Font Appearing as Gibberish!

[feliciam56741925]

Hello all,

I'm totally stumped by this one. I'm working on an inherited catalog document in Indd CC 2019. When I open this packaged indd file which resides on my companies server the font Helvetica Neue Bold appears as it should. If I create a new copy of this document (to make changes to) on my desktop then all instances of Helvetica Neue Bold appear as random letters and symbols. See the example below:

Other observations: I do not receive any errors or indication that there's something wrong with the document, I just can visually see that there's an issue. I can create a new document and utilize that font all I want but if I copy the text over into the existing document it changes to gibberish. We do utilize a font manager and I have cleared the font cache both manually and through the font manager.

Any other suggestions on what might be causing this issue?

[Steve Werner]

Here's a guess:

You say that the original copy on the server is a packaged INDD file. When the file is packaged, the fonts are included, and when you open the file, by default InDesign will try to open the fonts in the package even if they are also may be located somewhere else on your computer.

When you make a copy of the file it doesn't refer to the packaged fonts, it needs to have the fonts installed on your computer in a location your OS supports (you didn't say what operating system you're running). Your computer may have a different version of that  font installed which is corrupted and needs to be replaced. Or you may need to copy the fonts from the package onto your computer and install them.

Make an entirely new document with that named font on your computer and let us know if it works, or if it looks corrupted. Or try installing the font on your computer and opening the file locally.

[feliciam56741925]

Thank you for the response! I can make an entirely new document with that exact font on my computer. It displays without any issues.

If I copy the text out of the new document and paste it into the existing document (with the font issue) then the font will automatically translate into the gibberish. This works vice versa as well, I can copy out the corrupt text and paste it into the new document and it automatically displays correctly.

Edit: I will note that the corrupt file has the problematic font listed under "document fonts" while, if I make a new document, it is not listed as "document font". I don't know if this is important but it's the only difference I see. Not sure how I can change the font from a document font into a system font...

[Steve Werner · Accepted solution]

"Document fonts" means that it's trying to get the font from the package.

Make sure the good font is installed on your computer (which you can see if it's in a new document created on your local drive).

Then do a File > Save As of the old document and put the copy of the document in a new location on your computer. Open up the document. If the font is missing, using Type > Font Font to replace with the good copy of the font you have on your computer if you need to.

Good luck. I have to sign off for tonight. Getting up early tomorrow.

[feliciam56741925]

That fixed the issue Steve!!! Thank you!! I saved the file in a new location without packaging it and when I opened the document the fonts are all correct. They were not even missing. I'm hoping I'll be able to relink and then package the file again, this time maybe the error will be fixed.

This has occurred before, any idea why this is happening? I do not receive an error so I'm always paranoid I'm missing some gibberish text hidden within documents, hoping to find a way to resolve this permanently. Is there a corrupt version of the font in the old packaged files that it keeps trying to read?

Have a great night, thank you again for the help, I really appreciate it.

[999ducatista]

Wow...after searching all over the web I came across your response here....you saved my bacon!! I was literally tearing my hair out trying to resolve a similar issue and thought it was conflicting versions of the same font (again Helvetica Neue...too many versions out there!). I Saved As onto my desktop and reopened outside any associated packaged version, and voila! Problem eliminated. Thank you thank you thank you! I only wish I had found your answer before I had to eat a couple hours of design quote time trying to figure it out!

[korte.z]

This was so helpful, thank you for taking time to respond. I had the same problem and simply swapping out the font file with a new one, same folder structure too, and it cleared it right up!

[Jeffrey_Smith]

Are the blue blocks created as vector graphics and the other text set within Indesign?

[jacob5CEE]

Hello Steve, I am have trouble and getting extremely frustrated with this exact font problem, and even with your instructions here I still did not fix the issue and/or I am not doing it incorrectly and wanted to know if you can elaborate more on what I should do. I have searched all the internet and still have not fixed this issue for weeks. Is there any way I can reach out to you to personally help me? I am willing to pay. Thanks

[Steve Werner]

@jacob5CEE 

I don't have the time to answer individual messages (and I'm in holiday mode so I'm not working for a few weeks).

You're replying to an existing thread. You situation may be in some ways different from the original poster. Go back to the InDesign forum level. Click the blue buttom at the upper right: "Post to Community".

This begins a new post. Post as thorough a description of your problem as you can. Be sure to tell us exactly what version of InDesign you use. Please tell us exactly what operating system. If it's a font-related issue, be sure to tell us exactly what font you're having a problem. Choose Type > Find Font [older versions of InDesign] or Type > Find/Replace Font to show the font list in your document and make a screen capture to upload.

It's really better to get the input from different users on this forum. And I'm not always here to see what is posted.

Good luck!