Problem with Equation editor and dot points

W

Will

I have this problem recently with WORD!!!!, suddenly all
my dot points became "arrow" points, and all my equations
using equation editor in my assignment came up
with "weird symbols". I have reinstalled Office, few
times, but I experience the same problems. I solved the
problem once by reformating my computer but the next day,
it came out with the same problem. I am really upset and
frustrated. Hopefully someone can help my problem, and I
would appreciate it. Thanks for reading my problem

Will
 
S

Suzanne S. Barnhill

This is most likely a font error. Make sure that you have both Symbol and
Wingdings installed.
 
W

Will

I forgot to mention that I am using 2002 M Office. Thanks
for replying Suzanne and I have Symbols and Wingdings
installed and I still have the same problems (I checked
on the font list "SI Symbols" and all the "Wingdings"
were there) :(

And by the way, I just had this problem like 3 days ago.
Word had been working fine for 6 months and I didnt have
this problem before

Do you have another solution for me? That would be
appreciated. Thanks for helping
 
B

Bob Mathews

I have this problem recently with WORD!!!!, suddenly all
my dot points became "arrow" points, and all my equations
using equation editor in my assignment came up
with "weird symbols".
Click to expand...

Definitely a font problem. I don't know about your "dot points"
(MOF, I'm not even sure what you mean), but I know Equation
Editor uses two main fonts in addition to your text font to
create the equation. It uses both symbol.ttf and mtextra.ttf.
Assuming you still have your Office CD, follow these steps:

1. In your fonts folder (C:\Windows\Fonts), search for and delete
the two fonts I mentioned above. Close Windows Explorer and look
for these 2 fonts again. The reason this is necessary is because
it's possible for a software app to install an additional copy of
a font, so you'll end up having two or more. The only one used,
and the only one listed in the font list, is the one installed
last (not necessarily the one with the latest release date.)

2. You didn't mention which version of Word you're using (which,
BTW, is critical information any time you have a software
problem), so I'll tell you where to find these 2 fonts if you're
using Word 2002 (i.e., Office XP). The Symbol font (symbol.ttf)
is in a file called OSP1.CAB. It's in this path --
D:\FILES\OSP\1033\OSP1.CAB. Just double-click the CAB file to
open it. (It's similar to a ZIP file.) Drag the new symbol.ttf
over to your fonts folder to install it.

3. The MTExtra font (mtextra.ttf) is in a file called
OFFICE1.CAB, which is in the root folder of your Office XP CD.

4. If you're using a version other than Word 2002, put your
Office CD in your CD drive, and do a search for those 2 files.
Shouldn't be too hard to find.
--
Bob Mathews [email protected]
Director of Training 830-990-9699
http://www.dessci.com/free.asp?free=news
FREE fully-functional 30-day evaluation of MathType 5
Design Science, Inc. -- "How Science Communicates"
MathType, WebEQ, MathPlayer, MathFlow, Equation Editor, TeXaide
 
S

Suzanne S. Barnhill

SI Symbols is not the same as symbol.ttf, which you need to have. Bob
Mathews has explained how to get this.
 
W

Will

Thanks for your help Bob Mathews, you have fixed my
problem I really appreaciated.

When I searched for the symbol.ttf and mtextra.ttf. I
found double symbol.ttf, Is this the cause of the a font
problem? Can you please explain why I had the problem?

Thanks for your help once again

Will
 
B

Bob Mathews

Thanks for your help Bob Mathews, you have fixed my
problem I really appreaciated.
Click to expand...

That's good to know, Will. Thanks for letting us know.
When I searched for the symbol.ttf and mtextra.ttf. I
found double symbol.ttf, Is this the cause of the a font
problem? Can you please explain why I had the problem?
Click to expand...

Usually this happens when someone installs software that includes
its own version of a font. That new version of the font is used
instead of the one (or ones) previously installed, although the
old one isn't deleted. Sometimes the fonts don't match -- some
glyphs (i.e., font characters) will be missing and others will be
replaced with different ones. If you've recently installed
software, I'm sure that's when this occurred.

--
Bob Mathews [email protected]
Director of Training 830-990-9699
http://www.dessci.com/free.asp?free=news
FREE fully-functional 30-day evaluation of MathType 5
Design Science, Inc. -- "How Science Communicates"
MathType, WebEQ, MathPlayer, MathFlow, Equation Editor, TeXaide
 
W

Will

Hi Bob, sorry to bother you again.

I have this doubt in my my mind about there are two
symbol.ttf (Open type with the symbol "O" for the icon &
the other one is true type with the symbol "TT" for the
icon), Could you tell me which is the right file to be
installed in C:\Windows\Fonts, or does it matter?

And one more thing, when I was typing an equation in the
eguation editor, why is it after I type "The Greek
Characters" and then a letter afterwards. For example I
type "Alpha" and then a letter "A" . It appears on my
screen that "Alpha" and letter "A" are together (no
spacing) but when I am out of the "equation editor mode"
there is a space there between the "Alpha" and
letter "A". Is this kind of a bug or something? or is
there a solution for this?

Thank you very much Bob for helping me

Will
 
S

Suzanne S. Barnhill

If you press the spacebar within text in Equation Editor, you don't get a
space unless the text you're typing is formatted as Text. If it's formatted
as Math or Function or one of the other styles, you have to insert spaces
from the space template (spaces around operators are inserted
automatically).
 
B

Bob Mathews

I have this doubt in my my mind about there are two
symbol.ttf (Open type with the symbol "O" for the icon &
the other one is true type with the symbol "TT" for the
icon), Could you tell me which is the right file to be
installed in C:\Windows\Fonts, or does it matter?
Click to expand...

The answer to your question really depends on how you're going to
use the documents you create. I know you're creating them on
Windows, but if some of your readers will be using Macs, then
you're better off with OpenType fonts. They were initially
created jointly by Adobe and Microsoft, and that was one of their
objectives -- fonts that would work equally well on both
platforms. I'd say as long as your docs are behaving normally,
just leave things as is. If you choose to delete one of the
Symbol fonts though, delete the TTF one. (A safer move would be
to just change the extension. You could change it to ttbk, for
example {for TTF backup}, and Windows wouldn't recognize it as a
font. Then you could change it back if you decide you need it.
The name after the change would then be symbol.ttbk.)
And one more thing, when I was typing an equation in the
eguation editor, why is it after I type "The Greek
Characters" and then a letter afterwards. For example I
type "Alpha" and then a letter "A" . It appears on my
screen that "Alpha" and letter "A" are together (no
spacing) but when I am out of the "equation editor mode"
there is a space there between the "Alpha" and
letter "A".
Click to expand...

Without looking at a document, I'm only guessing what the problem
is. The default configuration for Equation Editor is to type
variables and lower-case Greek letters in an italic font. That
wouldn't be the case in Word (i.e., outside of Equation Editor),
unless you specifically made them italic. When I tried it in
Word, the Equation Editor presentation was the same as the Word
presentation, as long as the same characters were italicized in
Word as they were in Equation Editor. Italicized letters adjacent
to upright letters have different spacing than italicized or
upright letters adjacent to the same type. I'm thinking that's
the difference, but if it's not, send me a sample document
privately and I'll look at it.
--
Bob Mathews [email protected]
Director of Training 830-990-9699
http://www.dessci.com/free.asp?free=news
FREE fully-functional 30-day evaluation of MathType 5
Design Science, Inc. -- "How Science Communicates"
MathType, WebEQ, MathPlayer, MathFlow, Equation Editor, TeXaide
 
Top