Drop-down font list corrupted

[Augie Dawg]

I've spent the better part of the day trying to fix this: in all Office
2003 applications I have installed, the font selection mechanism is "broke".
I first noticed this behaviour last week; prior to that, it was fine, and
for the life of me I can't think of a thing that has changed in my
configuration. The drop-down list for font selection is showing an
incomplete list of fonts, eg. Arial is shown, but not Arial Narrow, though
it's listed in the Fonts folder. In many, but not all, cases, selecting a
font will bring up another font, usually not found on the drop-down list but
found in the Fonts folder. A few fonts (Arial, Times New Roman) work fine,
but the majority don't.

Thus far, I have:

1. Done an in-place repair of Windows XP, then applied all Updates.

2. Moved all fonts that would move out of the Fonts folder, then deleted the
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Fonts key
and created a new, empty Fonts key in the registry. I then went to the
Fonts folder and used Install New Font to load up the XP system fonts, which
I had freshly Expanded from the XP installation disk.

The bad font behavior continues after these attempts to "clean up" the fonts
on my system. I then tried using other non-Office applications, and they
all select and render fonts perfectly.

Any ideas on how to rectify this situation? I guess my next tact will be to
deinstall and reinstall Office 2003 apps, unless someone has another idea...

Thanks,
A.D.

[Character]

Post by Augie Dawg
I've spent the better part of the day trying to fix this: in all Office
2003 applications I have installed, the font selection mechanism is "broke".
I first noticed this behaviour last week; prior to that, it was fine, and
for the life of me I can't think of a thing that has changed in my
configuration. The drop-down list for font selection is showing an
incomplete list of fonts, eg. Arial is shown, but not Arial Narrow, though
it's listed in the Fonts folder. In many, but not all, cases, selecting a
font will bring up another font, usually not found on the drop-down list but
found in the Fonts folder. A few fonts (Arial, Times New Roman) work fine,
but the majority don't.
1. Done an in-place repair of Windows XP, then applied all Updates.
2. Moved all fonts that would move out of the Fonts folder, then deleted the
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Fonts key
and created a new, empty Fonts key in the registry. I then went to the
Fonts folder and used Install New Font to load up the XP system fonts, which
I had freshly Expanded from the XP installation disk.
The bad font behavior continues after these attempts to "clean up" the fonts
on my system. I then tried using other non-Office applications, and they
all select and render fonts perfectly.
Any ideas on how to rectify this situation? I guess my next tact will be to
deinstall and reinstall Office 2003 apps, unless someone has another idea...
Thanks,
A.D.

Make some printer the default printer other than the "generic"
printer. MS Office ONLY displays fonts that are available for the
default printer.

- Character

[Augie Dawg]

Post by Augie Dawg
I've spent the better part of the day trying to fix this: in all Office
2003 applications I have installed, the font selection mechanism is
"broke". I first noticed this behaviour last week; prior to that, it was
fine, and for the life of me I can't think of a thing that has changed in
my configuration. The drop-down list for font selection is showing an
incomplete list of fonts, eg. Arial is shown, but not Arial Narrow,
though it's listed in the Fonts folder. In many, but not all, cases,
selecting a font will bring up another font, usually not found on the
drop-down list but found in the Fonts folder. A few fonts (Arial, Times
New Roman) work fine, but the majority don't.
1. Done an in-place repair of Windows XP, then applied all Updates.
2. Moved all fonts that would move out of the Fonts folder, then deleted
the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Fonts
key and created a new, empty Fonts key in the registry. I then went to
the Fonts folder and used Install New Font to load up the XP system
fonts, which I had freshly Expanded from the XP installation disk.
The bad font behavior continues after these attempts to "clean up" the
fonts on my system. I then tried using other non-Office applications,
and they all select and render fonts perfectly.
Any ideas on how to rectify this situation? I guess my next tact will be
to deinstall and reinstall Office 2003 apps, unless someone has another
idea...
Thanks,
A.D.

Make some printer the default printer other than the "generic" printer.
MS Office ONLY displays fonts that are available for the default printer.
- Character

I also tried changing the default printer, same problem. The problem is
twofold: the wrong font is selected when clicking on a font name in the
drop-down, and many fonts are not displayed. Any other ideas? Is there a
cache I can flush where font info for Office applications is kept?

A.D.

[Character]

Post by Augie Dawg
I also tried changing the default printer, same problem. The problem is
twofold: the wrong font is selected when clicking on a font name in the
drop-down, and many fonts are not displayed. Any other ideas? Is there a
cache I can flush where font info for Office applications is kept?
A.D.

Most font problems of this type are system-wide; with the exception of
the printer association, I don't know of any that are unique to MS
Office apps.

Can you roll back your system to a point before the problem appeared?
(start / programs / accessories / system tools / system restore)? That
usually(!) doesn't hurt anything and often cures problems that appear
out of nowhere.

The "Repair Fonts Folder" function of TWEAKUI, free from Microsoft at
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx
might help;

If it doesn't, there are some more detailed fixes at
http://www.jgoffin.freeserve.co.uk/abf/trouble.htm#1
Most of that site is based on Windows 98, but except for the reference
to ttfcache (which I don't think exists in XP) it's all valid.

Even deeper, there are some manual registry fixes available as a last
resort.

[Augie Dawg]

A system restore is out of the question now, as I've installed a few things
since I first saw the problem (won't do that again!). I've tried the
"Repair Fonts Folder", but I believe that only addresse the situation when
the Fonts folder loses its special behavior.

The fixes on the site you recommended don't apply to my problem, so I guess
I'm ready to attack the registry. I did a "Detect and Repair" on the entire
Office 2003 suite, and while I can now see some fonts I hadn't seen before
(like Arial Narrow, which I use a lot), selecting them still brings up a
different font than I clicked on, one that is close in the font list, but
still not the correct one. I'm a seasoned registry editor, so please advise
on the keys I should be looking at.

Thanks,
A.D.

Post by Augie Dawg
I also tried changing the default printer, same problem. The problem is
twofold: the wrong font is selected when clicking on a font name in the
drop-down, and many fonts are not displayed. Any other ideas? Is there
a cache I can flush where font info for Office applications is kept?
A.D.

Most font problems of this type are system-wide; with the exception of the
printer association, I don't know of any that are unique to MS Office
apps.
Can you roll back your system to a point before the problem appeared?
(start / programs / accessories / system tools / system restore)? That
usually(!) doesn't hurt anything and often cures problems that appear out
of nowhere.
The "Repair Fonts Folder" function of TWEAKUI, free from Microsoft at
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx
might help;
If it doesn't, there are some more detailed fixes at
http://www.jgoffin.freeserve.co.uk/abf/trouble.htm#1
Most of that site is based on Windows 98, but except for the reference to
ttfcache (which I don't think exists in XP) it's all valid.
Even deeper, there are some manual registry fixes available as a last
resort.

[Character]

Post by Augie Dawg
A system restore is out of the question now, as I've installed a few things
since I first saw the problem (won't do that again!). I've tried the
"Repair Fonts Folder", but I believe that only addresse the situation when
the Fonts folder loses its special behavior.
The fixes on the site you recommended don't apply to my problem, so I guess
I'm ready to attack the registry. I did a "Detect and Repair" on the entire
Office 2003 suite, and while I can now see some fonts I hadn't seen before
(like Arial Narrow, which I use a lot), selecting them still brings up a
different font than I clicked on, one that is close in the font list, but
still not the correct one. I'm a seasoned registry editor, so please advise
on the keys I should be looking at.
Thanks,
A.D.

This is one of the "master keys" for Truetype fonts. It relates thef
file names to the font names and types.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Fonts

And this for Type 1:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Type 1
Installer\Type 1 Fonts

(I'm using ATM. I'm not sure, but I think this key is used with or
without ATM. Otherwise, the T1 fonts might be in the same key as
Truetypes.)



If you have multiple fonts with the same FONT name (whether in the
same format or not), you WILL have problems.




A brute force method.

Copy ALL your font files to a backup area.
Copy that backup area to a second backup. (Can't be too safe - there
have been instances where XP deleted the copies when a font was
deleted from \windows\fonts!)

Make sure that they got there! (OK, I'm paranoid)

Delete all the ttf fonts (not with a DOS command) from Windows/Fonts
Reinstall them.

Also:

Check these, too. Unlikely as a cause for major error, but ... :
The Font Substitute settings are stored in the following registry key:
HKLM/software/Microsoft/WindowsNT/CurrentVersion/FontSubstitutes/


Sure would be nice if this could get resolved. Does anybody else have
any additional ideas??

- Character

Post by Augie Dawg

Post by Augie Dawg
I also tried changing the default printer, same problem. The problem is
twofold: the wrong font is selected when clicking on a font name in the
drop-down, and many fonts are not displayed. Any other ideas? Is there
a cache I can flush where font info for Office applications is kept?
A.D.

Most font problems of this type are system-wide; with the exception of the
printer association, I don't know of any that are unique to MS Office
apps.
Can you roll back your system to a point before the problem appeared?
(start / programs / accessories / system tools / system restore)? That
usually(!) doesn't hurt anything and often cures problems that appear out
of nowhere.
The "Repair Fonts Folder" function of TWEAKUI, free from Microsoft at
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx
might help;
If it doesn't, there are some more detailed fixes at
http://www.jgoffin.freeserve.co.uk/abf/trouble.htm#1
Most of that site is based on Windows 98, but except for the reference to
ttfcache (which I don't think exists in XP) it's all valid.
Even deeper, there are some manual registry fixes available as a last
resort.

[Tom Ferguson]

Try deleting the printer from Start Printers and faxes. Also check the
printer maker's website for any utility to remove printer drivers or
"clean up" afdter printer driver removal. Then reboot and install the
printer adain. Use the latest driver from the maker's web site.

Let us know.

Tom
MAMVP
Windows Shell/User


"Augie Dawg" <***@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:GTftg.64051$***@newssvr12.news.prodigy.com...
: I've spent the better part of the day trying to fix this: in all
Office
: 2003 applications I have installed, the font selection mechanism is
"broke".
: I first noticed this behaviour last week; prior to that, it was fine,
and
: for the life of me I can't think of a thing that has changed in my
: configuration. The drop-down list for font selection is showing an
: incomplete list of fonts, eg. Arial is shown, but not Arial Narrow,
though
: it's listed in the Fonts folder. In many, but not all, cases,
selecting a
: font will bring up another font, usually not found on the drop-down
list but
: found in the Fonts folder. A few fonts (Arial, Times New Roman) work
fine,
: but the majority don't.
:
: Thus far, I have:
:
: 1. Done an in-place repair of Windows XP, then applied all Updates.
:
: 2. Moved all fonts that would move out of the Fonts folder, then
deleted the
: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Fonts
key
: and created a new, empty Fonts key in the registry. I then went to
the
: Fonts folder and used Install New Font to load up the XP system fonts,
which
: I had freshly Expanded from the XP installation disk.
:
: The bad font behavior continues after these attempts to "clean up" the
fonts
: on my system. I then tried using other non-Office applications, and
they
: all select and render fonts perfectly.
:
: Any ideas on how to rectify this situation? I guess my next tact will
be to
: deinstall and reinstall Office 2003 apps, unless someone has another
idea...
:
: Thanks,
: A.D.
:
:
: