Font Problems

Hi. I just got a macbook pro last weekend and I'm loving it. I'm very disappointed because I use clip art a lot and have TONS of fonts and cannot get them to work in word. I have over 7,000 and only about 400 show up in word. They are all in the font book, but don't know why they won't open in word. I have worked on installing fonts and troubleshooting to get them to work for over 12 hours today!!! Anybody have answers for me? Please help!

I'm afraid you're going to have a difficult time attempting to install all those fonts. MS Office Mac is very particular about Fonts. What it doesn't like it's not going to allow them to be used in any of the Office applications. Do some Google searching and you'll see that this is a common problem.

The MS Office font folder is here: MacIntosh HD/Library/Fonts/Microsoft/

You can try moving some of the fonts into that folder to see if they will install. Move just a few at a time as an experiment. Sometimes they'll show up, sometimes not.

You can also try moving some fonts into this folder to see if they will install:

MacIntosh HD/Users/your user name/Library/Fonts/

I hope you have tons of RAM to keep 7,000 fonts active at all times. That has to be having a HUGE impact on the machine's performance.

I'd strongly suggest a "real" font manager beyond Font Book (which is perfectly nice for the consumer level, but 7K fonts is not consumer level). There are several good and inexpensive ones.

Also, there is only ONE place (besides the folder chscag mentioned) where user-installed fonts should go, and that's Users/(home folder)/Library/Fonts (or, if you have multiple accounts where they need access to all those fonts too, then you put them in /Library/Fonts).

DO NOT repeat DO NOT put user-installed fonts anywhere else except ONE of the three mentioned places.

which "real" font manager do you suggest? I put them in font book. Do I need to delete them? How can I just delete them now and forget about it? They're not showing up in word anyway. I guess I'll just use my computer at work to do all my webpage work and newsletters & such. Is there a list of fonts that came on my macbook so I don't accidentally delete them too?
Thanks!

Is there a system restore or something so I don't have to go through and manually delete all these fonts I downloaded? thanks!

chas_m said:

DO NOT repeat DO NOT put user-installed fonts anywhere else except ONE of the three mentioned places.

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Just out of curiosity: why?

which "real" font manager do you suggest?

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Linotype Font Explorer is free but does not provide much in the way of font management. They also have a Pro version which you might find suits your needs. Download their 30 day trial.

Well, I've found a temporary solution. I purchased pages. All my fonts do show up there. I have a question about pages though. In word I often format pictures so that they're in front of the text or behind the text. Can anyone tell me how to do that in pages. I don't see it as an option. I will check out Font Explorer, thanks! I'm loving this macbook more every day!

Oh-can anyone give me the pros & cons of keynote vs. publisher?

Oh-can anyone give me the pros & cons of keynote vs. publisher?

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Not sure I understand that question? Keynote is presentation software similar to Powerpoint and compatible with PP files. Publisher is MS desktop publishing software. Pages can also do desktop publishing if that's what you're referring to.

Shikarnov said:

Just out of curiosity: why?

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Without writing a detailed post, all I can say is "it will cause problems," mostly having to do with either a) some users not having access to the same fonts as other users or b) not being seen by all applications or c) disappearing when you do a system upgrade.

chscag said:

Not sure I understand that question? Keynote is presentation software similar to Powerpoint and compatible with PP files. Publisher is MS desktop publishing software. Pages can also do desktop publishing if that's what you're referring to.

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Sorry... that wouldn't make sense would it... I meant to say powerpoint.

swimmy said:

I have a question about pages though. In word I often format pictures so that they're in front of the text or behind the text. Can anyone tell me how to do that in pages.

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Pages has two modes: straight word processing, and desktop publishing (layout). You're probably in WP mode. Try using a blank template in layout mode and see if you don't find it to do exactly what you're looking for.

I will check out Font Explorer, thanks! I'm loving this macbook more every day!

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Font Explorer Pro or Font Agent Pro would have been my two suggestions for a serious font manager.

Oh-can anyone give me the pros & cons of keynote vs. publisher?

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I read your later note where you say you meant "powerpoint."

Basically, Keynote is Powerpoint DONE CORRECTLY. I find it to be vastly superior to PP in every respect except one: it is unable to recreate its awesomeness when you export a Keynote slideshow down to PowerPoint. The result is always a huge step backward (not Keynote's fault, however).

Basically, Keynote is Powerpoint DONE CORRECTLY. I find it to be vastly superior to PP in every respect except one: it is unable to recreate its awesomeness when you export a Keynote slideshow down to PowerPoint. The result is always a huge step backward (not Keynote's fault, however).

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As usual, a very opinionated and slanted reply from you chas.

To swimmy:

Use whatever presentation software suits your needs. I suggest testing the waters by using both Keynote and PP. If your presentations must be 100% PP compatible, then stick to PP. If not, use Keynote.

Also, Apple should be publishing an upgrade to the iWork suite here in the near future. As a matter of fact, they're overdue. You might want to wait a bit before buying.

good to know. You have been so helpful! One more question (for now)...

Where do I find my system info, like on pc it's the 'about' button? I purchased a new seagate external hard drive and nothing will copy/move there. I'm getting ready to write to the troubleshooters.

Thanks again!

swimmy said:

Where do I find my system info, like on pc it's the 'about' button?

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Apple menu, first option: "About this Mac"

I purchased a new seagate external hard drive and nothing will copy/move there.

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It's formatted NTFS. Reformat the drive for Mac use using Disk Utility.

chas_m said:

Apple menu, first option: "About this Mac"



It's formatted NTFS. Reformat the drive for Mac use using Disk Utility.

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LOL, boy do I feel dumb! Thanks!

Don't feel dumb. How were you to know that Macs can read NTFS but not write to it without third-party help? It's not exactly on the box.

I've often said that moving to a Mac is really less different than people think, but what it IS like is as if you came home from a vacation to find that a gang of roving interior designers have broken in and removed all your old, crappy possessions and replaced them with new, shiny, cool possessions ... all the same stuff ... but they MOVED EVERYTHING AROUND so nothing is where you are used to it having been.

Do you actually use all those thousands of fonts for your work?

Restore Font line

I looked for Font under Format and it was gone (somehow I accidentally removed it), but I still have Font to the right of Format and all the fonts in there. Is there any way to restore Font beneath Document and Paragraph in Format? Thanks.

My font book opens and loads with the spinning beachball then quits with an error message (quit unexpectedly w/ the option to report it to apple, which does not work for the font book or any other program that gives me that option to report the crash) Then every now and then at the bottom left of my screen a blank white box that says "characters" pops up then disappears.... pops up then gone, comes back hello...... goodbye. I don't know how to get rid of it... or get my fontbook back