How do I get rid of special symbols on shapes?

[nbelyh]

Hello all.
Me again, and again with an odd problem

The problem:
Recently, I've got an odd Visio shape: when you type the text on it,
you get special symbols typed instead of letters.
I mean those symbols that remains us of the ancient egyptians'
algebra.

The font selected for the shape is "Arial".
If you copy that odd shape to a different (blank) diagram, the symbols
turn into normal text.
If you copy it back, the text turns back into symbols.

Why can this happen?
Is there any "checkbox" I can click?

 

[Paul Herber]

Hello all.
Me again, and again with an odd problem

The problem:
Recently, I've got an odd Visio shape: when you type the text on it,
you get special symbols typed instead of letters.
I mean those symbols that remains us of the ancient egyptians'
algebra.

The font selected for the shape is "Arial".
If you copy that odd shape to a different (blank) diagram, the symbols
turn into normal text.
If you copy it back, the text turns back into symbols.

When you say that the font selected in Arial do you mean that when the
shape is selected the font shown in the font box is Arial - that
doesn't mean that is the font being used for all the characters in the
shape, it just means that that is the font to be used for any new
characters.

Double click the shape to select all the text and do menu Format ->
Text and set Arial for all the text.

If that doesn't work:
What's the shape's name (right-click Format -> Special and look at the
master name).
What happens if you reselect Arial font, what about one of the other
standard fonts, Times New Roman or Verdana?
What are your language settings?

 

[Chris Roth [MVP]]

Hi nbelyh,

I know that Visio (er Office) inserts special characters when you type
certain sequences. For examples: --> or : ) will get you a nice arrow or a
right-side-up smiley face.

If you select just these auto-replaced characters, you'll see that the font
is "Wingdings". I wonder if you've somehow stumbled into this by accident?

--
Hope this helps,

Chris Roth
Visio MVP

Free Visio shapes:
http://www.visguy.com/category/shapes
Visio programming info:
http://www.visguy.com/category/programming/
Other Visio resources:
http://www.visguy.com/visio-links/

 

[nbelyh]

Paul, thank you for the response.

When you say that the font selected in Arial do you mean that when the
shape is selected the font shown in the font box is Arial - that
doesn't mean that is the font being used for all the characters in the
shape, it just means that that is the font to be used for any new
characters.

Double click the shape to select all the text and do menu Format ->
Text and set Arial for all the text.

Oh, my.. Actually, I'm not that dumb
[ I have tried that before posting. No effect ]

If that doesn't work:
What's the shape's name (right-click Format -> Special and look at the master name).

The odd master is a "home-cooked" one. I doubt knowing It's name can
be useful..
Actually, I have only a slight idea how it was created.
I'm just curious how this disaster with special symbols can be un-
done.
Besides from recreating diagram(s) from the scratch.
Anyway, I have placed the example diagram here to make clear the
things I am talking about:
http://nbelyh.googlepages.com/df325b70-6f72-42fc-9a32-e8c73c8ccdb3.vsd

What happens if you reselect Arial font, what about one of the other
standard fonts, Times New Roman or Verdana?

No effect.

What are your language settings?

Have tried this with English and German Visio 2003 and 2007.
Maybe this has something to do with language settings... but maybe
not.

Kind regards, Nikolay.

 

[Paul Herber]

Paul, thank you for the response.


Oh, my.. Actually, I'm not that dumb

Sorry, it's just that it's easier to give full instructions rather
than have someone come back a day ;ater with "I don't know how to do
that".

Anyway, it is a font selection problem, I have no idea how it got into
its current state but the text is being shown in the symbol font
Martlett.

How to fix it:
double click to select all the text and Copy
start Wordpad, Paste
Select all, set font to Arial, Copy
Back to Visio, Paste - and there is your text in German.

 

[nbelyh]

Anyway, it is a font selection problem, I have no idea how it got into

its current state but the text is being shown in the symbol font
Martlett.

How to fix it:
double click to select all the text and Copy
start Wordpad, Paste
Select all, set font to Arial, Copy
Back to Visio, Paste - and there is your text in German.

Paul, thank you for the reply.

Kind of black magic, right?
The point is, why I cannot do that in Visio..?
It seems very suspicious that a font cannot be changed for that shape
in Visio ...
And, why Visio shows that font is Arial, when it's actually not..?
The wonders are still around today...

Inspired with your brilliant idea of copy-paste and the wordpad, I
have upgraded it a bit:
- Open drawing explorer for that diagram, open master "Prozess".
- Open wordpad, type a space. Copy that space. Paste it into that
master "Prozess". Save master.
Voila! The text for ALL shapes on the drawing is restored at once!

Thanks again.
Kind regards, Nikolay.

PS
All this sound like some sort of a bug, no?

 

[Paul Herber]

Paul, thank you for the reply.

Kind of black magic, right?
The point is, why I cannot do that in Visio..?

You can !
Format -> Style -> None
but I cannot find anywhere that the font Martlett is referenced.