Problems with Fonts

From NeoWiki

This article covers some font problems you can run into.

Missing of some styles

Sometimes users report problems they have encountered with fonts or character styles. Specially, they are not able to apply bold or italic style when using certain fonts. Before reporting an issue, check to make sure that the font in question actually has those styles. (For example some versions of Lucida or Helvetica Oblique do not.)
You want to look at the Accessing Helvetica Oblique and Courier Oblique page in Neowiki.

Problems Caused by Duplicate Fonts

Sometimes the problems are due to duplicate copies of the fonts. That can happen by installing new software, fonts or quite simply by updating Mac OS X (version 10.4.9 seems to have caused some font duplications). Other users have experienced apparently spontaneous duplication of fonts.

One common consequence of duplicate fonts is that non-Latin characters (e.g. Cyrillic, Hebrew, or Greek) may become jumbled or are replaced with hollow boxes.

In order to resolve these problems, you can use a Mac application called Font book. To launch that application from the Finder, choose the Go menu, then the Applications sub-menu and double-click on Font book.app. A window opens which contains the following sections:

- Collection : lists the font libraries in your computer (usually refered by users but also by groups that you or the program manager created).

- Font : lists the installed fonts.

- The third part is a preview area where you can display the font.

In the Font section, a black dot to the right of a font name indicates that you have duplicate copies of that font family installed. To resolve this problem, simply select the duplicated font, then go to the Edit menu and click on Resolve Duplicates. You can also select all the fonts (Cmd-A) and click on Resolve Duplicates.

If you continue to have problems after resolving duplicates, try one or both of the following:

• Select one of the problematic Fonts (Make sure you have All Fonts selected in the left hand column)
• Under the Preview menu, choose Sample or Custom and check to see if the font is correct.
  • "Sample" provides a predefined sample of letters.
  • "Custom" lets you type in any desired text (including setting a different keyboard layout).
• Repeat with the duplicates of the same font
• Disable or Delete any corrupted font files, leaving only one font activated for each style (Bold, Italic, Regular, etc.) in a given font family.
  
  

AND/OR

• Select one of the problematic Fonts (Make sure you have All Fonts selected in the left hand column)
• Under the Preview menu, choose Show Font Info
• Look through the information provided to identify the location of the font (usually /Library/Fonts/Fontname or </tt>/Users/username/Library/Fonts/Fontname</tt>.
• If you want the font available to all user accounts, any duplicates in your users folder. (Make sure first that the font in the /Library/Fonts/Fontname is not corrupt or problematic.
• You may also need to pay attention to such details as Version, Manufacturer and Trademark, as many companies (e.g. Microsoft) produce or use a particular unique version of fonts such as Times New Roman.

Notes:

• The same application also allows to see if the installed fonts have bold or italic faces.
• Other third-party font managers can have the same effect, such as Suitcase or Corel Font Navigator.

Related Articles

Alternative Fonts
Problems with the Symbol font, Greek text, or bullets in Word documents
Accessing Helvetica Oblique and Courier Oblique
Troubleshooting Tips (duplicate fonts)