Word Font Issues - Not Seeing Fonts in Microsoft Fonts Folder

[wdjudd]

Version: 2008 Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) Processor: Intel Office 2008, Version 12.2.4

Mac OS 10.5.8

2 x 2.66 GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon

FONTS ISSUE:
I have always used Times New Roman or Arial in all documents. When I launch a new Word file it shows Cambria as the default font in the font window - not Times New Roman. If I choose Times New Roman or Arial it changes the typed text to Amazone BT and is in script? If I choose most any other Font it still displays a "script" font. Most fonts that I select in the drop-down menu do not translate to the Font window, which shows a different name. The Microsoft fonts folder resides in the Library/Fonts folder (Library/Fonts/Microsoft) and contains over 100 fonts.

What I Have Tried to Correct Font Issues:
Complete Uninstall of Office 2008
Delete Font Cache (System and Microsoft)
Manually removed any remaining files with Microsoft in the name (Library, System/Library, etc.)
Repair Permissions
Complete reinstall of Office 2008
Run all Office updates
Repair Permissions
Tested Fonts on several other applications and all works fine . . . EXCEPT . . . Word.

How can I force Microsoft Word to select the Microsoft Fonts folder in the Library/Fonts folder? Or can I force Microsoft Word (and all Office apps) to only use the System fonts folder? Can anyone help me with this issue? Thanks in advance for your time.

 

[John McGhie]

You don't mention using Font Book to "Resolve Duplicates".

That's a critical step in OS 10.6, because after an installation of Office
2008, there will be some.

Run Font Book and choose Resolve Duplicates.

Then shut down the system, wait ten seconds, and restart.

That should fix the cause.

Now do the following:

1) Track down all instances of pre-2008 Normal template on your computer,
and drag them to your desktop. The file is called simply "Normal" and has
no extension.

2) Find and delete the file Normal.dotm. Unless you have moved it, it
should be in
/Users/~/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Office/User Templates/

3) If the following files exist, Remove or rename them:

~/Library/Preferences/Microsoft/Word Settings (10)

~/Library/Preferences/Microsoft/Word Settings (11)

4) User/Library/Preferences/com.Microsoft.Word.plist

5) User/Library/Preferences/Microsoft/Office 2008 (the whole folder!)

6) Then Repair Permissions with Disk Utility.

Now restart Word and it should be OK. The first start will take a little
longer, because it will rebuild the font cache.

Cheers

Version: 2008 Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) Processor: Intel
Office 2008, Version 12.2.4

Mac OS 10.5.8

2 x 2.66 GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon

FONTS ISSUE:
I have always used Times New Roman or Arial in all documents. When I launch a
new Word file it shows Cambria as the default font in the font window - not
Times New Roman. If I choose Times New Roman or Arial it changes the typed
text to Amazone BT and is in script? If I choose most any other Font it still
displays a "script" font. Most fonts that I select in the drop-down menu do
not translate to the Font window, which shows a different name. The Microsoft
fonts folder resides in the Library/Fonts folder (Library/Fonts/Microsoft) and
contains over 100 fonts.

What I Have Tried to Correct Font Issues:
Complete Uninstall of Office 2008
Delete Font Cache (System and Microsoft)
Manually removed any remaining files with Microsoft in the name (Library,
System/Library, etc.)
Repair Permissions
Complete reinstall of Office 2008
Run all Office updates
Repair Permissions
Tested Fonts on several other applications and all works fine . . . EXCEPT . .
. Word.

How can I force Microsoft Word to select the Microsoft Fonts folder in the
Library/Fonts folder? Or can I force Microsoft Word (and all Office apps) to
only use the System fonts folder? Can anyone help me with this issue? Thanks
in advance for your time.

--

The email below is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless I ask you to; or unless you intend to pay!

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP (Word, Mac Word), Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. | Ph: +61 (0)4 1209 1410 | mailto:[email protected]

 

[wdjudd]

You don't mention using Font Book to "Resolve Duplicates".

>
> That's a critical step in OS 10.6, because after an installation of Office
> 2008, there will be some.

I am using 10.5.8, not 10.6

>
> Run Font Book and choose Resolve Duplicates. I did this
>
> Then shut down the system, wait ten seconds, and restart. Did this
>
> That should fix the cause.

This provided a partial fix

> Now do the following:

I completed all tasks below

> 1) Track down all instances of pre-2008 Normal template on your computer,
> and drag them to your desktop. The file is called simply "Normal" and has
> no extension.
>
> 2) Find and delete the file Normal.dotm. Unless you have moved it, it
> should be in
> /Users/~/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Office/User Templates/
>
> 3) If the following files exist, Remove or rename them:
>
> ~/Library/Preferences/Microsoft/Word Settings (10)
>
> ~/Library/Preferences/Microsoft/Word Settings (11)
>
> 4) User/Library/Preferences/com.Microsoft.Word.plist
>
> 5) User/Library/Preferences/Microsoft/Office 2008 (the whole folder!)
>
> 6) Then Repair Permissions with Disk Utility.
>
> Now restart Word and it should be OK. The first start will take a little
> longer, because it will rebuild the font cache.

The default Font that shows in Font window is still Cambria.
If I choose Times New Roman from the drop down menu the next woeds I type are Times New Roman but in the foint window it shows American Typewriter but when I select the drop down menu it shows "#PilGi" with the checkmark beside it. If I choose Arial Black it types in script and shows "Arno Pro Bold Italic Subhead" in the font window.

When I launched Font Book and choose Resolve Duplicates, there would be two fonts that were the same, I would turn off the older fon t, which woul dsometimes be in the Microsoft FOnts folder. Since the newer font did reside in the Computer/System fonts folder, I assumed that Word would find them there? Also, should fonts begin with the pound sign (#)?

 

[John McGhie]

"Switching Off" fonts is not sufficient: you need to remove them from the
system.

The OS will find them wherever they are, and when Word attempts to build its
font cache, it will end up with duplicates, which it can't handle.

Don't get too excited about "Cambria". That's a different issue. Cambria
is the Default in the basic theme in Word 2008.

Let's get your font menu working right first, then we can revert the theme
to whatever you like. The first step is to set the default font in the
Normal.dotm template.

1) Start Word. In the blank document that appears:

2) Format>Font and choose a font.

3) Click the "Default" button.

4) Say "Yes" to the prompt.

5) Quit Word, saying "Yes" to the Save prompts. You MUST save at this
point, or nothing will change.

Cheers

I am using 10.5.8, not 10.6

This provided a partial fix


I completed all tasks below


The default Font that shows in Font window is still Cambria.
If I choose Times New Roman from the drop down menu the next woeds I type are
Times New Roman but in the foint window it shows American Typewriter but when
I select the drop down menu it shows "#PilGi" with the checkmark beside it.
If I choose Arial Black it types in script and shows "Arno Pro Bold Italic
Subhead" in the font window.

When I launched Font Book and choose Resolve Duplicates, there would be two
fonts that were the same, I would turn off the older fon t, which woul
dsometimes be in the Microsoft FOnts folder. Since the newer font did reside
in the Computer/System fonts folder, I assumed that Word would find them
there? Also, should fonts begin with the pound sign (#)?

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless you intend to pay!

 

[wdjudd]

WORD FONT MENU: Thanks for your assistance. I was finally able to get the Font menu working correctly.

WORD THEMES (AND EXCEL TOO) – Fonts and Shapes colors/no shadow:
I was able to get the new document default Font back to Times New Roman – this worked great (thank you very much).

I can create a Word document with all the changes that I prefer to shapes, but I cannot get the theme to become the "default theme". If I save this document to the desktop as a "Normal.dot", and then double click the "Normal.dot" document, a copy opens with all my custom settings including "shapes colors changes" (this did not work when I created a "Normal.dotx", all shape settings reverted back to the blue with shadow). Also, if I save the "Normal.dot" to the desktop as a "Normal.dotm", double click the file, it opens with the Times New Roman font but all my custom settings for shapes reverts back to the default blue with shadow.

Where do I place the Word "Normal.dot" (and/or Normal.doc) with all of my custom settings, so that it will open as the default document? I have placed both the custom “Normal.doc” and “Normal.dot” files in the following location: /Users/~/Library/Application Support/ Microsoft/Office/User Templates/My Templates. The custom “Normal.dotm” is in the following location: /Users/~/Library/Application Support/ Microsoft/Office/User Templates/

Thanks in advance for all your assistance.

P.S. I also created a “new question” a few days ago for Excel entitled, “How to Permanently Change Shapes Default Color and Other Formats” but no one has provided a solution.

 

[CyberTaz]

Well, there seems to be a little misconception on a few points

First, files called Normal.doc & Normal.dot do absolutely nothing for you or
for Word. In fact, they could conceivably cause conflicts. As John wrote in
his initial reply, any carryover Normal(.dot) files need to be deleted. That
is the template format used by earlier versions of Word but the actual name
does not include an extension -- it's simply called Normal. As for
"Norma.doc", that's nothing but a regular Word document file saved with the
name "Normal", it isn't a template.

Second, the name of the default template used by Word 2008 is Normal.dotm,
but it isn't a file you create yourself. It must be generated by the program
& is automatically stored in the location John specified in that same
message. If a Normal.dotm doesn't exist when you launch Word the program
will create a new one. Having other files by the same name stored in other
locations can also cause problems, however.

In order to modify the one & only Word-generated Normal.dotm file you should
have, you need to use File> Open to navigate to the folder where it is
stored. Double-clicking any template produces a new document based on that
template, it does not open the template, itself. Once you make the changes,
simply Save in the regular way & close the file. From then on any new blank
documents will be based on your modified Normal.dotm template file.

[After you do any customizing it is a good idea to Quit Word, navigate to
the User Templates folder in Finder & make a copy of Normal.dotm so you can
use it if your 'working Normal.dotm' corrupts. You can then delete the
corrupt & simply rename the 'backup' version to Normal.dotm so Word will use
it on next launch.]

If you have any Styles, custom toolbars etc. in other files or templates &
would like to have them in your working Normal.dotm, use the Organizer
feature described in the Word Help topic: Manage styles, AutoText entries,
and toolbars with the Organizer. You can also access Organizer by way of a
button in the Format> Style dialog.

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[John McGhie]

I can create a Word document with all the changes that I prefer to shapes, but
I cannot get the theme to become the "default theme".

That's right. That's a design bug in in Word 2008. The settings for
"Shapes" are hard-coded, the preference is ignored. Nothing you can do
about that, sorry!

Where do I place the Word "Normal.dot" (and/or Normal.doc) with all of my
custom settings, so that it will open as the default document?

In Word 2008, the file must be "Normal.dotm" (it MUST be saved in Word
Macro-Enabled Template format). You must save it as that format, you can't
simply change the file extension, it's a different internal file structure.
If the file is in any other format or has any other name, it will be
ignored.

Unlike Excel, Word enables you to place your templates in any folder you
like, provided that you tell Word where that is.

In Word>Preferences>File Locations, there is an entry for "User Templates".
That's the location Word is actually "using", regardless of where you think
the templates are.

You can change that location if you like, and when Word restarts, it will
use the new location. The default location is:
~ /Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Office/User Templates/

I recommend that you use that location unless you have a very good reason to
change it: it will make system maintenance simpler

P.S. I also created a ³new question² a few days ago for Excel entitled, ³How
to Permanently Change Shapes Default Color and Other Formats² but no one has
provided a solution.

I haven't seen that one yet. The solution for that is in the Excel help
topic "Control how workbooks and sheets are created".

Hope this helps

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless you intend to pay!