Transfering My Signature True Type Font from Windows to Mac

After 22 years in Windows I moved to Mac a few weeks ago.

I have my signature as True Type Font in Windows so I can sign documents from any application (Word, Outlook, etc...) just by choosing MySignature font from the list of fonts and typing the preselected keyboard strokes: Capital A.

Since is a True Type Font, I installed it in Font Book, activated and validated. I even can see my actual signature in the preview windows, so the file is fine. So far, so good.

But when I choose MySignature Font from the list of Fonts in Microsoft Office Word for Mac and try to sign any document with Capital A (preselected keyboard strokes), it inmediately changes to any other font and writes the actual Capital A in that font instead of my signature.

I have tried all the letters and nothing works. I also tried the same MySignature Font in Windows 8.1 running on Parallels 9 in the same MacBook Pro and works just fine, so the file is not corrupted.

Is there any way I can get around this? Any trick to actually get my signature in my Mac apps? Remember, I can see my actual signature in the preview window in the Font Book, so the problem seems to be the preselected keyboard strokes or something else...

I would appreciate any help and thanks.

Remember, I can see my actual signature in the preview window in the Font Book, so the problem seems to be the preselected keyboard strokes or something else...

Click to expand...

Can you see your signature from the list of fonts when you select fonts while in Microsoft Word? And, does copy, paste work?

Hello Chscag. Yes, I can see the My Signature Font in the list of Fonts in Microsoft Word but it does not actually write when I use the preselected keyboard strokes (Capital A). It just change to different font and writes "A". It does not copy or paste.

That probably means that MS Word does not like the font for some reason. I have several special fonts (mostly foreign) that do the same thing. I can get them to work in other apps but not Word. Have you tried your signature font in another app? Try to use it in TextEdit or Pages. (You should have a free copy of Pages, Numbers, and Keynote if you bought a new Mac.)

I have my own handwriting font I created eons ago, it is also .ttf and includes my signature under [ ¬ ] - the most obscure character I could think of at the time lol

I must say, it was somewhat easier to make Linux systems to use it, OSX is much more protective of its fonts ... anyway, when I switched to Mac a few years ago, I just dropped it into Users/yourname/Library/Fonts and it's accessible from anywhere on the system, including OpenOffice, which can be funny about accepting fonts sometimes.

If, as suggested, your font works in other apps, but not Word, see if there's a substitution font listed somewhere in Word's settings (don't use MS Office, wouldn't know where). Also, what happens when you open one of your old documents, signed with your signature font, in Word? Do you see the signature, or is it replaced with A? One reason for this might be that you've opened such a document initially, before the signature font was installed, and Word has setup a permanent substitution font - I know CorelDRAW do that, although not silently.

Following the suggestions of Chscag and MBP17 David, I tried to use My Signature Font in other apps but it does not show in the list of fonts in Textedit, Mail, Pages, Numbers or Keynote. It DOES show as installed, active and validated in FontBook and in Library/Fonts.

On the other hand, it also shows in the list of fonts in Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Outlook. The behavior changes according to the app. In Word, when I choose My Signature from the list of fonts and even without typing the preselected keyboard strokes (Capital A), it types a rectangle instead of my signature. If I do type Capital A, it immediately changes to Times New Roman and writes an "A" in Times New Roman. in the other 3 MS Office apps, it just types "A" in Verdana. No rectangle here.

As an experiment, I typed my signature in Wordpad in Windows 8.1 running in Parallels 9 in the same MacBook Pro. It typed fine in Windows. I opened that document in Word for Mac and instead of My Signature I found the rectangle.

I wonder if this True Type Font needs some type of conversion to Mac or if the preselected keyboard strokes have changed or does not work in Mac.

When I moved from Linux to Mac, I brought over about 500 fonts, not one needed conversion, including half a dozen or so I created myself. There must be some tiny error / irregularity in your font, which is preventing it from working correctly in OSX. May I suggest (without going into expense of purchasing a font creating software) that, you run it through one of the free online converters, say FFC or similar. Obviously, use a copy file, with a different name, and try .otf as well as .ttf as outputs, again with different names, to see if this will cure the problem.

If it doesn't ,try to upload it to an online font creator like FontStruct and again, just saving it, without modifying - this will hopefully clear whatever is causing the problem.

BTW, the behaviour you've described is exactly what I'd expect to see if incompatible font is used - before the .ttf and .otf days, this was a common problem, with fonts from different platforms, and some multi-lingual fonts.


PS Just had a very good results with OnlineFontConverter

Thanks again David for your help. I followed your suggestions:

1) Yesterday I run it by a Font Conversion webpage and converted it to OTF format with no results. Today I did again in FFC with both outputs (OTF and TTF) and no results: same rectangle instead of my signature.

2) I tried run it by FontStruct but there is no way to upload existing fonts. It is in their FAQ section:

"Can I upload existing fonts to FontStruct? It's not possible to upload existing fonts to FontStruct. Users of FontStruct have to either create their own FontStructions from scratch, or start from clones of FontStructions created by other users.

Since I am not ready yet to change my signature to a rectangle. Any other suggestion is more than welcome.

Sorry to hear that conversions didn't work, and apologies for suggesting FontStruct - should've checked their FAQ.

I take it, checking to see if there's a font substitution table hidden somewhere in Word, didn't help? And that there's no doubt as to the font being correctly installed and available to all OSX apps, right?

Other than editing the font or even recreating it completely, I really don't know what to suggest...

No problem at all David. On the contrary, thanks you for helping me.

But you are right, it is strange that My Signature Font:

1) It DOES NOT shows in the list of fonts in Textedit, Mail, Pages, Numbers or Keynote (Mac native apps).
2) It DOES show as installed, activated and validated in FontBook. It says is in USER/Library/Fonts
3) It DOES show in in the list of Fonts in Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Outlook, but does not work.
4) It is NOT installed in /Library/Fonts/Microsoft, as someone else suggested in MacRumors as the cause it only shows in MS Office apps and not in Mac native apps.

I have installed the font directly by copying it to /Library/Fonts and then activated & validated it with FontBook and when I check its information in FontBook it says it is in /Users/MyName/Library/Fonts and not in /Library/Fonts, where I can actually see it.

I will keep looking for a way to fix this. I can make a workaround but it will take too many steps: writing the document in Word Mac, open it in WordPad in Windows 8.1, sign it, save it as PDF and send it by email. The idea of moving to Mac was to make everything in Mac, unless there is absolutely no way to do it. But I believe there is way to make my True Type Font Signature work in Mac. I can see My Signature in the preview window in FontBook. It is there. All I have to do is keep looking for a solution.


Again, thanks a lot.

The Library in your home directory is now (since Lion, if I'm not mistaken) a hidden folder. I find this inconvenient, so I placed it in the left pane of my Finder.

To access Library folder, you need to enable viewing of hidden files/folders, you can do it by pressing [shift]+[command]+[.] To go back to 'normal', just press the same combination of keys again.

Something else we might have missed: what was the default encoding, when you've created your signature font? Can you try changing the encoding for the entire text in a document, to see if the square will turn into your signature, hopefully?

Also it would be great, if you could examine your font in full details, just to confirm the placement of the sig: for most fonts, OSX will fill the empty glyphs with generic characters, for example, if I look at my own handwriting font in Font Manager Pro, I can see all the Roman characters I never created - å, ß, Å, Á etc, etc, filled with just generic ones.

Perhaps, your sig is placed in a secondary glyph, and OSX is just filling in the empty one. In this case it might be accessible through [option]+[A] or similar, rather than [shift]+[A] as in Windows ... Hope this makes sense

Hello David.

I already changed the settings to be able to see User/Library and in fact, My Signature is the only font there. Thanks for the tip.

I did not create my signature, I just bought from a company that is no longer in business back in 1996. One could think that the problem in because is an old file, but it works just fine in Windows 8.1 in this same Macbook Pro.

I downloaded a trial version of Font Explorer Pro and got more information besides what FontBook gave me:

1) The Format (detailed) is TrueType (PC). Maybe back in 1996 there was a different in TrueType PC and TrueType Mac.

2) The Gliph ID is 4. Not idea what this mean but you mentioned it.

3) Character code 61605

4) Unicode: U+F041

5) There IS NO keystroke assigned. This could be the cause of the problem. Originally, the keystroke assigned was Capital A ("A") and it works in windows. Somehow there is no keystroke assigned in Mac

How can I assign a keystroke in Mac?

Hope this new info helps....

I have installed the font directly by copying it to /Library/Fonts and then activated & validated it with FontBook and when I check its information in FontBook it says it is in /Users/MyName/Library/Fonts and not in /Library/Fonts, where I can actually see it.

Click to expand...

I'm certainly no expert on Fonts, but from this sentence you appear to be saying that the font itself is in /Library/Fonts, but that FontBook thinks it's in /Users/MyName/Library/Fonts. If that is the case, then perhaps you should copy the font file to /Users/MyName/Library/Fonts. What may be happening is that some apps are looking to FontBook for the font location and getting /Users/MyName/Library/Fonts, which turns up empty, so it puts a blank box for the missing font. Just a guess, I have no real idea what's going on as I don't mess with fonts very often, but do occasionally get the "missing font" message.

mediclips said:

4) Unicode: U+F041

Click to expand...

And that's the problem, I'm afraid:
Latin capital A unicode is U+0041.
F041 is a private use area:



Just as I suspected, the sig was put into, not even secondary glyph, but waaaaay back - strange decision, as it is the only character in the font, so could have occupied prime glyph without interference.

Well, at least now I have a solution for you, albeit not very elegant:

1. You'd need to add an input "language" - Unicode Hex Input from the list of available input languages - go to System Preferences | Keyboard | Input Sources ... click on [+] to add new source; scroll down the left pane all the way to the bottom, click on Others, select Unicode Hex Input in the right pane.

2. To type your signature, you'd need to switch to Unicode input as a 'different language' (left ⌘ plus space bar is my preferred option), and type F041, while holding [option] key


Like I said, very cumbersome, but should get the result.

As a long-term and/or alternative solution, I'd look into creating a new font, perhaps your own handwriting, with a signature added. There are a few companies offering such service.

Or, even simpler - scan your sig (or sign on a tablet), create a transparent background .png file, and use everywhere. I must say, despite having my font, I mostly use the latter method and have a few different versions, including initials for contract pages, and just a first name for less formal stuff. Also works as a stamp in Acrobat Pro perfectly.

There's one other way to deal with it, but I am reluctant to suggest it, as it could mess up your system, if not executed perfectly: you can edit your default keyboard layout, to include the U+F041 character in place of some other you might never use - this would mean not having that character in any font, but will do away with switching keyboard layout to type your sig. Not sure which is a better one?

Great suggestions David! Let's see if member "mediclips" can get them to work for him.

chscag said:

Great suggestions David! Let's see if member "mediclips" can get them to work for him.

Click to expand...

Thanks, I hope so too.

Thanks David and sorry for the delay. I was looking some extra information.

1) You are right. In Mac, It is not the first or second glyph but a very distant one. To get there I have to scroll 17 screens of 416 character each in Characters Map. That´s the reason of Character Number 65065. And it has not keyboard stroke assigned. Phony thing is that the same Font (My Signature) analyzed with the same app (Font Explorer) in Windows 8.1 in the same Mac, has a Character Code 65 (more closer and in the first screen), with the same Glyph ID 4 and keystroke assigned of "Latin Capital A". It also has the Character 61505, same Glyph ID 4 and NO keyboard stroke assigned. This is the only one that shows in Mac, and it doesn't work because there is no keyboard stroke assigned.

Somehow in Mac does not read the Character 65, the one with keyboard stroke Capital A, that is present in Windows. Any idea why? To double check, I copy the same working file font from Windows to Mac again but no Character 65, just the 61505.

2) I followed your instructions to add Unicode Hex Input but when I type F041 (while holding option key) in that keyboard all I get is Capital A in Apple Chancery Font. But this way is not an efficient neither an "elegant" way, as you well said.

3) I would prefer not to mess with the keyboard and "eliminate" a character with the U+F041.

3) The png file is a last resort option. Unless...

I find the way to assign a keystroke to that font. I am pretty sure I am not the first one with this issue, so somebody should have solved it. If the font has an assigned keystroke in Windows, why is not showing in Mac, or why cannot be assigned again in Mac?

Anyway, thanks a lot for all your help and your patience. Your suggestions have been very good. Same to Chscag.

I hope soon to write here PROBLEM SOLVED!

Thanks Chscag. I just answered to David. Please, read above.

I want to install and use a special font with my signature made in TrueType (PC) in 1996 by a company no longer in business. The font works fine in Windows 8.1 running in Parallels 9 in my MacBook Pro OS X 10.9.2 The preselected keyboard stroke is Capital A.

I want to use it in Office for Mac and Mac native apps (Mail, Pages, Numbers, etc.). I installed it, activated it and validated it in FontBook but it does not work in any app in OS X because it does not have an assigned keyboard stroke.

The information of this font by FontExplorer X Pro in OS X is:
Character Code 61505
Unicode: U+F041
Glyth ID: 4
Keystroke:
Unicode Range: Private Use Area

I can actually see my signature in the preview window of FontBook and FontExplorer. But I cannot type it because the originally preselected keystroke does not work in OS X, if I type Capital A it just types a Capital A ("A") in Times New Roman.

I analyzed the same font file with the same app (Font Explorer) in Windows 8.1 (Parallels 9) in the same MacBook and the information is a little different: besides the same Character Code 61505, U+F041 and no keystroke assigned, I found a Character Code 65, U+0041 and Capital A keystroke assigned. This is the reason it works fine in Windows and not in OS X: somehow OS X does not find this Character Code 65 with the keystroke assigned, just the 61505 without keystroke.

My question is:

1) Why OS X cannot find the Character 65 with the keystroke assigned?

2) How can I assign a keystroke to this font?

PD: I just have been a few weeks in Mac. Trying to learn...