Fouled up fonts

[auapplemac]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger)
Processor: Intel

Up graded to 2008 last year. Seems 2008 has a mind of its own. Since then I cannot select a correct font from any of the font menus.

If I select Palatino, up comes helvetica or cambia. That goes for most of the fonts I select. I have a lot of fonts (graphic designer). Never had this problem with Office OX.

I've even reinstalled 2008 to make certain that the fonts are in the right place. I still can't choose the font I want!

 

[auapplemac]

PS: This also happens in Entourage and also on my laptop running Leopard.

 

[John McGhie]

Actually, your headline says it all: Your "fonts are fouled up".

Start FontBook and run Resolve Duplicates.

Now, since you have re-installed, you need to re-run all the Service Packs
and updates for Office. Go to the Microsoft website and download and apply
Service Pack 12.2.0 and update 12.2.1.

There's no point in re-installing stuff on a Mac, it is most likely to make
the problems worse, because the files that get damaged are not on the CD to
be re-installed. So you end up with a mixture of "old" files from the CD,
"new" files that have been updated, and the "problem" files are still there
large as life.

The next thing I would do is a power-off restart. Leave the system off for
at least 60 seconds to force Unix to run its house-keeping tasks on restart.
This is a challenge on the laptop: you need to take the battery out

When it re-starts, everything should replace its font caches and the problem
should magically go away.

If it doesn't, come back and we'll talk you through deleting the font caches
and such.

Cheers

PS: This also happens in Entourage and also on my laptop running Leopard.

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters 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
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[MC]

The next thing I would do is a power-off restart. Leave the system off for
at least 60 seconds to force Unix to run its house-keeping tasks on restart.
This is a challenge on the laptop: you need to take the battery out

Slight tangent - I assume you can't do this on an Air... right?

 

[John McGhie]

I am sure you "can", but since *I* can't afford a fashion-symbol xxx Air...
I can't tell you how

You can use OnyX (free download from Apple...) to accomplish the same thing,
but there's no OS 10.6 version last time I looked.

Cheers

Slight tangent - I assume you can't do this on an Air... right?

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters 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
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[MC]

I am sure you "can", but since *I* can't afford a fashion-symbol xxx Air...
I can't tell you how

You can use OnyX (free download from Apple...) to accomplish the same thing,
but there's no OS 10.6 version last time I looked.

Cheers

Actually was referring to the removal of the battery, which one (aka
"you" in the vernacular) can't do...

By the way, there is a shareware app called "Cache Cleaner" for Snow
Leopard.

 

[auapplemac]

Thanks for the info. I had done all the updating using service packs.

I guess the next step is cleaning font cache. Please send instructions.

Can't wait to give it a try.

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi John;

<snip>

This is a challenge on the laptop: you need to take the battery out

<snip>

Why is that? I periodically shut my MBP down from the Apple Menu in the same
manner as shutting down my G5. It completely powers off & does a full
start-up when powered on again.

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

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Bob:

Memory fails me, but there's one part of the process that requires removal
of the battery. I've had Apple Support talk me through that a couple of
times when hunting authentication problems and the like on friends' laptops.

I am sure there's a way to do this in the fixed-batter machines, I just
don't know it.

Cheers

Hi John;

<snip>

<snip>

Why is that? I periodically shut my MBP down from the Apple Menu in the same
manner as shutting down my G5. It completely powers off & does a full
start-up when powered on again.

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

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters 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
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[John McGhie]

The first step is to Delete ~/Library/Preferences/Microsoft/Office
2008/Office Font Cache (12) then reboot and relaunch Word. The font cache
should then be rebuilt.

If that doesn't clear it, chances are it's the OS Font Cache that's bad (MS
Office loads its cache from the OS cache).

Since you are on OS 10.4, I would download OnyX and have at it.
http://pagesperso-orange.fr/joel.barriere/dl/104/OnyX.dmg

Make sure you get the version for 10.4 ‹ OnyX is very version-specific.

In the Automation tab there is a set of checkboxes that enable you to run
all of the Unix housekeeping tasks, clear the caches, etc.

Hope this helps

Thanks for the info. I had done all the updating using service packs.

I guess the next step is cleaning font cache. Please send instructions.

Can't wait to give it a try.

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters 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
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[CyberTaz]

Very interesting -- I can see where battery removal may be necessary if the
issue is suspected of being PRAM or Memory related, as that content is
likely to "get stuck" as long as a trickle of juice continues to flow. I'm
just trying to relate that to the caching issue which is disk-based. I'm
just too blind to see the connection.

As for the Air, I'm not questioning those who choose them, but this is just
another item on my list of why they aren't right for me

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

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Bob:

You are quite correct: stirring the brain-cells produces a misty
recollection of "PRAM" in the discussion. And of course, a PRAM rest is not
needed to deal with the poster's current issue

Now, we both know that Apple's decision to produce all laptops with fixed
batteries is PURELY and solely because if they make it such a hassle to
change the battery in two years time when it starts to die, they know they
have a chance of selling a new computer!

Completely losing track of the consternation this will cause the first time
someone tries to take one through an airport X-Ray where they insist that
"Laptop batteries must be removed."

For a long while, I had two batteries for the MacBook. If they were both
fully charged, that would do 15 hours Sydney to LA (say 8 hours computing
plus sleeping and eating...).

Cheers

Very interesting -- I can see where battery removal may be necessary if the
issue is suspected of being PRAM or Memory related, as that content is
likely to "get stuck" as long as a trickle of juice continues to flow. I'm
just trying to relate that to the caching issue which is disk-based. I'm
just too blind to see the connection.

As for the Air, I'm not questioning those who choose them, but this is just
another item on my list of why they aren't right for me

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

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters 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
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]