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Deb Sauer
Deb Sauer
Inspiring
December 27, 2019
Answered

Wrong Characters Displaying When Font Changed

  • December 27, 2019
  • 1 reply
  • 2414 views

I have FrameMaker 2019. I'm using custom fonts which are installed on the computer. When I select a custom font in the Paragraph Designer and apply it to a paragraph, the text changes to random characters. So something like the word "Characteristics" becomes "B12YGN/32Rtul4N." I copied the errant text into Notepad and it still says "Characteristics" but that's not what is displaying in FrameMaker. Any ideas?

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Deb Sauer

I just tried that text in the current FM2019 (15.0.4.751), using a 1993 vintage Gill Sans TTF, and had no problems. I don't have Univers Extended, but a 1992 Univers was also trouble-free.


I closed FrameMaker and re-launched it and then I was having a license/subscription issue (too many machines with FM on it) so I couldn't get back into FM to further troubleshoot the font issue. Today, I was able to correct the license/subscription issue and opne the files. The font issue is no longer occurring. I'm not sure what is going on. Maybe the licensing issue was causing something to go wrong with fonts...? Doesn't seem logical, but I have no explanation. Thanks for taking a look and trying to help out! I appreciate it!

1 reply

Bob_Niland
Community Expert
Bob_NilandCommunity Expert
Community Expert
December 28, 2019

What vintage are the custom fonts?

The legacy (pre-Unicode) practice was to re-use the base 8-bit code space (\x00-\xFF in FM notation, normally ASCII and extended Roman) for glyph sets that could be anything. The current practice is to use one of the Unicode Private Use Areas (PUA, such as \uE000–\uF8FF).

For example, if I apply the old MS Webdings font to "Characteristics" (or "B12YGN/32Rtul4N" for that matter), I get a bunch of arbitrary icons.

This doesn't answer your question, but might help someone who can.

Deb Sauer
Deb SauerAuthor
Inspiring
December 28, 2019

The fonts are Univers Extended and Gill Sans. Both True Type fonts. Both with 1997 dates in the Windows\Fonts folder. I installed them on a different laptop around 2008. I now have FrameMaker 2019 on a new laptop and I copied the fonts over from the old laptop to the new one. I also have Univers Condensed (True Type, 2003) and that works fine (but it's not the font I need). 

Bob_Niland
Community Expert
Bob_NilandCommunity Expert
Community Expert
December 31, 2019

I just tried that text in the current FM2019 (15.0.4.751), using a 1993 vintage Gill Sans TTF, and had no problems. I don't have Univers Extended, but a 1992 Univers was also trouble-free.

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