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T
The Horis ;D
Participating Frequently
December 8, 2017
Answered

Hebrew fonts showing up as squares

  • December 8, 2017
  • 4 replies
  • 6327 views

Hi,

I'm using InDesign CS6 and all my Hebrew fonts are appearing as pink squares as if it can't read the font. I downloaded new ones in case something was wrong with the fonts, but it does the same thing. I tried adjusting the font to 'regular' instead of bold, that doesn't work. Can someone help me please?
Thanks

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer davidblatner

    This is extremely common when dealing with non-English fonts in an English version of InDesign.

    First of all, I need to say: I have no idea why Barbara Ash would recommend changing something in the export PDF dialog box. This has nothing to do with that.

    The issue is that there are fonts and then there is how text is encoded. It's a little hard to explain… There are a few things you can try. In general, copy and paste from Word or most other programs doesn't work very well. However, you might try to import the text from a web browser. I explained this weird trick in this article a while back: https://indesignsecrets.com/typesetting-hebrew-and-other-languages-in-english-indesign.php

    If you're trying to type directly in InDesign, you're going to want to set the font first, and then you need to make sure you're typing using a Hebrew keyboard input encoding in your operating system. You may also need a tool such as World Tools from in-tools.com so that InDesign can handle right to left and so on.

    4 replies

    CyndeeM
    CyndeeM
    Inspiring
    December 10, 2017

    You need to make sure the Hebrew font you are using is a Unicode font. You didn't mention your OS, but a number of fonts included with Windows have full Hebrew character sets. You can see them in your InDesign font menu towards the bottom with a line above them (as are other foreign language fonts) separating them from the rest. Additionally, included with InDesign, Adobe Hebrew works well. If you are trying to use, for example, the original Hebrew fonts from Davka (for example many fonts that have a font name ending with a "D" or a "G", those will not work as they are not Unicode fonts. However, Davka does sell packages of Unicode Hebrew fonts. When they are installed they also appear in the bottom section of fonts as described above, and they all begin with a "UD" a part of the name.

    davidblatner
    Community Expert
    davidblatnerCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    December 8, 2017

    This is extremely common when dealing with non-English fonts in an English version of InDesign.

    First of all, I need to say: I have no idea why Barbara Ash would recommend changing something in the export PDF dialog box. This has nothing to do with that.

    The issue is that there are fonts and then there is how text is encoded. It's a little hard to explain… There are a few things you can try. In general, copy and paste from Word or most other programs doesn't work very well. However, you might try to import the text from a web browser. I explained this weird trick in this article a while back: https://indesignsecrets.com/typesetting-hebrew-and-other-languages-in-english-indesign.php

    If you're trying to type directly in InDesign, you're going to want to set the font first, and then you need to make sure you're typing using a Hebrew keyboard input encoding in your operating system. You may also need a tool such as World Tools from in-tools.com so that InDesign can handle right to left and so on.

    T
    The Horis ;DAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    December 8, 2017

    if I choose other fonts I get normal characters. I found one Hebrew font that works, but it doesn't appear to have all the characters - bah! 

    Maybe it's the fonts that are the problem...

    barbara_a7746676
    Community Expert
    barbara_a7746676Community Expert
    Community Expert
    December 8, 2017

    Try changing Subset fonts to 0%.

    Jongware
    Community Expert
    JongwareCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    December 8, 2017

    Fonts do not show pink squares, characters which are not available in that font do.

    What happens if you select your text and apply a different (= not-Hebrew) font such as Arial Unicode? Do you get Hebrew characters, or plain Larin ones? (Or – possibly – something entirely unexpected, such as Chinese...)

    If that works, your Hebrew text is not really Hebrew, or, alternatively, something went wrong with copying/typing the text and the character encoding is not what InDesign expects it to be.

    If this fails, select a single one of these characters, call up the Info panel so we can see what ID thinks it is, and post a screenshot.

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