Fonts unavailable in FrameMaker

Roger,
Let's see if you can see this reply from me...

I must admit I have some difficulties following your problem description.
You say you could create PDFs without problems even after your system's
default printer was changed. This means that the problem is not related
to your default printer setting or to FrameMaker.
Now you say that changing the default printer to Adobe PDF solves the
problem that resurfaced yesterday. This doesn't make sense, and
indicates that the problem is somewhere else in your network or setup.

I'm sure you're frustrated, but you have to go about this systematically
to find the basic problem. I would start with the actual fonts.
You say that FM reports problems with 2 fonts, Courier and your own.
First check with IT if any of these fonts have been reinstalled,
perhaps as part of a system update of some kind in your company.
Next, check the actual font files on all affected systems (type, size,
dates). If they're not identical, or you have some kind of duplicate
of these fonts installed, then re-install both fonts completely on all
systems, using the exact same copy of the font files. You can have both
Courier and Courier New installed, but not "Courier" in both TrueType
and Type 1 variants, for instance.

If this doesn't solve the problem, try and copy the FM files from the
network drive to your local hard drive and open these files.

Next, check if changing the default printer before opening the FM
files make any difference. If it does, or if the results are different
for different users, you do have a printer driver problem. I would then
delete and completely reinstall the printers on all systems.

A few other comments:
> The problems restarted this morning, so it is something that someone
> is running during the day that stops it reading those fonts.

That's highly unlikely, since that "something" would have to affect
your own computer's handling of fonts or printers. The only thing I
know of that would do this is known as a "virus" or "trojan horse"...
More likely, something has changed on your system/network (see my
initial reply).

> I'm not sure whether we use Adobe Type Manager, it's not in my list
> of Program Files. (If that is where I should be looking for it.)

Forget about ATM, it's completely irrevelant to Windows XP.

Finally, FM *is* more sensitive to font problems than Word, or rather,
FM reports the problems instead of ignoring or hiding them. People
may think that the "Word way" is better, but you can be assured that
the font problems that do exist will eventually come back and bite
you even harder, if you don't fix them now.

--
/Thomas Michanek

Thanks, that's a great deal of good helpful advice.

Yes, you're right, we only have Courier New and Courier 10, 12, 15. Where we got, if we ever had, another form of Courier, I don't know. Courier New sounds like a good option.

By "bespoke font" I mean one that someone made specially for us. I had nothing to do with it, and it was before my time, although to comply with house styles I have to use it occasionally. It is a Type 1 font, according to the Properties dialog for it in Windows XP, and it's in the C:\WINDOWS\Fonts file.

Okay, I'll look at SetPrint, and then suggest to people here that we use it. Sounds like a good idea, since we mainly give out online PDFs rather than physically printing manuals.

I'm 101%+ with you on Word vs Frame, as are the other people here with the most experience, as well as for going to structured documentation, which is another topic all together. Word has its fanatics here that I hear from all day long. Thanks for the help.

Roger,

I am sure you already know this, but if you have to print a manual, you can always print it from the PDF. Doing so avoids any problems with fonts on different printers being a little different. All our manuals are printed, and we send only PDFs to the printer.

Van

> Yes, you're right, we only have Courier New and Courier 10, 12, 15.

Now we're getting somewhere. Courier is not installed. Copy it from
another machine and install it. The filenames for Type 1 Adobe Courier
regular, oblique, bold, and bold oblique are:

com_____.pfb
com_____.pfm
coo_____.pfb
coo_____.pfm
cob_____.pfb
cob_____.pfm
cobo____.pfb
cobo____.pfm

In fact, I have a feeling you have these somewhere on *your* machine;
they should have come with Acrobat. They're just not installed right
now. Again, I don't know for sure whether this is the version of Courier
Frame is looking for, but it would be my first choice.

> By "bespoke font" I mean one that someone made specially for us. I
> had nothing to do with it, and it was before my time, although to
> comply with house styles I have to use it occasionally. It is a Type
> 1 font, according to the Properties dialog for it in Windows XP, and
> it's in the C:\WINDOWS\Fonts file.

So what do your custom-made fonts have to do with the missing Courier?
If you're seeing them in Control Panel > Fonts, then they're installed.
If they're installed, then they should be showing up in Frame. Right?

--
Kenneth Benson
Pegasus Type, Inc.
www.pegtype.com

Being able to see and use Courier 10, 12, and 15 is indicative of having something fishy on your printer setup. It's almost certain they're VGA fonts and sizes that are installed with Windows or possibly with some older line printers. As far as I know they were only meant for use as screen fonts in DOS apps. Here's a list for WinXP: <http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=326402>

Notice that it calls the ".fon" fonts hidden fonts.

do you have files called "coure.fon or courf.fon" on your system(s)?

Ken -- if I'm reading his msg correctly, Roger means that they've had a customized version of Courier created for them, "bespoke font"

Sheila,

I don't think he can see and use his VGA fonts. I told him to look in
Control Panel > Fonts, and he should see only VGA Courier and Courier
New, and that turned out to be true.

I don't know what Courier he's seeing in Word, but I've got Courier
available in Word, and I don't have it installed either.

If his bespoke font is Courier, then it should really be named something
different than just "Courier". I mean, would you customize a font and
then keep the original name?

--
Kenneth Benson
Pegasus Type, Inc.
www.pegtype.com

As recommended, I went to download SetPrint. The website says it's been tested on FM 6 and 7. Does anyone know if it works with FM8?

Thanks for your help!

Kim Cramer
Information Developer
Telesoft Corporation
602-308-1139

Yes, it works with FM8. I just haven't update the website. Sorry about that.

Ian

Thanks, Ian!