Fonts unavailable in FrameMaker

We've made some documents in FrameMaker 7.1, using a variety of fonts. Just today, several of us have get an error message when opening the documents we've been editing.

"[Your document] uses unavailable fonts. Reformat using available fonts?"

So selecting yes and opening the file, the error log says which fonts are unavailalbe. (Different for different users, oddly.)

When we open the Format - Paragraph - Designer dialog, Font tab, these unavailable fonts (which we'd previously been using) are in the list of fonts, but grayed out, and we can't select them. However, the fonts are installed in the operating system (Windows XP SP2), and are available for other applications. Any ideas on how I get them available again for FrameMaker 7.1?

Have you worked on these documents before without getting this error?

The grayed-out font names is FM's way to tell you that the document
uses these fonts, but FM cannot "see" them being installed.
FM doesn't use any font handling on its own. It relies on Windows to
report which fonts are installed (available) or not.

It sounds like something has changed on your systems. Perhaps the
fonts have been reinstalled (by IT?), some font management software
has been installed, Windows has been updated, FM has been updated,
or someone has changed the font mapping info in the maker.ini files.

Select a font that is working on a colleagues computer, but is
reported as missing on yours. Copy the associated font files from
the other computer to yours, and re-install the font (save a backup
copy of the font files first). Any change in FM?

--
/Thomas Michanek

One more item to add to Thomas' comprehensive reply -- some fonts may not be available if you've changed your system's default printer.

There are a number of threads on the forum discussing the reasons, but short and sweet: best bet is to set the Acrobat Distiller printer instance as your default printer when working in FM, and ensure that all of your font directories are specified in Distiller.

There's a great freebie utility called SetPrint that does this for FM (and doesn't get other apps confused!): <http://www.sundorne.com>

Further investigation confirming what other people have been telling me, the missing fonts are, for ALL users, Courier and another one made especially for our company. Looking at the online help for FrameMaker, it says that if Adobe Type Manager is not running, then Courier is not available. This might be a red herring, I don't know. If not, how do I see if Adobe Type Manager is or is not running, and what do I do about it?

A search on my local PC for Adobe Type Manager brings up nothing.

Thanks everyone for your time.

Thomas's comprehensive reply? Do you have a link to that?

All my font directories are defined in Distiller.

The missing font (Courier and one other) are all available in Word and other applications.

We changed our default printer not long ago, but I have been using the relevant files, and printing them to PDF, since then. Now, when we try to Save As PDF, or to Print with Generate PDF Data, then FrameMaker comes back with an error saying that it failed to print, as it could not open the files, as certain fonts were not available.

Roger,

Because you are running Windows XP, I do not think you need to have Adobe Type Manager; it was created when Windows did not have the ability to use PostScript fonts.

Also, I think you should avoid using Save as PDF. The better way to make a PDF is to print the document or book with Adobe PDF as the printer. But I doubt that NOT doing this is the source of your problem.

In any event, you can get round the error of not being able to open documents with missing fonts by FIRST opening all the documents in the book. At each open, Frame will complain about the missing fonts but allow you to open the file anyway. THEN print the book to Adobe PDF. Because the files are already open, Frame will print them anyway. Of course, the missing font is still missing but Acrobat will be able to create something close to it.

Van

Changing the default printer is almost certainly the culprit here.

When running Frame, your default printer should always be Adobe PDF.
Physical printers installed on your system come with "device" fonts.
What that means is that the printer driver tells the operating system
that Courier is available inside the printer, so the OS makes it
available to Frame, even though Courier was never really installed. The
Adobe PDF printer doesn't allow device fonts, so you won't run into this
again (after you fix your files so they don't reference fonts you don't
have installed).

You have, I think, three choices:

1) Change back to the old default printer. Courier should come back, but
you'll have to remember to use that printer whenever you open those files.

2) Install Courier. Go to Control Panel > Fonts, and install Courier.
The Courier you install may not be exactly the same as the
printer-resident Courier, so this may not solve the problem. It's also
kind of a waste, because you already should have Courier New installed.
Courier New is pretty much identical to Courier. It installs with
Windows, and it's just about impossible to get rid of, so I'm sure you
have it.

3) Substitute Courier New. Find where Courier is used and use Courier
New instead.

Meanwhile, think about using Adobe PDF as your default printer. Sheila
mentioned a utility called SetPrint that will change the default printer
while Frame is running (I think that's how it works) so you'll still
have the real default available to other apps.

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

The problem surfaced about 2 weeks after we changed the default printer. I opened and printed to PDF without problems for those 2 weeks without a problem, and those fonts were available all through that time, so it's unlikely to be that. It's not possible to go back to the default printer, as the IT department have taken it away.

After I posted here last night, everyone else logged off and went home. Then the fonts were suddenly available to FrameMaker and I could Save to PDF and Print to PDF with no problems. The problems restarted this morning, so it is something that someone is running during the day that stops it reading those fonts. (Courier and our own bespoke fonts.)

Courier is installed. Word can see it and use it and print with it. It isn't available to Internet Explorer though.

I was reading that Courier on Windows is supposed to be a hidden system font, so changing it to Courier New seems a good idea. However, this leaves the question of how we create and use our bespoke fonts.

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.) The actual FrameMaker document files are on a server that we log onto.

Changing the WinXP default printer to Adobe PDF solves the problem. However, I am going to get complaints if I suggest this as the solution, all along the lines of "We could use Word and ditch Frame, as it won't force us to set the system default printer to Adobe PDF."

> Courier is installed. Word can see it

That doesn't mean a whole lot. Courier is only installed if it's in
Control Panel > Fonts. When you're in there, you're going to notice
"Courier New" (in four weights) and "Courier 10,12,15 (VGA Res)".
Neither of these is the Courier you're missing, although I can't tell
you from this end what Courier you really need.

> I was reading that Courier on Windows is supposed to be a hidden
> system font, so changing it to Courier New seems a good idea.
> However, this leaves the question of how we create and use our
> bespoke fonts.

I don't know what a "bespoke font" is, but Courier New is functionally
identical to (and much more complete than) Type 1 Courier. Again,
though, I don't know what version of Courier you're missing. There are
lots of them. Type 1 Courier is not normally a hidden or system file,
although you could certainly make it one if you wanted.

> I'm not sure whether we use Adobe Type Manager, it's not in my list
> of Program Files.

If you had ATM, it would load on startup. But you don't need ATM to
display Type 1 fonts. Windows 2000 and newer have support for Type 1
fonts built in. ATM comes with a number of "base" Type 1 fonts,
including Courier.

> Changing the WinXP default printer to Adobe PDF solves the problem.
> However, I am going to get complaints if I suggest this as the
> solution, all along the lines of "We could use Word and ditch Frame,
> as it won't force us to set the system default printer to Adobe PDF."

Sheila and I have both suggested a utility called SetPrint that will do
this for you. I'll say it again, it should be printed on the Framemaker
box in big, bold letters: When running Frame, your default printer
should always be Adobe PDF. Sticking with only one default printer, and
making sure that default printer doesn't offer up bogus device fonts,
will solve problems you haven't even run into yet. If you use SetPrint,
you can keep your regular default printer for all your other programs,
and set Adobe PDF as your default printer just for Frame.

If your only argument against using Word is that it doesn't require
special treatment, then you probably should be using Word. Frame is old
and fussy and just a little buggy. But I would quit my job if my boss
told me to use Word for anything more than memos (easy enough for me to
say; I don't have a boss).

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

BTW, another frequent cause of missing font messages is having multiple
fonts of the exact same name installed. Again, check Control Panel >
Fonts. Don't remove either of the Couriers I mentioned earlier, but do
check for T1 and TT (or OT) fonts named simply "Courier".

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