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Data Merge not displaying special characters / symbols

Community Beginner ,
Apr 08, 2023 Apr 08, 2023

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I am trying to figure out how to display a:eight_o_clock: as one of the symbols in my data file. The csv file is re-encoded as U16-LM BOM and this displays the symbols within the CSV file. There are other symbols such as: ●, ◆, ○, ◇ that print out fine. But I am not able to figure out how to get the clock symbol above to appear when exporting to pdf.

 

Please help if you know a solution.

 

Thanks,
Jeff

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correct answers 1 Correct answer

Community Expert , Apr 08, 2023 Apr 08, 2023

The font used for that glyph must include that Unicode symbol. Not all do. Check in the Glyphs panel. If it's not there, or has a placeholder glyph instead, you'll have to use a different base font or create a character style to override each use of that symbol.

 

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Community Beginner ,
Apr 08, 2023 Apr 08, 2023

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The clock is: 

Unicode Name: Clock Face Eight O’Clock

Codepoints: U+1F557

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Community Expert ,
Apr 08, 2023 Apr 08, 2023

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The font used for that glyph must include that Unicode symbol. Not all do. Check in the Glyphs panel. If it's not there, or has a placeholder glyph instead, you'll have to use a different base font or create a character style to override each use of that symbol.

 


╟ Word & InDesign to Kindle & EPUB: a Guide to Pro Results (Amazon) ╢

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Community Beginner ,
Apr 08, 2023 Apr 08, 2023

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Thanks for your response James. I have an InDesign template that was created by my companies design team. The template has a couple of text frames with tables in them. In certain cells I have mapped our data to these particular cells using the Data Merge. Given that context, am I able to change the font just on the one cell that I need to symbol to appear (note it's an empty cell in the template). Also, would you know which font I would need to use in order to get the clock symbol to appear?  Thank you again.

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Community Expert ,
Apr 08, 2023 Apr 08, 2023

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I have no useful suggestions. If a symbol isn't in a Pro font (Minion Pro, etc.) I am not sure what general fonts it might be in. The pages I can find on Unicode lookup don't seem to have any cross-references.

 

Other users here are more advanced font mavens, though. An answer may be forthcoming.

 


╟ Word & InDesign to Kindle & EPUB: a Guide to Pro Results (Amazon) ╢

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Community Expert ,
Apr 08, 2023 Apr 08, 2023

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Just an addendum, I 've dug through standard fonts with large Unicode selections, and still got nothin'. There are two standard Windows/MS fonts with over 14,000 glyphs, about as large and complete as any get, and neither contains the clock face sets. I think this is going to take a very specific symbols font of some kind, but I don't have any recommendations.

 


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Community Beginner ,
Apr 08, 2023 Apr 08, 2023

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The Noto Emoji font has the clock face 1F557, it is also installed on my machine.

The csv file contains the clock face for specific cells -- I can see the symbols in the file when I open it. Encoding in the file is set at UTF-16 LM BOM.

I have changed the font in the template for those cells

I confirm that I can see the cell (which is empty at the moment) has the Noto Emoji font

I then re-export to PDF using Data Merge and nothing appears

Would anyone know how to get this symbol to appear?

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Community Expert ,
Apr 08, 2023 Apr 08, 2023

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Have you tried a simple experiment, just getting a row of that symbol to appear — new document, set base font to Noto Emoji, click in a row of that character using the Glyph panel, export? It would be worth seeing if the problem lies at that low of a level (system/ID just won't handle the character) or if it's something to do with your import and workflow instead.

 


╟ Word & InDesign to Kindle & EPUB: a Guide to Pro Results (Amazon) ╢

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Community Beginner ,
Apr 08, 2023 Apr 08, 2023

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I created a very simple csv that contains all clocks and tried mapping but it still doesn't render to the pdf. I attached the simple csv file with the Adobe InDesign IDML file, as well as screen shots to show that the font is available and I am able to insert into a simple text frame. Would appreciate if a "techie" can have a look and help me out ... please 🙂

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Community Expert ,
Apr 08, 2023 Apr 08, 2023

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No, go simpler than that. Just create a doc with that glyph in it, and see if it exports. No mapping, no import, nothing.

 

If that doesn't work the problem is not with your specific workflow. If it does, then working out how to get ID to map it correctly will be productive.

 


╟ Word & InDesign to Kindle & EPUB: a Guide to Pro Results (Amazon) ╢

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Community Beginner ,
Apr 09, 2023 Apr 09, 2023

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Hmmmm, 

I just created a new document and inserted the clocks from the Noto Emoji font. I can see the clocks displaying in the text frame. I then saved the template and exported as PDF print and the pdf if rendered BLANK. Should I be trying to find the unicode character from another font family perhaps?

I am super confused....

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Community Beginner ,
Apr 09, 2023 Apr 09, 2023

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opps meant to attached some screen shots -- you will see that the font and clocks are shown, not shown here is that the rendered version in pdf (done as File -> Export -> Save As -> Adobe PDF (print)

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Community Expert ,
Apr 09, 2023 Apr 09, 2023

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Continuing comment from the other thread — if you can't get the glyph to export on its own, no combination of modifying your workflow with the CSV import etc. is going to fix the problem. The 'extreme' Unicode glyphs are not always well supported, even if they're properly defined and using a font that contains them. If a simple ID doc with the correct font and the glyph showing won't export... I'd suspect this is not a trivial problem that can be easily fixed.

 

I again think it's maybe time to rework the spreadsheet/import to use more standard characters, or even create an image file from the glyph (in Illustrator or Photoshop, perhaps) rather than keep trying to make it work as a fragile chain of typography.

 


╟ Word & InDesign to Kindle & EPUB: a Guide to Pro Results (Amazon) ╢

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Community Expert ,
Apr 09, 2023 Apr 09, 2023

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...and that said, I just downloaded Symbola, inserted the 8:30 glyph into a new doc, and exported it to PDF without issue. It is, however, the simple black and white glyph, not the multicolor one.

 


╟ Word & InDesign to Kindle & EPUB: a Guide to Pro Results (Amazon) ╢

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Community Beginner ,
Apr 09, 2023 Apr 09, 2023

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Yes, I agree. The Symbola font did print out when doing my simple test but it is not printing when using the Data Merge option. Did you happen to try that one out as well? It would be interesting to hear if you did get the same result.

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Community Beginner ,
Apr 09, 2023 Apr 09, 2023

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Thanks James, that is very sound advice that I am going to have to hang my hat up and agree with. 🙂

 

I did find a solution that worked for a different symbol but I am definitely giving up on 

CLOCK FACE EIGHT OCLOCK - U1F557

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