"Optimizing font menu performance" - Word 2004...why?

[Cygnus X-1]

Why doesn't Word handle large font libraries properly?

Whenever I quit Word and start up, I get this ³Optimizing font menu
performance² dialog box, which can take several minutes to complete. I am
using Font Agent Pro, so if I need to activate or de-activate a font, I get
this. It¹s a real time-consumer. Isn¹t there some way to speed this up?

 

[John McGhie [MVP - Word and Word Macintosh]]

I think Microsoft might suggest that Word is indeed handling your llarge
font library "properly"

It is compiling your entire list of fonts into a quick-access list (the
Microsoft Office Font Cache) on start-up.

There is, of course, an alternative -- you "could" wait that long every time
you change font in the text. I think most users would complain if they did
that.

Dare I ask how "many" fonts you have loaded?

I am sure you are aware that each font occupies some memory while it is
active. If you have too many active, you run the system out of working
memory and the whole computer slows down. Could this be what is happening
to you?

I wouldn't know: I only use four or five fonts. I only have 72 fonts on
the system, and they're all active all the time.

Cheers

Why doesn't Word handle large font libraries properly?

Whenever I quit Word and start up, I get this ³Optimizing font menu
performance² dialog box, which can take several minutes to complete. I am
using Font Agent Pro, so if I need to activate or de-activate a font, I get
this. It¹s a real time-consumer. Isn¹t there some way to speed this up?

--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie <[email protected]>
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Consultant Technical Writer
Sydney, Australia +61 4 1209 1410

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

I think Microsoft might suggest that Word is indeed handling your llarge
font library "properly"

It is compiling your entire list of fonts into a quick-access list (the
Microsoft Office Font Cache) on start-up.

The problem is that since the configuration is never the same and when
Word launches, it needs to e-create the cache over and over again.
That's one of the few disadvantages with using apps like Font Agent or
Suitcase that enable or disable fonts. The only option I culd think of
would be to make sure Word is alas launche with the same set of fonts
enabled (tedious).


Corentin

 

[Cygnus X-1]

Well...Microsoft may think Word is handling fonts ³properly²...but EVERY
other application I have loads quickly, even ones that don¹t use the Apple
Font panel, like InDesign and Illustrator. And, neither Excel, PowerPoint,
or Entourage exhibit the same behavior. In addition, all Office apps do not
handle PostScript Type 1 fonts well. For example, the family ³Stone Serif²
comes listed in the Formatting Palette as B ITCStoneSerif (for bold), etc.
Of course, I can just click on the Bold button, but my point is the
formatting palette doesn¹t group them like I would expect. TrueType and
OpenType fonts don¹t exhibit that behavior, but they are not grouped by
family either. The majority of my collection are Adobe Type 1 fonts (from
their Font Folio). I¹d love to convert them all to OpenType, but that would
be quite the costly endeavor.

A large portion of what I do is streamlining electronic workflow, so I use
Acrobat, Word, InDesign, and Illustrator frequently. I have 2 Gb or RAM, so
even my large library doesn¹t occupy a huge amount of memory... I am able to
keep the aforementioned apps, along with Safari and Entourage open without
too much problem.

Again, Word seems to be the oddball in font handling among the applications
I use most frequently. Apple has some wonderful typography functions built
in to OS X, precisely so that applications don¹t have to handle fonts
themselves. I wish Microsoft would implement some of that technology in
Word.

Scott M

 

[Scott Melendez]

Well...Microsoft may think Word is handling fonts ³properly²...but EVERY
other application I have loads quickly, even ones that don¹t use the Apple
Font panel, like InDesign and Illustrator. And, neither Excel, PowerPoint,
or Entourage exhibit the same behavior. In addition, all Office apps do not
handle PostScript Type 1 fonts well. For example, the family ³Stone Serif²
comes listed in the Formatting Palette as B ITCStoneSerif (for bold), etc.
Of course, I can just click on the Bold button, but my point is the
formatting palette doesn¹t group them like I would expect. TrueType and
OpenType fonts don¹t exhibit that behavior, but they are not grouped by
family either. The majority of my collection are Adobe Type 1 fonts (from
their Font Folio). I¹d love to convert them all to OpenType, but that would
be quite the costly endeavor.

A large portion of what I do is streamlining electronic workflow, so I use
Acrobat, Word, InDesign, and Illustrator frequently. I have 2 Gb or RAM, so
even my large library doesn¹t occupy a huge amount of memory... I am able to
keep the aforementioned apps, along with Safari and Entourage open without
too much problem.

Again, Word seems to be the oddball in font handling among the applications
I use most frequently. Apple has some wonderful typography functions built
in to OS X, precisely so that applications don¹t have to handle fonts
themselves. I wish Microsoft would implement some of that technology in
Word.

Scott M

 

[CyberTaz]

Just a thought, but have you tried going to Word>Preferences>General &
removing the check for WYSIWYG font & style menus? Might make a little
difference.

Regards |:>)

Well...Microsoft may think Word is handling fonts ³properly²...but EVERY other
application I have loads quickly, even ones that don¹t use the Apple Font
panel, like InDesign and Illustrator. And, neither Excel, PowerPoint, or
Entourage exhibit the same behavior. In addition, all Office apps do not
handle PostScript Type 1 fonts well. For example, the family ³Stone Serif²
comes listed in the Formatting Palette as B ITCStoneSerif (for bold), etc. Of
course, I can just click on the Bold button, but my point is the formatting
palette doesn¹t group them like I would expect. TrueType and OpenType fonts
don¹t exhibit that behavior, but they are not grouped by family either. The
majority of my collection are Adobe Type 1 fonts (from their Font Folio). I¹d
love to convert them all to OpenType, but that would be quite the costly
endeavor.

A large portion of what I do is streamlining electronic workflow, so I use
Acrobat, Word, InDesign, and Illustrator frequently. I have 2 Gb or RAM, so
even my large library doesn¹t occupy a huge amount of memory... I am able to
keep the aforementioned apps, along with Safari and Entourage open without too
much problem.

Again, Word seems to be the oddball in font handling among the applications I
use most frequently. Apple has some wonderful typography functions built in to
OS X, precisely so that applications don¹t have to handle fonts themselves. I
wish Microsoft would implement some of that technology in Word.

Scott M

-- (e-mail address removed)

 

[Scott Melendez]

Well, does Word even handle OpenType well (the multiple glyphs, ligatures,
etc.)? Adobe, of course, has more of a motivation for applications like
InDesign to handle the benefits of OpenType, but does Microsoft?

I¹m all for moving to OpenType; but for those of us who have a big
investment in Type 1 fonts, it¹s going to be a long process.

In addition, despite the proliferation of cheap/free TrueType fonts, Type 1
is the standard, and will continue to be for a while.

 

[Scott Melendez]

Yes. It actually has a negligible effect on performance. And, since Word
lists Type 1 fonts in that odd manner, it¹s really taking a step back.

 

[sumayyaessack]

hi there

welllll...i dunno if this is the answer ...but i trashed the font cache
tool..and now it works superb ***!!!!!!!!

no more headaches....

 

[sumayyaessack]

trash your font cache tool ******

 

[Scott Melendez]

Although Word doesn¹t use the Apple Type Server (ATS) engine, I discovered
that corrupt system font caches can add overhead to the ³Optimizing Font
menu performance...²

If Word is reporting corrupt fonts, even though there aren¹t any, and/or
Word takes an inordinately long time to optimize, use a tool like Font
Finagler to delete your font caches.

If you want to delete font caches manually, look in the HD/Library/Caches
folder for the com.apple.ATS folder, and look in HD/System/Library/Caches
for fontTablesAnnex and any other file with ats in it. (Trash your Office
Font Cache, too.) Restart your Mac.

If, like me, you have lots and lots of fonts, get Font Doctor ­ it is
another invaluable font utility.

Scott

PS Can any one answer why Type 1 fonts show up in the Font menu like ³B
StoneSerif² (for bold), instead of grouping them by family?