Text formatted with Symbol font cannot be changed back to Times

[Ken Benson]

I'm trying to find characters that have been formatted with Symbol font and
replace with the equivalent character and a visible code for the font
change. IOW, I want to search for a mu (an "m" changed to Symbol font to
make a Greek mu) and replace with

<symbol>m<\symbol>

The problem that comes up is that when I change the font from Symbol to
Times New Roman, the mu changes to a box (which exports to a plain text file
as a question mark).

To test this, start a new blank document, type an m, select all and change
the font to Symbol, save the file as a Word document, reopen it, select all
and change the font back to Times New Roman (or whatever your base font is).
It doesn't change back to an m. It changes to some sort of box that seems to
be Word's equivalent of "I don't know what this character is." The spooky
thing is that if you don't save and reopen the file, then you won't see this
behavior.

Is there a way to get around this? I know this must have something to do
with Unicode.

 

[Doc Services Coordinator]

Hi Ken,

Try this:

Turn on your num lock key
While holding down the alt key type in 0181
then release, your symbol should then pop up.

 

[Ken Benson]

Yes, alt 0181 inserts a mu using the base font, but I'm not trying to type
or insert a mu. I'm trying to change the font on a character that already
exists and was created by formatting an m with Symbol font.

If you try the test I detailed below, you'll see the problem.

Ken



"Doc Services Coordinator"

 

[Ken Benson]

I think I found a solution at

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;q212396

Ken Benson

 

[Doc Services Coordinator]

Ken,
Our default font is arial 11 pts, I applied the test using what you describe
and yes, that did occur. If you use the alt 0181 "µ", I reapplied your test
and it held just fine changing from Arial to Times New Roman. I have found
that if you use the codes for symbols that they handle a lot better in other
applications and situations then insert symbol.

 

[Ken Benson]

Ken,

Our default font is arial 11 pts, I applied the test using what you describe
and yes, that did occur. If you use the alt 0181 "µ", I reapplied your test
and it held just fine changing from Arial to Times New Roman. I have found
that if you use the codes for symbols that they handle a lot better in other
applications and situations then insert symbol.

I understand what you're saying, and if I had put this document together I
probably would have done a lot of things differently. But I didn't. Like I
said before, these Symbol characters are already typed, and I have to find
them and convert them to the appropriate matching characters in the base
font. IOW, I have to find each Symbol formatted mu and change it to
<symbol>m<\symbol>; I have to find each Symbol formatted alpha and change it
to <symbol>a<\symbol>; etc.

In any case, I found the solution at

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;q212396

It involves using a macro to convert the nasty little box characters into
the appropriate letters.

But in doing this, I came up with another question. I'll start a new thread.

Ken Benson