PPT2008 Symbol Font Problems

[Ed]

I'm running PowerPoint 2008 (12.1) on my Mac Pro (OSX.5.3).

Suddenly I'm experiencing a problem with getting the Symbol font to
display correctly. The Greek "mu" is shown as a Latin "m." Other
letters set in the Symbol font appear correctly. When I open the file
in PowerPoint 2004, everything is fine so I don't think my Symbol font
has become corrupt.

Any ideas on how to fix this pesky problem are welcome.

Ed

 

[Tim Murray]

When I open the file in PowerPoint 2004....

Same machine? If not, one could be using the dFont type and another TrueType
or Type 1, for example.

 

[Ed]

Same machine? If not, one could be using the dFont type and another TrueType
or Type 1, for example.

Yes, same computer. I have only one Symbol font installed in the
System's Library==>Font folder. This is the TrueType font that came
with the Mac OS. Are there any other places fonts can lurk?

Ed

 

[Tim Murray]

Yes, same computer. I have only one Symbol font installed in the
System's Library==>Font folder. This is the TrueType font that came
with the Mac OS. Are there any other places fonts can lurk?

Ed

Is it really a TrueType or is it Apple's Symbol.dfont? What I'm wondering is
if in some cases PowerPoint is really using the Symbol font or if it's using
glyphs in the body text's fonts. Remember, a lot of OpenType, dFont, and
TrueType now contain a boatload of glyphs.

Frankly I have both a Type 1 and a dFont active. I have the Type 1 for
FrameMaker (it's a requirement) in Classic and I have the dFont active in my
main library. Oddly enough -- and surprisingly, too -- things are working
okay for me.

 

[Ed]

Is it really a TrueType or is it Apple's Symbol.dfont?  What I'm wondering is
if in some cases PowerPoint is really using the Symbol font or if it's using
glyphs in the body text's fonts.  Remember, a lot of OpenType, dFont, and
TrueType now contain a boatload of glyphs.

Frankly I have both a Type 1 and a dFont active. I have the Type 1 for
FrameMaker (it's a requirement) in Classic and I have the dFont active in my
main library.  Oddly enough -- and surprisingly, too -- things are working
okay for me.

According to Apple's Font Book, the Symbol font I'm using is a True
Type font.

Ed

 

[Tim Murray]

According to Apple's Font Book, the Symbol font I'm using is a True
Type font.

Interesting. Is the file name Symbol, Symbol.dfont, Symbol.ttf, or something
else? Do you have Classic?

 

[Ed]

Interesting. Is the file name Symbol, Symbol.dfont, Symbol.ttf, or something
else?  Do you have Classic?

1) The file name is Symbol, with no extension. Font Book says that
this is a True Type font, and it says that it is a dfont. The version
is 6.0d2e1. A quick search using Spotlight showed no duplicates of my
Symbol font. But, I ran the validate font feature in Font Book, which
indicated that there where duplicate fonts. I then ran the resolve
duplicates option. This fixed my problem with the Symbol font
disappeared. This is weird. How do I suddenly get font duplications?
Why did this effect PowerPoint 2008 and not PowerPoint 2004?
2) I do not have Classic.

 

[Tim Murray]

1) The file name is Symbol, with no extension. Font Book says that
this is a True Type font, and it says that it is a dfont. The version
is 6.0d2e1. A quick search using Spotlight showed no duplicates of my
Symbol font. But, I ran the validate font feature in Font Book, which
indicated that there where duplicate fonts. I then ran the resolve
duplicates option. This fixed my problem with the Symbol font
disappeared. This is weird. How do I suddenly get font duplications?
Why did this effect PowerPoint 2008 and not PowerPoint 2004?
2) I do not have Classic.

Glad it's working, but frankly I can't think of a reason. Maybe a font cache
file was been seen as a duplicate. It's a mystery.