCAD natively supports SHX fonts, and no special export is performed.