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Troubleshooting Fonts

 

How do I convert between Windows and Mac fonts? TrueType and PostScript ?

Chris Reed's $10 shareware TTConverter 1.5 will convert back and forth between Windows and Macintosh TrueType fonts.

The payware programs FontMonger ($95 street) and MetaMorphosis ($89 street) convert between all types of TrueType and PostScript fonts. On the PC side the REFONT program available from jasper.ora.com will convert Macintosh Truetype fonts to PC TrueType fonts and vice-versa. It also converts Macintosh PostScript fonts to PC PostScript fonts and vice-versa. It will not, however, convert between PostScript fonts and TrueType fonts.

Which font will my screen/printer use if different types are present?

For screen display a Mac first looks for a bitmap font with the appropriate name in the appropriate size. If it finds it, it uses it. If you're running System 7 or have installed the TrueType init in System 6, your Mac then looks for the the appropriate TrueType font. If it can't find the TrueType font and ATM is installed, it then looks for the appropriate PostScript outline font. As a penultimate resort your Mac will scale a bitmap font to the needed size. Finally, if all else fails and the Mac simply cannot find any member of the requested family, then the display will use the default font, Geneva on U.S. systems, possibly something else on international systems.

On a QuickDraw printer (ImageWriter, DeskWriter, StyleWriter, etc.) the Mac normally looks for fonts in the same order it does for the screen. However on some printers in some modes it may look for a larger size of the requested font so it can scale the font down to match the higher resolution of the printer.

A PostScript printer looks for fonts in a different order. First it looks for a PostScript outline font on the printer's hard drive (if any). Then it looks for the font in the printer's ROM. Then it looks for the PostScript font on the computer's hard disk. If the printer can't find an appropriate PostScript outline font, then it will use a TrueType font. If it can't find the TrueType font, it looks for a bitmap of the font. Finally if it can't find any version of the font anywhere, it substitutes Courier with predictably horrible results.

Where should I put my fonts?

If you're using System 7.1 or later the answer is simple: Put all fonts (Truetype, PostScript outline, QuickDraw GX and bitmap) in the Fonts folder inside the System Folder. You can put them other places (the Extensions folder, the System Folder itself, the system file) but there's no good reason to do so. In particular storing fonts in the system file unnecessarily is a common cause of system file corruption and all sorts of hard to diagnose problems. When you upgrade to System 7.1 or later, be sure to remove all fonts from the system file.

If you're using a system older than 7.1, TrueType fonts and bitmaps belong in your System file. In System 7.0 and 7.0.1 PostScript outline fonts go in the Extensions folder. In System 6 PostScript outline fonts belong in the System Folder.

Many older versions of font and printer utilities like ATM and SendPS cannot find fonts placed in System 7.1's Fonts folder. Most of these utilities will work if you put your printer fonts in the Extensions folder or System folder instead. However in all cases I'm aware of upgrades to these utilities that work with the Fonts folder are either cheap (under $10) or free.

There seems to be a corrupt font in my Fonts folder. When I double-click the font suitcase, I get a -39 error. I can't seem to get rid of this font suitcase! What can I do?

Corrupt fonts can account for a number of system crashes. Here is how to remove a damaged font suitcase from your Fonts folder:

  1. Move the Fonts folder to the desktop.
  2. Create a new Fonts folder in the System Folder.
  3. Drag the known good Fonts from the desktop Fonts folder to the newly created Fonts folder.
  4. Restart your Macintosh.
  5. Drag the Fonts folder on the desktop, with the corrupted font suitcase, to the Trash.
  6. Drag a "good" copy of the corrupted font suitcase from a backup copy or from the original font disk to the closed System Folder.
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