Answered
InDesign becomes unresponsive when running ‘Missing Glyphs’ script on emoji-heavy Document.
Hello I am Niven,
I was hoping to get some help regarding a script which malfunctions in my situation.
I use InDesign Mail Merge on a regular basis for my work with like 600 to 800+ Pages per Document which has multiple languages and emojis and the script I got from Peter Kahrel to Manage Multiple Missing Glyphs at one time is not working as it probably worked for other people on some YouTube Tutorials. As I run the script and select a replacement font (Noto Emoji Regular) for the Missing Glyphs the script runs at first but after 2 - 3 Minutes InDesign stops responding. No error message is shown. Manually replacing the missing glyphs with ‘Noto Color Emoji’ works correctly, which suggests the issue may be related to the script or my PC.
Also I would like to add that the people using the script flawlessly were using it on a macOS and I am on a Windows PC.
I use Adobe InDesign 2025 version with all updates installed.
I came to know about the script from Adobe Community Forums itself which is here
The Script is as follows :
(function () {
if (parseInt(app.version) < 6) {
alert('This script requires InDesign CS4 or later.');
exit();
}
if (app.documents.length == 0) {
alert('Please open a document');
exit();
}
function find_fonts() {
var known = {};
var typefaces = [];
var fontfamilies = app.fonts.everyItem().fontFamily;
for (var i = 0; i < fontfamilies.length; i++) {
if (!known[fontfamilies[i]]) {
known[fontfamilies[i]] = true;
typefaces.push(fontfamilies[i]);
}
}
return typefaces;
}
function buildListCharacterStyles(scope, list, str, path) {
var styles = scope.characterStyles.everyItem().getElements();
for (var i = 0; i < styles.length; i++) {
if (styles[i] != app.documents[0].characterStyles[0]) {
var temp = list.add('item', styles[i].name + (str == '' ? '' : ' (' + str + ')'));
temp.id = styles[i].id;
temp.path = path + styles[i].name;
}
}
for (var j = 0; j < scope.characterStyleGroups.length; j++) {
buildListCharacterStyles(
scope.characterStyleGroups[j],
list,
str + (str == '' ? '' : ':') + scope.characterStyleGroups[j].name,
path + scope.characterStyleGroups[j].name + '%%'
);
}
}
function get_data() {
var fontnames = find_fonts();
var w = new Window('dialog {text: "Missing glyphs", properties: {closeButton: false}}');
var main = w.add('panel {alignChildren: "left"}');
var fontgroup = main.add('group');
var replacefonts = fontgroup.add('checkbox {text: "Replace missing glyphs with font:"}');
var replacement_font = fontgroup.add('dropdownlist', undefined, fontnames);
var cstylegroup = main.add('group');
var applyStyle = cstylegroup.add('checkbox {text: "Apply character style: "}');
var charStyles = cstylegroup.add('dropdownlist');
charStyles.preferredSize.width = 200;
var display = main.add('checkbox {text: "Display missing glyphs and fonts"}');
var buttons = w.add('group {alignment: "right"}');
buttons.add('button {text: "OK", name: "ok"}');
buttons.add('button {text: "Cancel", name: "cancel"}');
replacefonts.onClick = function () {
applyStyle.value = !replacefonts.value;
};
replacement_font.onChange = function () {
if (!replacefonts.value) {
replacefonts.notify();
}
};
applyStyle.onClick = function () {
replacefonts.value = !applyStyle.value;
};
charStyles.onChange = function () {
if (!applyStyle.value) {
applyStyle.notify();
}
};
display.onClick = function () {
if (display.value) {
replacefonts.value = applyStyle.value = false;
}
};
var minion = replacement_font.find('Minion Pro');
replacement_font.selection = minion ? minion : 0;
replacefonts.value = 1;
var buffer = '';
var current = replacement_font.selection.text;
replacement_font.onActivate = function () {
buffer = '';
current = replacement_font.selection.text;
};
replacement_font.addEventListener('keydown', function (k) {
if (k.keyName == 'Backspace') {
buffer = buffer.replace(/.$/, '');
if (buffer.length == 0) {
buffer = current;
}
} else {
buffer += k.keyName.toLowerCase();
}
var i = 0;
while (i < fontnames.length - 1 && fontnames[i].toLowerCase().indexOf(buffer) != 0) {
++i;
}
if (fontnames[i].toLowerCase().indexOf(buffer) == 0) {
replacement_font.selection = i;
}
});
w.onShow = function () {
buildListCharacterStyles(app.activeDocument, charStyles, '', '');
if (charStyles.items.length > 0) {
charStyles.selection = 0;
}
};
if (w.show() == 2) {
return null;
}
// 🛠️ Prevent null reference
if ((applyStyle.value || (!replacefonts.value && !display.value)) && !charStyles.selection) {
alert("Please select a character style.");
return null;
}
return {
replace: replacefonts.value,
replacement_font: replacement_font.selection ? replacement_font.selection.text : "",
applyStyle: applyStyle.value,
character_style: charStyles.selection
? app.documents[0].characterStyles.itemByID(charStyles.selection.id)
: null,
display: display.value,
};
}
function replace_missing_glyphs(data) {
var docFonts = app.activeDocument.fonts.everyItem().getElements();
var errormsg = '';
app.findGlyphPreferences = null;
for (var i = 0; i < docFonts.length; i++) {
if (docFonts[i].status == FontStatus.INSTALLED && docFonts[i].isValid) {
app.findGlyphPreferences.glyphID = 0;
app.findGlyphPreferences.appliedFont = docFonts[i].fontFamily;
app.findGlyphPreferences.fontStyle = docFonts[i].fontStyleName;
var found = app.activeDocument.findGlyph();
for (var j = 0; j < found.length; j++) {
if (data.replace) {
found[j].appliedFont = data.replacement_font;
} else if (data.applyStyle && data.character_style) {
found[j].appliedCharacterStyle = data.character_style;
}
}
} else {
try {
errormsg += docFonts[i].fontFamily + '\r';
} catch (_) {}
}
}
if (errormsg.length > 1) {
errormsg = 'The following fonts are not installed\n(or have an illegal font style specified)\nand were skipped:\n\n' + errormsg;
alert(errormsg);
}
}
function list_missing_glyphs() {
var docFonts = app.activeDocument.fonts.everyItem().getElements();
var report = '';
for (var i = 0; i < docFonts.length; i++) {
if (docFonts[i].status != FontStatus.INSTALLED) {
report += '[' + docFonts[i].name + ']\r';
} else {
app.findGlyphPreferences = null;
app.findGlyphPreferences.glyphID = 0;
app.findGlyphPreferences.appliedFont = docFonts[i].fontFamily;
app.findGlyphPreferences.fontStyle = docFonts[i].fontStyleName;
var found = app.activeDocument.findGlyph();
if (found.length > 0) {
var known = {};
report += docFonts[i].fontFamily + ' (' + docFonts[i].fontStyleName + ')\r';
for (var j = 0; j < found.length; j++) {
var miss = get_hex(found[j]);
if (!known[miss]) {
report += found[j].contents + '\t' + miss + '\r';
known[miss] = true;
}
}
report += '\r';
}
}
}
display_missing_glyphs(report);
}
function get_hex(ch) {
function pad(n) {
return ('0000' + n).slice(-4);
}
try {
if (ch.contents.length === 2) {
var H = parseInt(ch.contents.charCodeAt(0).toString(16), 16);
var L = parseInt(ch.contents.charCodeAt(1).toString(16), 16);
var s = ((H - 0xD800) * 0x400) + (L - 0xDC00) + 0x10000;
return '\\x{' + s.toString(16).toUpperCase() + '}';
}
var s = ch.contents.charCodeAt(0).toString(16);
return '\\x{' + pad(s).toUpperCase() + '}';
} catch (_) {
return 'U+????';
}
}
function display_missing_glyphs(s) {
var w = new Window('dialog {text: "Missing glyphs", properties: {closeButton: false}}');
var e = w.add('edittext', undefined, s.length == 0 ? 'No missing glyphs.' : s, {
multiline: true,
scrolling: true,
});
e.maximumSize.height = w.maximumSize.height - 150;
var b = w.add('group');
b.add('button {text: "Close", properties: {name: "ok"}}');
var save = b.add('button {text: "Save"}');
save.onClick = function () {
var outfile = File('~/Desktop/' + app.activeDocument.name.replace(/\.indd$/, '_missing_glyphs.txt'));
outfile.encoding = 'UTF-8';
outfile.open('w');
outfile.write(e.text);
outfile.close();
outfile.execute();
};
w.show();
}
function main() {
app.findChangeGlyphOptions.includeFootnotes = true;
var data = get_data();
if (!data) return;
if (data.replace || data.applyStyle) {
replace_missing_glyphs(data);
}
if (data.display) {
list_missing_glyphs();
}
}
main();
})();
Regards,
Niven Wadke.
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