Word auto-created a font substitution I can't get rid of

Thread view:

Enable EMail Alerts

Start New Thread

Thread rating:

Alison - 30 Nov 2007 02:11 GMT

Sometime in the last week, MS Word 2003 has decided that I don't have Arial
Bold on my computer and insists on substituting the Default font - which
means that my printed documents are screwed up.

The font is in the Font directory and if I'm logged in as Administrator,
there is no Font substitution at all - so as Administrator, the system
recognizes that the Font file exists.

I've "repaired" Word, I've reinstalled Word, I've uninstalled then
reinstalled Word, so far, nothing makes this go away.

Any suggestions?

(I'm running MS Office 2003, on XP Pro with SP 2. If it matters, the
computer is a P4, 3GHz with 1.46GB of RAM.)

Signature

Alison

Reply to this Message

Tom Ferguson - 30 Nov 2007 18:50 GMT

I am somewhat confused. In one place you say, "MS Word 2003 has decided that
I don't have Arial
Bold on my computer and insists on substituting the Default font " while in
another you say, "there is no Font substitution at all ". Please clarify.

Also, please use Windows Explorer or similar to look at the fonts directory.
Verify that Arial, Arial Bold, Arial Bold Italic, Arial Italic are present.
Please check the version number of each. Arial Black and the Arial Narrow
might also be present.

Let us know.

Tom
MSMVP 1998-2007

> Sometime in the last week, MS Word 2003 has decided that I don't have
> Arial
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
> (I'm running MS Office 2003, on XP Pro with SP 2. If it matters, the
> computer is a P4, 3GHz with 1.46GB of RAM.)

Reply to this Message

Alison - 30 Nov 2007 20:04 GMT

Yes it is confusing.

Using Control Panel, I verified that all the Arial fonts you listed (as well
as the Arial Narrow versions) are there.

I had already checked this as my first thought had been that the file was
corrupted, hence the substitution, but there was no change after IT copied in
a fresh version of the file - or after they did anything else. The date on
the copy now there is 08/04/2004.

The Administrator account has no font problems in Word at all. When logged
in as the Administator, when I open Word and check on Font Substitutions,
there are none - which is as it should be.

However, if I log out as Administrator and log back in as Alison, when I
open Word and check on Font Substitutions, it is substituting Arial Bold with
Default - which is not something I did (I don't use Font substitutions, ever)
and no one else uses my computer.

Somehow this problem seems to be connected to my user profile on the
computer and not to all user profiles.

As I said in my original post, everything was fine last week.

If any other information would be useful, just let me know.

Signature

Alison

> I am somewhat confused. In one place you say, "MS Word 2003 has decided that
> I don't have Arial
[quoted text clipped - 27 lines]
> > (I'm running MS Office 2003, on XP Pro with SP 2. If it matters, the
> > computer is a P4, 3GHz with 1.46GB of RAM.)

Reply to this Message

Tom Ferguson - 30 Nov 2007 21:35 GMT

Very curious, that behavior difference as between the administrator and
Alison account. Does the Alison account have administrator rights?

When you have clicked to get the Font substitution list and see Default
given for Arial Bold, if you click in the arrow, what are the choices that
appear on the list?

Tom
MSMVP 1998-2007

> Yes it is confusing.
>
[quoted text clipped - 63 lines]
>> > (I'm running MS Office 2003, on XP Pro with SP 2. If it matters, the
>> > computer is a P4, 3GHz with 1.46GB of RAM.)

Reply to this Message

Alison - 30 Nov 2007 22:02 GMT

The User Profile "Alison" has "Debugger User" rights, which I'm told is one
step below "Administrator" rights.

The drop-down menu for Font Substitutions has about 36 "pages" worth of font
choices (I'm guessing my entire set of installed fonts). As far as Arial
fonts are concerned, it lists: TT@Arial Unicode MS, TT Arial, TT Arial Black,
TT Arial Narrow, TT Arial Rounded MT Bold and TT Arial Unicode MS.

Signature

Alison

> Very curious, that behavior difference as between the administrator and
> Alison account. Does the Alison account have administrator rights?
[quoted text clipped - 73 lines]
> >> > (I'm running MS Office 2003, on XP Pro with SP 2. If it matters, the
> >> > computer is a P4, 3GHz with 1.46GB of RAM.)

Reply to this Message

Tom Ferguson - 01 Dec 2007 04:36 GMT

OK. Interesting. Now, when you navigate to Control Panel Fonts, select
detail view so you can see the file names in addition to the font names, do
you see arial.ttf, arialbd.ttf, arialbi.ttf and ariali.ttf? There might also
be others.

Tom
MSMVP 1998-2007

> The User Profile "Alison" has "Debugger User" rights, which I'm told is
> one
[quoted text clipped - 98 lines]
>> >> > (I'm running MS Office 2003, on XP Pro with SP 2. If it matters, the
>> >> > computer is a P4, 3GHz with 1.46GB of RAM.)

Reply to this Message

Alison - 03 Dec 2007 18:26 GMT

I actually viewed them the Control Panel in the first place and yes, the fine
names are there.

Signature

Alison

> OK. Interesting. Now, when you navigate to Control Panel Fonts, select
> detail view so you can see the file names in addition to the font names, do
[quoted text clipped - 106 lines]
> >> >> > (I'm running MS Office 2003, on XP Pro with SP 2. If it matters, the
> >> >> > computer is a P4, 3GHz with 1.46GB of RAM.)

Reply to this Message

Tom Ferguson - 01 Dec 2007 05:05 GMT

Did you try creating a new user on the system with Administrator rights and
check fonts, &c for that user?

Did you check System Restore to see if you have a restore point available
for a date before the problem started?

Tom
MSMVP 1998-2007

Reply to this Message

Alison - 03 Dec 2007 18:30 GMT

We haven't created a New User yet (we were hoping to find a solution that
didn't necessitate going that far), but we have done a System Restore, which
didn't help.

We also set my privileges to Administrator and there was no change.

Signature

Alison

> Did you try creating a new user on the system with Administrator rights and
> check fonts, &c for that user?
[quoted text clipped - 107 lines]
> >> >> > (I'm running MS Office 2003, on XP Pro with SP 2. If it matters, the
> >> >> > computer is a P4, 3GHz with 1.46GB of RAM.)

Reply to this Message

Tom Ferguson - 03 Dec 2007 18:41 GMT

Creating a new user is a reversible change-the user can be deleted when it
has served its propose. It was suggested for testing purposes.

I am now out of ideas to suggest. I will check a few other
sources/possibilities and get back to you if I find anything potentially
useful.

Tom
MSMVP 1998-2007

> We haven't created a New User yet (we were hoping to find a solution that
> didn't necessitate going that far), but we have done a System Restore,
[quoted text clipped - 126 lines]
>> >> >> > the
>> >> >> > computer is a P4, 3GHz with 1.46GB of RAM.)

Reply to this Message

Character - 30 Nov 2007 22:36 GMT

Tom - What do you think about suggesting trying

a) Doing a TweakUI Font Folder Repair
b) Deleting the Font Cache (can it still be done under XP?)

- Character

> Very curious, that behavior difference as between the administrator and
> Alison account. Does the Alison account have administrator rights?
[quoted text clipped - 79 lines]
>>> >
>>> > -- > Alison

Reply to this Message

Tom Ferguson - 01 Dec 2007 05:05 GMT

I am not sure what Tweak UI is capable of doing in the Windows XP version.
(Stan Takemoto and others first developed Tweak User Interface to extend
user's ability to adjust the Windows 95 interface. There is no MS version
for XP 64 bit, which is the only pre Vista Windows version I still use.)
However, the font folder still has to have its hidden and system bits turned
on to function as intended. That is what the Tweak UI font folder repair
did. To delete ttfcache in Windows 9x systems, one could simply start the
system in safe mode; wait until it was all loaded and running; restart in
regular mode. Also, one could drop to a command prompt and use DOS commands
to delete it; exit the command prompt; restart the system. Ttfcache would be
rebuilt. However, Windows XP and Vista use the registry to keep the data
that was kept in the more fragile ttfcache file of 9x and earlier Windows
systems.

Tom
MSMVP 1998-2007

> Tom - What do you think about suggesting trying
>
[quoted text clipped - 89 lines]
>>>> >
>>>> > -- > Alison

Reply to this Message