How to create MAC ppt with Greek charactersthat always appear in Windows PPT

[isle]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

Moving Mac created PPT 2008 saved as 2004 with Greek symbols to Windows XP with PPT 2004. Compatibility checker says this should work.

Windows PPT displays Greek characters as very small diamonds instead of correct greek characters, claims font is MSPGothic. Cut and paste these diamonds to Word on same Windows machine, correct greek characters appear. Paste those back to PPT on same Windows machine, those appear correct. Try to replace or change first MSPGothic characters, no luck, and with Format>Replace Fonts it warns that we are 'paraphrase - trying to replace a two-byte font with a one-byte font, to use a two-byte font'.

Many people in medical profession have same problem as evidenced at conferences by Mac created presentations not displaying Greek characters on Windows driven projectors.

It would be nice to be able to fix this problem permanently on the Mac side because fixing many several Windows presentation machines at many conferences is not allowed (or good).

Even using the "Windows Office compatible" fonts in the character palette doesn't work, and we did install Office 2008 with all of the fonts on the install CD. Inserting Symbols doesn't work. The characters display fine in Office PPT 2008 for MAC.

Some help in finding what I am missing to solve this problem permanently would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Jim Gordon MVP]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

Moving Mac created PPT 2008 saved as 2004 with Greek symbols to Windows XP with PPT 2004. Compatibility checker says this should work.

Windows PPT displays Greek characters as very small diamonds instead of correct greek characters, claims font is MSPGothic. Cut and paste these diamonds to Word on same Windows machine, correct greek characters appear. Paste those back to PPT on same Windows machine, those appear correct. Try to replace or change first MSPGothic characters, no luck, and with Format>Replace Fonts it warns that we are 'paraphrase - trying to replace a two-byte font with a one-byte font, to use a two-byte font'.

Many people in medical profession have same problem as evidenced at conferences by Mac created presentations not displaying Greek characters on Windows driven projectors.

It would be nice to be able to fix this problem permanently on the Mac side because fixing many several Windows presentation machines at many conferences is not allowed (or good).

Even using the "Windows Office compatible" fonts in the character palette doesn't work, and we did install Office 2008 with all of the fonts on the install CD. Inserting Symbols doesn't work. The characters display fine in Office PPT 2008 for MAC.

Some help in finding what I am missing to solve this problem permanently would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Hi,

Sounds like you did everything right on the Mac side of things.

It also sounds like the required font is missing on the Windows side.
Remember that even a font with the exact same name might not be the
exact same font over there.

Make sure the exact same font is installed on the Windows Pc.

-Jim

--
Jim Gordon
Mac MVP

MVPs are independent experts who are not affiliated with Microsoft.


Visit my blog
http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-i7JMeio7cqvhotIUwCzaJWq9

 

[isle]

Hi,

Sounds like you did everything right on the Mac side of things.

It also sounds like the required font is missing on the Windows side.
Remember that even a font with the exact same name might not be the
exact same font over there.

Make sure the exact same font is installed on the Windows Pc.

-Jim

--
Jim Gordon
Mac MVP

MVPs are independent experts who are not affiliated with Microsoft.
<http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/>

Visit my blog
<http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-i7JMeio7cqvhotIUwCzaJWq9>

Thanks for responding.

Since we can't in any way control the Windows end at presentations, what we are looking for is a consistent and reliable way of creating the MAC PPT so that Windows cannot fail to display the Greek characters correctly, along with the normal english alphabetical characters.

In this way, the presentation should always work whether on MAC or Windows.

Two things.

1. One of the error messages on Windows XP Powerpoint 2004 came when we tried to use Format>Replace Fonts, which led to a message about this being a two-byte font (unicode I presume) and that we were trying to convert it to a one-byte font. I tried every available font on Windows and got the same message. Apparently Windows had no two-byte fonts available.
a) Is there a two-byte font available on Windows XP?
b) If so how do I use/select it?
c) I was wondering if we needed to enable foreign character sets on the windows machine(s).
This is still a bad solution since it involves extra work either to convert the fonts on Windows or make sure all of many Windows systems are set up correctly which appears not to be the default for this problem.

2. How do we specify a "Windows FOR SURE Compatible" font on the MAC when creating PPT documentation that includes Greek so that every MAC generated PPT will work on every Windows PPT presentation machine (given supported versions on Windows)? If we can make the MAC document look like what Windows wants to see, then it will always work, solving the problem.

This loss of Greek characters on MAC to Windows PPT apparently is a common problem although checking the web and the Powerpoint site it is not discussed directly. I would think it would be a major problem in any Math, Science, or Greek presentations at conferences, and a reliable solution for the MAC PPT creators would be quite useful.

There's a lot of discussion on the Web and in Powerpoint discussions about selecting a Windows compatible font but very little specific naming of which fonts are compatible. There's also a lot of discussion about True Type and Type 1 fonts not being compatible in cases like this, and to delete the undesirable one but again no specifics. This is all rather confusing. A simple standardized method that would work for everyone would be best. Especially if it was the default out of the box as we at first expected. We didn't think it would be this much trouble.

Thanks again for your help.

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Two things.

1. One of the error messages on Windows XP Powerpoint 2004 came when we tried to use

Format>Replace Fonts, which led to a message about this being a two-byte font (unicode I
presume) and that we were trying to convert it to a one-byte font. I tried every available
font on Windows and got the same message. Apparently Windows had no two-byte fonts
available.

a) Is there a two-byte font available on Windows XP?

Several, but they're not installed by default. See if Arial Unicode is available though.

b) If so how do I use/select it?

Format, Replace Fonts should be able to do the job, if you can choose Arial Unicode.

c) I was wondering if we needed to enable foreign character sets on the windows

machine(s).

For Greek, I think not. If you were trying to display Japanese or one of the other far-
east languages, you probably would.

2. How do we specify a "Windows FOR SURE Compatible" font on the MAC when creating PPT

documentation that includes Greek so that every MAC generated PPT will work on every
Windows PPT presentation machine (given supported versions on Windows)? If we can make the
MAC document look like what Windows wants to see, then it will always work, solving the
problem.

I'd start at http://www.microsoft.com/typography/
Poke around a bit and you'll find a page that lets you check to see what fonts are
installed with which MS product. It's out of date, but should get you pointed in the right
direction.

Then if you have a Windows box available, use Character Map to view the available
symbols/glyphs in each of those fonts; check to see if the needed Greek/Math characters are
there. If so, and if the font fits otherwise, graphically, that should get you going.

This loss of Greek characters on MAC to Windows PPT apparently is a common problem

although checking the web and the Powerpoint site it is not discussed directly. I would
think it would be a major problem in any Math, Science, or Greek presentations at
conferences, and a reliable solution for the MAC PPT creators would be quite useful.

There's a lot of discussion on the Web and in Powerpoint discussions about selecting a

Windows compatible font but very little specific naming of which fonts are compatible.
There's also a lot of discussion about True Type and Type 1 fonts not being compatible in
cases like this, and to delete the undesirable one but again no specifics. This is all
rather confusing. A simple standardized method that would work for everyone would be best.
Especially if it was the default out of the box as we at first expected. We didn't think it
would be this much trouble.

Thanks again for your help.

================================================
Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
================================================

 

[Jim Gordon MVP]

Format>Replace Fonts, which led to a message about this being a two-byte font (unicode I
presume) and that we were trying to convert it to a one-byte font. I tried every available
font on Windows and got the same message. Apparently Windows had no two-byte fonts
available.

Several, but they're not installed by default. See if Arial Unicode is available though.


Format, Replace Fonts should be able to do the job, if you can choose Arial Unicode.

machine(s).

For Greek, I think not. If you were trying to display Japanese or one of the other far-
east languages, you probably would.

documentation that includes Greek so that every MAC generated PPT will work on every
Windows PPT presentation machine (given supported versions on Windows)? If we can make the
MAC document look like what Windows wants to see, then it will always work, solving the
problem.

I'd start at http://www.microsoft.com/typography/
Poke around a bit and you'll find a page that lets you check to see what fonts are
installed with which MS product. It's out of date, but should get you pointed in the right
direction.

Then if you have a Windows box available, use Character Map to view the available
symbols/glyphs in each of those fonts; check to see if the needed Greek/Math characters are
there. If so, and if the font fits otherwise, graphically, that should get you going.



although checking the web and the Powerpoint site it is not discussed directly. I would
think it would be a major problem in any Math, Science, or Greek presentations at
conferences, and a reliable solution for the MAC PPT creators would be quite useful.
Windows compatible font but very little specific naming of which fonts are compatible.
There's also a lot of discussion about True Type and Type 1 fonts not being compatible in
cases like this, and to delete the undesirable one but again no specifics. This is all
rather confusing. A simple standardized method that would work for everyone would be best.
Especially if it was the default out of the box as we at first expected. We didn't think it
would be this much trouble.

================================================
Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
================================================

Hi,

This incredibly long URL has information that might be helpful:

http://www.microsoft.com/mac/itpros...rget=7acce321-36fb-48d6-8c76-12cb3a0063ee1033

-Jim

--
Jim Gordon
Mac MVP

MVPs are independent experts who are not affiliated with Microsoft.


Visit my blog
http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-i7JMeio7cqvhotIUwCzaJWq9

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Good one, Jim, long Earl or not.

I've added that here:

PC to Mac and Back
http://www.pptfaq.com/FAQ00281.htm

and updated the whole page for newer versions.

================================================
Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
================================================