Where to search for missing (unavailable) fonts

Problem
Quick and dirty solution
Wherefrom FrameMaker gets the font information?
Where fonts may be hidden?
Substituting missing fonts

Problem

You get the font missing message when opening a FrameMaker file, although you have carefully checked all your paragraph and character formats.

Sorry for being Windows biased here – I do not have Mac experience for this problem.

Quick and dirty solution

To get rid of the message if you have carefully eliminated the obvious errors:

1. Close the file.
2. Turn off the preference Remember Missing Font Names.
3. Open the file (you will get the message again).
4. Save the file
5. Turn ON the preference Remember Missing Font Names again.

Next time you open the file, the message should not appear anymore. It still does? So you need to dive into the swamp:

Wherefrom does FrameMaker get the font information?

• The operating systems font folder (e.g. C:\Winnt\Fonts) the most obvious place. Avoid trouble by using a central location for your fonts.
• Type managers, such as the Adobe Type Manager.
• Application folders (for example, Illustrator). These are not handled by the type manager and hence you may create graphics containing fonts which are unknown to the rest of the system)
• Printer drivers provide some feedback to the OS about fonts which may be installed in the printer itself. However, this may not reflect the real situation on your system.

Where may fonts be hidden?

An eps graphic may use fonts which are not known to the system and/or FrameMaker. Some graphic applications use 'private' font folders. FrameMaker does not interprete the PostScript file, just passes it through to the printer (which may be the Distiller). Unknown fonts are printed in the ugly Courier font at the PS-printer. But these fonts are not reported by FrameMaker as hidden, because FM does not look into the eps.

Another source of trouble are fonts residing in a printer or connected to a printer driver. The graphic may print correctly on this printer but not on another …

In a FrameMaker document font definitions reside in various locations eventhough the most obvious ones are the paragraph and character catalogues.

• Unused ¶- and character-formats may define the unknown fonts.
• Straddled cells in a table hide the unused cells which may contain paragraph formats or character formats no more in the catalogue. These are not found with the search function.
• Hidden Table titles (once entered, then attribute changed to "No Table Title")
• Graphic text lines (created with the graphic tool A), even empty ones (tool selected and then clicking but not writing something). These empty objects can not be found by the search function. At best use the FrameScript Script DeleteEmptyTexlines from Michael Müller-Hillebrand.
• Objects originally placed in an anchored frame may become hidden, if the frame is resized before the ojects were moved to the remaining area. See this FrameMaker 7 example and explanation.
• Some text may be hidden by text conditions. This text can not be found by the search function. So make everything unconditional before you search for the font.
• Some text may be hidden by means of a non-printable or non-visible colour (check the View > Color > Views settings)
• Markers may use character formats – but these you have checked already, did you?
• Master pages and reference pages must be searched in addition to the body pages. Also here you may find all sorts of items using character formats or even local formatting.
• On body-, master and reference pages watch out for empty textlines! Make them visible with 'Select All' and uncheck the correct ones – the empty object are left over and can be deleted. At best use the FrameScript Script DeleteEmptyTexlines from Michael Müller-Hillebrand.
• Be aware that even for a single-sided document there is a Left masterpage - switch the document to double sided to see it.
• There may be a masterpage (e.g. named HiddenPage) to keep all the conditional text which is set to be invisible.
• Paragraph and character catalogues in book files may use old definitions. Hence generated files may present unknown fonts. You can get rid of these only by newly setting up the book. Just importing formats into the book file does not delete the old stuff, because Import Formats is cumulative.
• A text object may be off page. If a text object was placed on a reference page and later the page size was reduced, this object may be off page (and no more visible/searcheable) but still in the document! It can be found by searching the MIF [Bernard Aschwanden; Publishing Smarter].
• And the strangest one I've ever seen was a text-only file import. Turning off "remember font names" didn't fix it. The font name was nowhere to be found in the MIF, either, but converting the MIF back to FM *did* fix the problem. Eventually I found that there had been a new text frame added on one of the the reference pages that somehow had a meaningless, extraneous font spec attached to it that named the unavailable font. Completely invisible! [Fred Ridder]

Substituting missing (unavailable) fonts

1. In File > Preferences, disable Remember Missing Font Names.
2. Exit Frame without saving the document!
3. Edit the maker.ini line DefaultFamily=. In most cases it is Times New Roman, Times, Tms Rmn. Insert the font of choice at the beginning of the list:
   DefaultFamily=Myriad, Times, Times New Roman, Tms Rmn
4. You don't have to have anything after your initial choice, but it doesn't hurt. It simply tells Frame to try each one in this order.
5. Your new font (Myriad) must be active (selectable in the fonts list of FrameMaker).
6. Start Frame, and open the file. Console should report that your original font is missing and the new font was substituted.
7. Save the file.

[http://www.techknowledgecorp.com/help/missfont.html]

See also Cross-platform font usage in FrameMaker and Font aliases in Windows, especially if various fonts are not available to FrameMaker.