PSS ID Number: 259319
Article Last Modified on 7/11/2003
The information in this article applies to:
- Microsoft Word 2000
This article was previously published under Q259319
SUMMARY
This is part 1 of a three-part article that discusses general information and troubleshooting steps for working with fonts in Microsoft Word 2000.
For additional information about the other parts of this article, click the article numbers below to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
259432 WD2000: Fonts - Part 2: General Information and Troubleshooting
259583 WD2000: Fonts - Part 3: General Information and Troubleshooting
Topics Covered in Part 1:
NOTE: As an alternative, you can use the Microsoft Word 2000 Font Troubleshooter on the Web, at the following Microsoft Web site:
MORE INFORMATION
Fonts Overview
A font is a graphic design that is applied to a collection of numbers, symbols, and characters. A font describes a certain typeface, along with other qualities such as size, spacing, and pitch. Fonts are used to display text on the screen and to print text. Fonts have font styles such as italic, bold, and bold italic.
Outline Fonts
TrueType and the new OpenType (Windows 2000) fonts are outline fonts that are rendered from line and curve commands. OpenType is an extension of TrueType. Both can be scaled and rotated. Both look good in all sizes and on all output devices that are supported by Windows.
Printer Fonts
Most programs that support printing allow you to choose among different fonts. Printers that offer the widest assortment of fonts include laser, ink-jet, and dot-matrix printers. They support a fixed set of resident fonts that you can expand by installing font cartridges or loading fonts from software.
Internal fonts (resident fonts) are used most often by laser, dot-matrix, and ink-jet printers. Pre-loaded into the printer's memory (ROM), internal fonts are always available for printing. Cartridge fonts are stored in a cartridge or a card that plugs into the printer.
Downloadable fonts are sets of characters that are sent from the computer to a printer's memory when the fonts are needed for printing. Also called soft fonts, downloadable fonts are used most often with laser printers and other page printers, although some dot-matrix printers also can use them. Clients that use downloadable fonts and that print to Windows print servers should have these fonts installed locally to increase the printing speed.
For each document that you print, Windows may need to send the required screen and downloadable fonts to the printer. To improve printing times, use fonts that do not need to be downloaded (such as internal fonts or cartridge fonts). Some printers have the ability to keep a list of downloadable fonts. If your printer supports this, turn on the feature to increase printing speed. Not all printers can use all three types of fonts. Pen plotters, for example, cannot normally use downloadable fonts. For more information about the types of fonts you can use, see your printer's operating manual.
Raster Fonts
These are fonts that are stored as bitmaps. Raster fonts are designed with a specific size and resolution for a specific printer and cannot be scaled or rotated. If a printer does not support raster fonts, it will not print them. The five raster fonts are Courier, MS Sans Serif, MS Serif, Small, and Symbol. Raster fonts are also called bit-mapped fonts.
Vector Fonts
This font is useful for devices such as pen plotters that cannot reproduce bitmaps. Characters are drawn in arrangements of line segments rather than patterns of dots and can be scaled to any size or aspect ratio. The three vector fonts are Modern, Roman, and Script.
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Troubleshooting Font Problems
Before You Troubleshoot Font Problems in Word
Before you begin troubleshooting font problems in Microsoft Word, review the following general topics:
- IMPORTANT: When you work with any version of Microsoft Windows, especially NT-based versions of Windows (Microsoft Windows NT 4.0, Microsoft Windows 2000, and Microsoft Windows XP), always make sure that you install the latest service release. Several font problems were corrected in service releases.
For more information about service releases for your version of Microsoft Windows, please refer to the following Web address:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ - The exact number of TrueType fonts that you can install varies, depending on the length of the TrueType font names and file names.
For additional information, click the article numbers below to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:131943 TrueType Font Limits in Windows 95/98
254766 Unable to Open or Print Fonts Correctly
- When you troubleshoot font problems in Microsoft Windows, you may need to turn off (disable) Adobe Type Manager (ATM) from Windows.
For additional information, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:69692 Disabling Adobe Type Manager from Windows
NOTE: If you have a different font manager program installed, you may need to turn off the program.
Back to Troubleshooting Font Problems
Basic Font Troubleshooting Steps
When you troubleshoot font problems in Microsoft Word, follow these basic steps:
- Which printer driver are you using? If you are using the generic/text only printer driver, a fax driver, or a similar driver as your default printer driver in Windows, this may be your problem.
To change the printer driver that Word uses, do one of the following:
- In Word, click Print on the File menu. In the Print dialog box, change the Name box to an installed printer.
For Windows XP, click Start, and then click Printers and Faxes to open the Printers and Faxes dialog box.
NOTE: Do not change the Name box to either the generic/text only printer driver or an installed fax driver.
-or- - Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Printers. In the Printers dialog box, right-click an installed printer, and then click Set as Default Printer on the shortcut menu that appears.
NOTE: Do not set the generic/text only printer driver or an installed fax driver as your default printer in Microsoft Windows.
- In Word, click Print on the File menu. In the Print dialog box, change the Name box to an installed printer.
- What happens in a new document? Create a new Word document based on your global template (Normal.dot).
To create a new document based on your global template, click New on the File menu. On the General tab, click to select Blank Document, and then click OK.
Based on what happens in the new document, do the following:
- In your new document, use a different font. If you have no problems using a different font, then you may have a problem with a specific font in Microsoft Windows. Continue troubleshooting by using the following steps.
- In your new document, use the font that you used in your original Word document. If the problem is resolved in a new Word document, you probably have a damaged document.
NOTE: If your problem document was created by using a different template (other than the Normal.dot template), then the problem document or the template that it was created from, or both, might be damaged.
For additional information about troubleshooting problems in a damaged document, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:211634 WD2000: Troubleshooting Damaged Documents
- In your new document, if the problem occurs with a specific font, try to use the font in a new WordPad document. To create a WordPad document, click the Start menu, point to Programs, point to Accessories, and then click WordPad.
If the problems that you experienced in Microsoft Word occur in the WordPad document, then the fonts are probably damaged. You probably need to remove and reinstall the problem font or fonts in Microsoft Windows. If you determine that the font is damaged, delete and reinstall the font.
To delete a font, follow these steps:
- Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
NOTE: For Windows XP, click Start and then click Control Panel. - Double-click Fonts.
- Click to select the font that you want to remove.
NOTE: To select more than one font, hold down CTRL and click to select each font you want to remove. - On the File menu, click Delete.
- Click Yes to the following message:
To reinstall the font, follow these steps:
- Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
NOTE: For Windows XP, click Start and then click Control Panel. - Double-click Fonts.
- In the Fonts dialog box, click Install New Font on the File menu.
- Change the Drives box to the drive that contains the font that you want to install.
- In the Folders box, double-click the folder that contains the font that you want to add.
- In List of fonts, click the font that you want to add, and then click OK.
NOTE: To add all of the listed fonts, click Select All, and then click OK.
For help with deleting or installing a font in Microsoft Windows, please contact either Microsoft Windows Technical Support or the vendor that supplies the font.
For more information about obtaining help with troubleshooting Microsoft Windows, click Help Topics on the Help menu in Windows Explorer. On the Contents tab, double-click to open the Troubleshooting book. Then double-click to open the Contact Microsoft Technical Support book to view your support options.
For information about how to contact your font vendor, click the appropriate article number in the following list to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: - Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
- What happens if you change the way that fonts are printed? You may need to change the way that your TrueType fonts are printed by using your specific printer driver. To do this, follow these steps:
NOTE: Because there are several versions of Microsoft Windows, the following steps may be different on your computer. If they are, see your product documentation to complete these steps.
- Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Printers.
NOTE: For Windows XP, click Start and then click Printers and Faxes. - Right-click your installed printer driver, and then click Properties on the shortcut menu that appears.
- On the Fonts tab, click to select either Print TrueType as graphics or Download TrueType fonts as soft fonts, and then click OK.
- Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Printers.
- What happens if you change the way that graphics are printed? You may need to change the way that graphics are printed using your specific printer driver, especially if you print TrueType fonts as graphics. To do this, follow these steps:
NOTE: Because there are several versions of Microsoft Windows, the following steps may be different on your computer. If they are, see your product documentation to complete these steps.
- Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Printers.
- Right-click your installed printer driver, and then click Properties on the shortcut menu that appears.
- On the Graphics tab, change the Graphics mode that you are using. To do this, do one of the following:
- If Use vector graphics is selected, click to select Use raster graphics.
-or- - If Use Raster graphics is selected, click to select Use vector graphics.
- If Use vector graphics is selected, click to select Use raster graphics.
- Click OK to close the Properties dialog box of your installed printer.
- What happens when you print your document at a lower printer resolution? You may need to print your document at a printer resolution that is different from what the printer normally prints. By default, most printers print at either 300 dpi (dots per inch) or 600 dpi. To determine whether the printer resolution is the problem, follow these steps:
NOTE: Because there are several versions of Microsoft Windows, the following steps may be different on your computer. If they are, see your product documentation to complete these steps.
- Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Printers.
- Right-click your installed printer driver, and then click Properties on the shortcut menu that appears.
- On the Graphics tab, change the Resolution box to a lower setting. For example, change the Resolution box to 150 dots per inch.
- Click OK to close the printer Properties dialog box.
- What happens when you print to a different printer? Your installed printer driver may not be able to correctly print your Word document with the font that you are using. To determine whether this is the problem, set a different printer as your default printer, and try to print your document.
If you can correctly print your Word document by using a different printer driver, either your original installed printer driver is damaged, or it cannot print the document correctly. To correct this problem, do one of the following:
- Remove and reinstall your original printer driver.
-or- - Download and install an updated printer driver for your printer.
-or- - Use a printer driver that is compatible with your printer.
For information about how to contact your printer manufacturer to obtain an updated or compatible printer driver, click the appropriate article number in the following list to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
- Remove and reinstall your original printer driver.
Back to Troubleshooting Font Problems
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To continue troubleshooting font problems in Microsoft Word, please see part 2 of this article.
For additional information, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
259432 WD2000: Fonts - Part 2: General Information and Troubleshooting
Additional query words: typeface fonts
Keywords: kbdta kbinfo wd2000 KB259319
Technology: kbWord2000 kbWord2000Search kbWordSearch kbZNotKeyword2
