Font Issues Mac OS X

users
#1

I've searched but none of the threads I can find seem to exactly cover my problem and various possible fixes about verifying the fonts are installed correctly haven't helped.

Some fonts on my system suddenly become unavailable to LO. It happens in Calc and Writer.

A typical symptom is that a spreadsheet I have that has been running fine for years and uses say Geneva font size 10 will suddenly be unreadable. All the cells will be blank and the font name is blank on the font drop down list. I can usually get it fixed by quitting LO and re-opening but sometimes it takes several tries.

In writer I can get a document and it also appears blank. again, the fonts are installed correctly and in all cases they work just fine under MS Office with no changes.

Related is that in Calc if I click the upper left blank corner to select the entire sheet, and change the font I cannot change the size of the font. I've had cases where within a single cell, due to cut past issues, I end up with text in 2 or more font sizes. I want to be able to just reset the entire sheet to my preferred font and size. I can change the font but not the size that way even though it appears to be working it doesn't actually change the font.

And finally no matter what I do the help file is blank when I open it up. I believe it's a related font issue but cannot seem to fix it.

OS X 10.6.8
LibreOffice 3.5.6.2
Build ID: e0fbe70-dcba98b-297ab39-994e618-0f858f0

Eugenie (Oogie) McGuire
Desert Weyr http://www.desertweyr.com/
Paonia, CO USA

#2

Hi Oogie,

Some fonts on my system suddenly become unavailable to LO. It happens in Calc and Writer.

This has been known to happen, I've seen it with Writer, but don't
recall it happening with Calc (yet), possibly because I wasn't using one
of the affected fonts in that sheet.

And finally no matter what I do the help file is blank when I open it up. I believe it's a related font issue but cannot seem to fix it.

Which fonts is LO configured to use for the basic display of the
application ? In Preferences, there should be something that lets you
set the default font, and possibly a substitute font for rendering if
the initial one isn't there ?

Failing that, I would suggest moving/deleting your LO-user profile (make
sure LO isn't running first), and then letting LO create a new one when
you restart, to see if that helps at all.

Alex

#3

No preferences for a default font, only the option to set up a font substitution table. Which is empty in the way the system is installed initially. No Idea how to even start setting it to work. .

I've also run the font book app and verified that all fonts are ok and there are no duplicates.

I have already tried deleting my user profile but that doesn't help.

Hi Oogie,

And finally no matter what I do the help file is blank when I open it up. I believe it's a related font issue but cannot seem to fix it.

Which fonts is LO configured to use for the basic display of the
application ? In Preferences, there should be something that lets you
set the default font, and possibly a substitute font for rendering if
the initial one isn't there ?

Failing that, I would suggest moving/deleting your LO-user profile (make
sure LO isn't running first), and then letting LO create a new one when
you restart, to see if that helps at all.

Alex

Eugenie (Oogie) McGuire
Desert Weyr http://www.desertweyr.com/
Paonia, CO USA

#4

Hi.
In my mac I see the font file for Geneva is .dfont. For arial (and the others I use) I have a .ttf. (I think I deleted the mac arial and added the ttf because the mac arial threw my spacing out on documents with arial). Don't know if it makes a difference, also tried a document in Geneva and it seems ok so far.
steve

#5

Something to try: open Wrtier with a blank document ("Untitled"). Use this key combination: Command+T. This opens the Styles and Formatting window. The list you see are the paragraphs styles. Locate Default in that list. Then Control+Click Default and select Modify from the context menu. Click the Font tab. This has three lists: Family, the Typeface, and the font sizes. See if you can change what you need here.
      If you open Calc and use these same key combinations, you should be able to do the same thing.
      Another key combination to use with Writer open: Command+, (Command key and comma). This opens Preference. Look at LibreOffice Writer -> Basic Fonts Western. There you can set the font that you want to use for LibreOffice and the font sizes for specific categories.
      If I had my choice, I would use the Styles and Formatting window for changing fonts and their sizes. I have been doing this on my Mac for the past 4 years with no problems with originally OpenOffice.org and lately LibreOffice.

--Dan

#6

I have tried with both the default set by restoring to defaults which has Times as the main font in writer and Arial for Calc and also setting my default fonts to something else. I've modified preferences and also restored them to defaults

Doesn't matter what I do I still have the problem where periodically documents that were perfectly fine the last time I opened them, will suddenly have invisible fonts. When it happens the drop down menu of fonts has a blank line where that font name should be.

No rhyme or reason for why or when the problem crops up.

Nothing I've tried fixes the help file problem. It's always totally blank no matter what I do. Makes it impossible to get any help if I can't read it.

Something to try: open Wrtier with a blank document ("Untitled"). Use this key combination: Command+T. This opens the Styles and Formatting window. The list you see are the paragraphs styles. Locate Default in that list. Then Control+Click Default and select Modify from the context menu. Click the Font tab. This has three lists: Family, the Typeface, and the font sizes. See if you can change what you need here.
    If you open Calc and use these same key combinations, you should be able to do the same thing.
    Another key combination to use with Writer open: Command+, (Command key and comma). This opens Preference. Look at LibreOffice Writer -> Basic Fonts Western. There you can set the font that you want to use for LibreOffice and the font sizes for specific categories.
    If I had my choice, I would use the Styles and Formatting window for changing fonts and their sizes. I have been doing this on my Mac for the past 4 years with no problems with originally OpenOffice.org and lately LibreOffice.

Eugenie (Oogie) McGuire
Desert Weyr http://www.desertweyr.com/
Paonia, CO USA

#7

You are using 3.5.6. Since that time, 3.5.7 was issued to fix a bug but I don't remember why right now. 3.5.7 might not have that problem. Also the newest release is 3.6.3 with 3.6.4 coming soon. 3.6.3 might also not have this problem.
      I agree that this can be frustrating. I do seem to remember of your problem with help some time in the past, but I don't remember what the problem was. I'm not even sure how to even search for it on the Internet. Sorry.

--Dan

#8

I have OSX 10.6.8 and LO 3.5.4.2 and have not had these problems.
Did you want to try removing your LO and installing another version.
Steve

#9

I just checked for updates and Libre Office reports that my system is up to date.

However I went out to the LO site and found the newer rev. SO I downloaded it and installed and ran into the exact same problem today with fonts missing from files that were fine yesterday.

Also that did not fix the help file problem at all.

Would there be any place or way to send the screen shots and would they be helpful?

You are using 3.5.6. Since that time, 3.5.7 was issued to fix a bug but I don't remember why right now. 3.5.7 might not have that problem. Also the newest release is 3.6.3 with 3.6.4 coming soon. 3.6.3 might also not have this problem.

Eugenie (Oogie) McGuire
Desert Weyr http://www.desertweyr.com/
Paonia, CO USA

#10

Hi.
What about trying backwards, say a 3.5.4 version. Do you know if the problem existed then.
steve

#11

OK Had a chance to test going backwards and yes the problem exists in the older versions as well.

What about trying backwards, say a 3.5.4 version. Do you know if the problem existed then.
steve

Eugenie (Oogie) McGuire
Desert Weyr http://www.desertweyr.com/
Paonia, CO USA