Coping with missing fonts


A co-worker has sent you a Word document by e-mail. When you open it, some of the fonts look very strange, making you think somebody's flipped their formatting lid. Don't send for the shrink ù your colleague has simply used a font not installed on your computer. When this happens, Word takes its best guess and substitutes a default font for the missing one. Fortunately, replacing this substitute is a snap in all versions of Word. Here's what to do:

1. Select Tools-Options and click the Compatibility tab in the Options dialogue box.

2. Click Font Substitution. If Word has encountered any fonts it doesn't have, it provides you with a Font Substitution dialogue box that lists them and the substitutions it has chosen.

Caption: Replace Word's default substitute fonts with your choice from this dialogue box

3. To change a substitution, select a Missing Document Font from the list.

4. Drop down the Substituted Font list and choose a suitable replacement font.

5. To replace any other substituted fonts, repeat steps 3 and 4 as necessary.

6. Click OK to temporarily apply the substitutions to the current document, or click Convert Permanently to replace the fonts permanently in the document.

7. Click OK in the Options dialogue box to complete the substitutions.

- George Campbell


Category:word processing
Issue: August 1999

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