bullets have all changed into infinity signs

[mjg15]

I am using Mac OS10.4 (Tiger) and Office 2004, and ever since I
installed Office 2004, the bulleted points in ALL my old word documents
have been converted from black circles to infinity signs. I know how to
change these manually, but that is a huge waste of time. Is there a way
to fix this problem so that when I open my document I see what I
inserted originally?

Thanks in advance!

Michael

 

[Beth Rosengard]

Hi Michael,

What font are you using? Office 2004 is Unicode-functional and previous
versions are not. Chances are, if you change your font, you'll be okay.

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Beth Rosengard
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Mac Word FAQ: <http://word.mvps.org/MacWordNew/index.htm>
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[mjg15]

Beth:

Thanks for the reply. I believe I used the font "Symbol" character 229
(Unicode character 61669?). Its a round, black bullet/circle.

Is this the problem? If so, how do I fix it in the old documents, as
well as in new ones?

Michael

 

[Beth Rosengard]

Hi Michael,

I should have realized it was the Symbol font! Here's something from a
previous post that could help:

FIXED. I called MS support. A very nice person from India told me to
put the symbol font from the HARD DISK/Library/fonts/ onto the desktop
and the bullets then worked. It is an incompatibility between MS word
and a font that has been a part of the apple OS since 1984. He refused
to agree that it was a bug, but that the supported fonts for MS word
now just doesn't include the apple symbol font. incredible.

Please let us know if this works for you too.

As for fixing it in the old documents, you'll have to do a Find & Replace
(use Replace All to make it a little faster in each document). Use the
Character Palette to find the character you want and then replace the
infinity sign with that character.

My fading memory thinks there might be additional or easier solutions if you
Google this newsgroup
(<http://groups.google.com/advanced_group_search?q=group:*mac.office.word>),
maybe a macro to make it faster? Try Googling on "symbol" or "symbol font"
or even "bullets change."

--
***Please always reply to the newsgroup!***

Beth Rosengard
MacOffice MVP

Mac Word FAQ: <http://word.mvps.org/MacWordNew/index.htm>
(If using Safari, hit Refresh once or twice ­ or use another browser.)
Entourage Help Page: <http://www.entourage.mvps.org>

 

[mjg15]

Beth:

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll try that out when I return to work.
Interestingly, the problem doesn't exist on my home computer, where I
use the same software, operating system and files. Is there a way to
import my home computer MS Word bullet preferences or templates (I'm
not sure what the correct term is) to my work computer? This would
resolve the issue I think.

Michael

 

[Andreas Prilop]

I believe I used the font "Symbol" character 229

Char 229 = xE5 in the Symbol font is the summation sign.
http://www.unicode.org/Public/MAPPINGS/VENDORS/APPLE/SYMBOL.TXT

(Unicode character 61669?). Its a round, black bullet/circle.

Char 61669 = xF0E5 = xF000 + xE5 is in the private-use area of Unicode.
So this value doesn't mean anything.

In the MacRoman character set
http://www.unicode.org/Public/MAPPINGS/VENDORS/APPLE/ROMAN.TXT
char xA5 is a bullet. And char xA5 in the Symbol character set
is the infinity symbol.

 

[mjg15]

Problem resolved by doing the following:

1. search hard drive for symbol font (found in OS9 folder)
2. move font to desktop
3. Install font

All my infinity signs have been transformed into circles. Hooray!

Thanks for your help.

Michael

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Thanks for posting the fix, likely it will help someone else.

 

[Tim Murray]

I am using Mac OS10.4 (Tiger) and Office 2004, and ever since I
installed Office 2004, the bulleted points in ALL my old word documents
have been converted from black circles to infinity signs. I know how to
change these manually, but that is a huge waste of time. Is there a way
to fix this problem so that when I open my document I see what I
inserted originally?

I wonder if this is a Tiger thing. I use Word 2004 on Panther 10.3.9, and
bullets work fine -- I have opened innumerable Windows docs and older Word
docs. The one and only Symbol I happen to be using is Adobe's Type 1, and
it's sitting in Classic's Fonts folder. Apple's Symbol.dfont file is sitting
off on the sidelines.

The Symbol that shipped for many years with Mac OS was actually defective,
and remained defective since Day 1. Well, maybe "defective" is not the best
word, but in any case: (1) the suitcase contained both a TrueType and a Type
1 version; (2) Apple did not ship an outline file to go with the Type 1; (3)
certain applications refused to use it at all.

I have relied on the Type 1 Symbol since ... gee, since System 6.

 

[mjg15]

OK, my original problem has been solved, as I noted above. But now I
have a new problem. Whenever I cut and paste from one document into a
Word document, the new pasted text comes out in bold text and with
bullet points before each paragraph. This occurs regardless of the
style/format of the cut text. I think this probably has something to do
with styles (which I frankly find confusing), as I fiddled around with
them when I was trying to fix my other bullet point problem. Any
suggestions about how to fix this new issue would be greatly
appreciated.

Michael Green

 

[Beth Rosengard]

When you were messing around with styles, did you check the option to
Automatically Update? If so, go uncheck it and see if that helps next time
you paste text.

Also, when you paste, and you see the little clipboard icon, which of the
options that it offers do you choose?

--
***Please always reply to the newsgroup!***

Beth Rosengard
MacOffice MVP

Mac Word FAQ: <http://word.mvps.org/MacWordNew/index.htm>
(If using Safari, hit Refresh once or twice ­ or use another browser.)
Entourage Help Page: <http://www.entourage.mvps.org>

 

[Clive Huggan]

On 3/6/05 4:34 AM, in article
(e-mail address removed), "mjg15"

I think this probably has something to do
with styles (which I frankly find confusing),

Michael, after looking at Word's Help, have a look at the section on styles
(page 78) in some notes on the way I use Word for the Mac, titled "Bend Word
to Your Will", which are available as a free download from the Word MVPs'
website (http://word.mvps.org/MacWordNew/Bend/BendWord.htm).

Word is essentially a styles-based application, and styles therefore reward
some study. ;-)

Cheers,

Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
(My time zone is at least 7 hours different from the US and Europe, so my
follow-on responses to those regions can be delayed)
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[mjg15]

Clive: Thank you. I'll try to learn more about styles.
Michael