formatting problem

[Astrid_Wootton]

Version: 2008 Operating System: Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) Processor: Intel The Italic and the Bold Italic commands have got switched. The Italic command produces Bold Italic, and the Bold Italic command produces simply Italic, but with Bold spacing. This has happened before and I corrected it somehow. Now it has happened again and I can't remember how to fix it. [All the usual quitting Word, restarting the machine, exploring Word Commands etc already tried.] Any help welcome, a most ittitating glitch.

Astrid

 

[CyberTaz]

Confirm that both Office & OS X are fully updated - Always the first
concern. Once that's addressed, Quit all Office programs & go to:

User/Library/Preferences/Microsoft/Office 2008

Delete the file named 'Office Font Cache (12)'

It would also be a good idea to run the Validate Fonts & the Resolve
Duplicates routines using Apple's Font Book app.

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[Astrid_Wootton]

Thank you, Bob, for your prompt advice. Unfortunately I still have the problem.

Two further bits of information: 1. Although I have always accepted Microsoft updates as they've been offered, I'm not sure about how to initiate a check. Snow Leopard is up to date. 2. I also have Microsoft Office X on my hard disk (because Office 2008:Word will not read phonetic script, but Office X:Word does.)
(Your advice re fonts has also been taken)
Thank you for your interest: have you any further suggestions. Astrid

 

[CyberTaz]

Checking you current update level is usually just a matter of going to the
ApplicationName Menu & selecting About ApplicationName. The info is
presented right there. In order to check for more current updates go to the
Help Menu in any of the Office apps & select Check for Updates. You'll note
that you can set the AutoUpdate feature to check automatically on a Weekly
or Monthly basis.

As for the current problem... There are several ways to apply formatting to
text. Which method/s are you using? Do all methods produce the same result?

 

[Astrid_Wootton]

Thank you for your advice re initiating the upgrade check. I am up to date, and it is set for a weekly check.

I have tried 3 ways to format italics: 1. command i 2. From the formatting bar 3. by going to Format/Font/italics. The result is the same. When I open an already formatted document all italics are emboldened.

Hope this helps.

Astrid

 

[Astrid_Wootton]

2nd post today. I have just discovered that if the text is in bold first and I then click italic I get the correct result. Progress. At least i can get my documents right!

Astrid

 

[CyberTaz]

Although I don't have a solution for you as yet I can tell you that
re-installing is definitely not it... at least not at this point. The
application files are rarely at fault & that's all that gets replaced if you
do so. It would also mean having to go through the update process again
because you would revert to the update level on the source disk. That could
also cause other problems.

I'll try to post some additional suggestions later in the day.

 

[Astrid_Wootton]

Thanks for this. The infuriating thing is that this has happened before, a number of months ago. And I can't remember what happened for it to right itself. I don't remember if it was something I did deliberately or accidentally.

Your interest is greatly appreciated

Astrid

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Astrid:

What formatting styles are you using when this happens?

I suspect that you have inadvertently changed the formatting in the style in
use.

Styles and direct formatting produce an algebraic addition. In other words,
if you apply a property twice, once by style and once by direct formatting,
the result is the opposite of what you expected.

For example: Bold + Bold = Normal, Italic + Italic = Normal.

So I think that what has happened is that the formatting of your style has
been changed, so now when you apply bold or italic, you get the opposite
effect.

Easiest way to find out? Select a whole paragraph and hit Control +
SpaceBar, then Command + Option + q. That removes all the direct
formatting. You can then immediately see what the underlying style is
doing.

Hope this helps

Thanks for this. The infuriating thing is that this has happened before, a
number of months ago. And I can't remember what happened for it to right
itself. I don't remember if it was something I did deliberately or
accidentally.

Your interest is greatly appreciated

Astrid

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless you intend to pay!

 

[Astrid_Wootton]

I understand what you are saying, and it makes good sense. However following the instructions doesn't change the formatting of the paragraph.

When I press control+spacebar, Spotlight opens. I then press command+option+q, and nothing happens at all.

Astrid

 

[CyberTaz]

I believe you're using _Command_+Spacebar (which is the OS X-owned stroke
for Spotlight) but should be using _Control_+Spacebar in order to reset
character formatting. The other stroke may not result in any apparent change
if there's no paragraph formatting to be removed.

Try launching Word while holding the Shift key & see if that makes any
difference. Also, try running Word in a different user account to see if the
same problem occurs. Reply with your results for both tests.

Regards |::>)
Bob J.

 

[Astrid_Wootton]

Hallo, Bob, I've been away for a week and quite lost touch with the problem! Which is still there.
1. Opened Word with shift. Doesn't help.2. When I press Command then Spacebar what changes is the little 'language/character viewer/ Australian or American' thing at the very top. 3. When I press the key marked Control and then the Spacebar, Spotlight comes up. I am about to log in on a guest account, and may lose this message. So I'm sending this now, and a follow-up one separately.

Astrid

 

[Astrid_Wootton]

Success at last! When I open in a guest account it works like a dream -- except of course I can't access any of my documents! I do hope this will assist you in diagnosing the problem

Astrid

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Astrid:

In a Guest account, you are using different preferences and a different
Normal template.

However, to prove this, you need to open the document that was giving
trouble, because Formatting is stored locally in each document.

My guess is that your Preferences are bad, and that you should delete
User/Library/Preferences/Microsoft/Office 2008 (the whole folder!).

Word must be quit when you do this, and then you need to reboot the computer
to make sure there are no stray bits left hanging around in memory.

That should fix it. If not, do the same to the Normal.dotm template.

Cheers

Success at last! When I open in a guest account it works like a dream --
except of course I can't access any of my documents! I do hope this will
assist you in diagnosing the problem

Astrid

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless you intend to pay!

 

[CyberTaz]

Yes, that narrows down the possibilities See the information on this
page to test the Normal.dotm template while logged in to the original user
account. Make sure no Office apps are launched when you remove/rename the
template: http://word.mvps.org/mac/MacWordNormal.html

If that doesn't resolve the problem in that account it's a clear indication
that the account itself is damaged in some way. Should that be the case it's
typically easier to move your user files to a new account than try
troubleshooting/repairing the damaged one.

Reply with the results of testing the template & we'll go from there.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[Astrid_Wootton]

Hi, John or Bob,

After some serious testing with Normal Templates etc (I found the reference you sent helpful) I think I have discovered the problem. My normal style is Garamond Narrow. When I change to Times and other fonts the problems disappear.

Does this mean I can no longer use Garamond Narrow (it'll take ages to convert many years of documents) or can I re-install the font in some way?

Astrid

 

[John McGhie]

"Narrow" is a 'face' in a font.

At some time, you had a Garamond font that contained the 'narrow' face. The
one you have now apparently doesn't.

But if everything else was working, you wouldn't notice.

Next step: trash the Office font cache and restart the computer.

Delete ~/Library/Preferences/Microsoft/Office 2008/Office Font Cache (12)

Then shut the computer down and wait for th power to go off. Then restart.
That triggers the Unix housekeeping tasks that will rebuild the system font
cache, which in turn will rebuild the Office font cache.

After that, if Garamond Narrow is not available on your computer, Word will
substitute the next closest available font.

Hope this helps

Hi, John or Bob,

After some serious testing with Normal Templates etc (I found the reference
you sent helpful) I think I have discovered the problem. My normal style is
Garamond Narrow. When I change to Times and other fonts the problems
disappear.

Does this mean I can no longer use Garamond Narrow (it'll take ages to convert
many years of documents) or can I re-install the font in some way?

Astrid

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless you intend to pay!

 

[CyberTaz]

Run Apple's Font Book to see if the font is installed. The odds are it
isn't. I have both Adobe Garamond and Garamond Premier Pro neither of which,
however, contain the Narrow face. My guess is that you had obtained that
from somewhere at one time but it didn't make the trip from one Mac to a new
one, perhaps. It isn't a font that was ever supplied with Mac Office.

If you obtain & install a fresh copy of the Garamond font that contains the
Narrow face it will most likely resolve the matter. In the meantime you can
go into Word> Preferences> Compatibility, click the Font Substitution button
& specify a different font to be substituted -- if you know which of what
you do have installed would be more suitable.

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[Astrid_Wootton]

I have garamond narrow on my laptop, which has suffered none of the ills of my desk top. Is there a way of transferring a copy of that one across?

 

[Astrid_Wootton]

I should probably have explained. Garramond Narrow is in the Font book app on both my desktop and on my laptop. When I turn off the Bold/Italic option on my desktop all my documents and current work are fine -- except of course if I want to do Bold/Italic! Which is seldom, admittedly. However if Garamond Narrow is corrupted on my desktop I probably ought to do something about it. If I delete it, can I transfer an uncorrupted version from my laptop Font Book app to my desktop?