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kirabug37
Participant
Jan 28, 2026 1:54 AM UTC
Answered

I've discovered a bunch of the fonts installed on my Mac aren't working (rendering as boxes) in Photoshop. Why?

Many of the fonts that aren’t rendering appear to be non-Latin alphabets, but others, like Hoefler Text, don’t have anything “unusual” about them. Many of them are Apple system fonts so I can’t just go removing them. 

 

The fonts render correctly in Font Book. And there are no errors when I verify them. I can’t figure out why they’re not working in Photoshop. Help?

    c.pfaffenbichler
    c.pfaffenbichlerCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    Jan 28, 2026 8:19 AM UTC

    Please expand the Hoefler-font to see which ones are actually affected and try using the Glyphs Panel for the ones that lack the »usual« letters. 

    Edit: Or rather »characters«. 

     

    5 replies

    c.pfaffenbichler
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    Jan 28, 2026 9:57 AM UTC

    If a font lacks the characters »S«, »a«, »m«, … the rectangles will be used as stand-ins. 

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    Trevor.Dennis
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    Jan 28, 2026 8:59 AM UTC
    kirabug37
    kirabug37Author
    Participant
    Jan 28, 2026 2:26 PM UTC

    Tried those, no change

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    c.pfaffenbichler
    Community Expert
    c.pfaffenbichlerCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    Jan 28, 2026 8:19 AM UTC

    Please expand the Hoefler-font to see which ones are actually affected and try using the Glyphs Panel for the ones that lack the »usual« letters. 

    Edit: Or rather »characters«. 

     

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    kirabug37
    kirabug37Author
    Participant
    Jan 28, 2026 2:29 PM UTC

    That was it! I don’t know why it would default to the Ornaments view but all the other are working. 

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