Skip to main content
M
mbenton75
Known Participant
July 17, 2015
Answered

Font is showing up properly except specific characters

  • July 17, 2015
  • 2 replies
  • 7710 views

Hello!

I am trying to use several fonts in Adobe CC 2015 and while the selected font is showing up, specific characters are not.  For eg.

If I am trying to type: what's up?

It displays like: what                                        s up?

Or it will just not display the ' :  What s up?

I have used the same fonts in other applications like Word and I do not have that problem at all. So far i have discovered, that if i change the font to a font that will show the missing character as rectangles THEN I add in the apostrophe (or other missing char) then it works just fine.  It appears that the missing character has to appear as the rectangle though - I can't just change it to any font. 

Is it me?

Confused.

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer Dov Isaacs

    Maria,

    I do have the definitive response for regarding both these fonts.

    First of all, they are publicly downloadable fonts on dafont.com. I downloaded them and examined them with a professional font editor and here is what I found.

    For font JamesFajardo, the typographical opening and closing single and double quotes are actually defined in the font as blanks. As such, since the characters are defined, InDesign (and any Adobe application) would use them as-is. That results in the blank being displayed. If you want an apostrophe, keying that to replace the closing single quote will make your document displayable and printable.

    For font Hanshand, the typographical opening and closing single and double quotes are not at all defined in the font. Thus, the .notdef glyph (that square box) is used. This is completely in compliance with the specification for use of these fonts. Like the case of the JamesFajardo font, if you want an apostrophe, keying that to replace the closing single quote will make your document displayable and printable.

    By default, InDesign uses typographical quotes when keying or even placing or pasting text. Thus, if your Microsoft Word document had used a non-typographical apostrophe, then importing that would yield a conversion to yield what you see. Also, when keying in Microsoft Word (or other Office applications), if you have that option turned off, you won't get any attempt to do automatic substitution.

    Bottom line though, is that both these fonts are basically flawed in that common characters used in Western Latin language layout are missing and in the case of JamesFajardo, the font is really defective in that it defines those characters as blanks.

    For your entertainment and edification, I have attached to this response the output font tables for both those fonts so you can see exactly what is defined in them. Ironically, a similar chart appears on the dafont.com web pages associated with each of these fonts.

    Sorry for the inconvenience you have suffered through, but there isn't much at Adobe we can do to further assist you with those fonts. 

                - Dov

    2 replies

    G
    Giancarlo28386880bm18
    Participant
    February 13, 2023

    why not just copy and paste the desire character from word to adobe software? 

    If you cant see it when you type in word, go to "insert", "special character" and add the character you need in tour blank page.

    Then copy and paste it in adobe software.

    jane-e
    Community Expert
    jane-eCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    February 16, 2023

     

    @Giancarlo28386880bm18 wrote:

    why not just

     

     

    You responded to a post from 8 years ago. Your idea might work for a one-page document, but not for documents in the 700- to 800-page range. 

     

    Jane

     

    Dov Isaacs
    Dov Isaacs
    Legend
    July 17, 2015

    It is possible that the fonts for which you are seeing the problem don't have a full complement of glyphs. There is a difference between a straight apostrophe and a right single quotation mark. InDesign will typically go with a right single quotation mark for contractions such as what’s as opposed to a straight apostrophe as in what's. Many fonts simply don't have all those extra glyphs and I suspect that is what is happening in your particular situation.

                 - Dov

    - Dov Isaacs, former Adobe Principal Scientist (April 30, 1990 - May 30, 2021)
    M
    mbenton75Author
    Known Participant
    July 18, 2015

    I tried using the quotation marks, however, those do not appear either I did however, discover that if I press the ALT + apostrophe key, the right quotation mark will type. Go figure. I guess as long as I do not have to use quotation marks in any text, I can use this font.

    It is just a very bizarre instance that these fonts work perfectly fine in all microsoft programs (excluding outlook) but not at all in Adobe programs...

    The interesting part is that when I type this font in outlook I can see the stroke, but then it disappears.

    Bizarre.

    Thanks for your response!

    Maria

    Dov Isaacs
    Dov IsaacsCorrect answer
    Legend
    July 18, 2015

    Maria,

    I do have the definitive response for regarding both these fonts.

    First of all, they are publicly downloadable fonts on dafont.com. I downloaded them and examined them with a professional font editor and here is what I found.

    For font JamesFajardo, the typographical opening and closing single and double quotes are actually defined in the font as blanks. As such, since the characters are defined, InDesign (and any Adobe application) would use them as-is. That results in the blank being displayed. If you want an apostrophe, keying that to replace the closing single quote will make your document displayable and printable.

    For font Hanshand, the typographical opening and closing single and double quotes are not at all defined in the font. Thus, the .notdef glyph (that square box) is used. This is completely in compliance with the specification for use of these fonts. Like the case of the JamesFajardo font, if you want an apostrophe, keying that to replace the closing single quote will make your document displayable and printable.

    By default, InDesign uses typographical quotes when keying or even placing or pasting text. Thus, if your Microsoft Word document had used a non-typographical apostrophe, then importing that would yield a conversion to yield what you see. Also, when keying in Microsoft Word (or other Office applications), if you have that option turned off, you won't get any attempt to do automatic substitution.

    Bottom line though, is that both these fonts are basically flawed in that common characters used in Western Latin language layout are missing and in the case of JamesFajardo, the font is really defective in that it defines those characters as blanks.

    For your entertainment and edification, I have attached to this response the output font tables for both those fonts so you can see exactly what is defined in them. Ironically, a similar chart appears on the dafont.com web pages associated with each of these fonts.

    Sorry for the inconvenience you have suffered through, but there isn't much at Adobe we can do to further assist you with those fonts. 

                - Dov

    - Dov Isaacs, former Adobe Principal Scientist (April 30, 1990 - May 30, 2021)
    Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
    Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices