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Replace a font that ihidden or conditional text? Need to kill it so a script can run without popups.

Forum|Forum|2 years ago
March 28, 2024
2 replies
1652 views

How do I get rid of this font? I can't find it for the life of me and get this error on "Find/Replace Font"

"The selected font is applied to hidden conditional text, or applied to text in a locked story, or is part of a composite font. Some instances of the font may not be found, or may not be changed."

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Correct answer Peter Kahrel

Mark,

> Open the .idml file in a plain text editor

An IDML file can't be opened in a text editor, you'll have to unzip it first, then go through all the XML files. You could open it and change part(s) of it in a special editor such as Oxygen. But I would go about it in a different way.

The error message says that the problem may be conditional text, locked stories and/or layers, and/or composite fonts.

If the document contains text conditions, note which conditions are applied, undo all conditions, then try the replacement again and reapply the conditions. If the document contains any locked layers or objects, note which they are, unlock them, do the replacements, then relock whatever you unlocked. And if the document contains any composite fonts, check whether the problem font is in the composite font and if it is, change the problem font in the composite font.

The first two (test text conditions and locked layers/objects) are easy to script, the third, composite fonts, isn't. You'll have to do that manually. (Unfortunately InDesign doesn't have a native composite-font editor, unlike Illustrator. There's one in this plug-in: http://in-tools.com/products/plugins/world-tools-pro/)

P.

Peter Kahrel

Correct answer

Community Expert

Mark,

> Open the .idml file in a plain text editor

An IDML file can't be opened in a text editor, you'll have to unzip it first, then go through all the XML files. You could open it and change part(s) of it in a special editor such as Oxygen. But I would go about it in a different way.

The error message says that the problem may be conditional text, locked stories and/or layers, and/or composite fonts.

If the document contains text conditions, note which conditions are applied, undo all conditions, then try the replacement again and reapply the conditions. If the document contains any locked layers or objects, note which they are, unlock them, do the replacements, then relock whatever you unlocked. And if the document contains any composite fonts, check whether the problem font is in the composite font and if it is, change the problem font in the composite font.

The first two (test text conditions and locked layers/objects) are easy to script, the third, composite fonts, isn't. You'll have to do that manually. (Unfortunately InDesign doesn't have a native composite-font editor, unlike Illustrator. There's one in this plug-in: http://in-tools.com/products/plugins/world-tools-pro/)

P.

m1b

Community Expert

Oh. Thanks Peter. Just when I thought I knew what I was talking about ... nope. 😜

m1b

Community Expert

Hi @Adam34664626x5pp, I'm assuming you just want to get rid of it (manually) and don't need a script to do it. If I'm right, here is one idea:

1. Export the .indd as .idml

2. Open the .idml file in a plain text editor

3. Do a find for the name of the offending font and establish the exact and full name of it

4. Do a find for the font you want to replace it with and establish the exact and full name of it

5. Do a find and replace, replacing the font name in step 3 with the font name in step 4.

6. Save as plain text, keeping .idml extension

7. Open the .idml and save as .indd.

That might work. Let me know how you go.

- Mark

A

Adam34664626x5ppAuthor

Known Participant

I have 20+ files with this issue and I'm afraid that exporting to a new format and converting back is going to be an issue.

I'm happy to pay $50 for "Helvetica Regular", but can't even find a place to grab it at the moment that will install to Adobe.

m1b

Community Expert

Okay, but doing the IDML export may tell you *where* the problem is, eg. is it in an inactive button state?

But if that doesn't help, the next phase of troubleshooting is:

1. pick a test document that has the problem and duplicate it

2. remove pages from the test document until the problem font is gone (if the problem is still there, just work on the first page)

3. undo the last change, so now you know that the last page you delete must have the font somewhere on it

4. delete all other pages (check that the problem font is still there)

5. delete items off the remaining page, one-by-one, (or by binary search if you know what I mean) until the font problem is gone, and then undo the last action, so you now no the the problem is associated with the last item.

6. Have a *very close* look at that item. Is there anything about it—hyperlinks, conditional text, interactive element states, etc?

7. If step 5 & 6 didn't find the problem item, then start doing the same thing with Paragraph Styles, CharacterStyles, Table/Cell styles until you find it.

The idea is that if you can find it in one document, there's a good chance it's the same cause in all your problem documents. Once you know what it is, it may be quite easy to address.

Also if, during this process, you end up with a test document that is suitable for posting here, please do so. Then others can help.

- Mark

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