Font Properties Extension for 64-bit Windows Vista/7/8

[Character]

The published version of the Microsoft Font Properties Extension doesn't
function on 64-bit versions of the Windows Operating System.

There is an unsupported version that DOES work on 64-bit systems. It can
be downloaded here:

http://tinyurl.com/afadjxg

Which is a shortcut to:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/o0r41zrwhwfcfqc/OpenType%20Font%20Properties%20Extension%20x64.zip

- Character

[Tom McCreadie]

Character <Ch...@cters.bold.italic> wrote:

>The published version of the Microsoft Font Properties Extension doesn't
>function on 64-bit versions of the Windows Operating System.
>
>There is an unsupported version that DOES work on 64-bit systems. It can
>be downloaded here:

<snipped>

Thanks - but how do I install that TTFExtNT.dll file on my Win7x64...just by
copying to which folder?
(On an older WinXP 32bit pc with an installed & working Properties Extension, I
hve that same-named file in the folder "C:\Program Files\OpenType Extension")

[Character]

Put it into c:\windows\system32\

Then register it.
I think this is how I did it:

Start / Run
Reg c:\windows\system32\ttfextnt.dll
or maybe just the file name without the full path

- Character

[Tom McCreadie]

Since posting, I'd read elsewhere that, for Win 7 x64 systems, one should
register the dll file by using the 'regsvr32' command, and, moreover, use the
regsvr32.exe that's in the 'C:\windows\syswow64' folder. (FWIW the regsvr32.exe
in the 'c:windows\system32' folder had the same version no. but was slightly
larger.)

So I copied the ttfextnt.dll file into the 'C:\windows\syswow64' folder and
successfully registered via the Run command:

C:\Windows\syswow64\regsvr32 c:\windows\syswow64\ttfextnt.dll

However, this gave mixed results:
Right-click on font > font properties >
- For TrueType fonts: Success! Extended properties now available
- For OpenType fonts: Aargh!! the Properties item itself is now not even
available in the Rt-click drop-down menu !
- For Type 1 fonts: unchanged, as expected.

My understanding was that this revised dll should also have worked with OpenType
files? In my case, it actually denied me OpenType info :-)

[Character]

Don't know what to tell you - it's working for me for TTF, OTF
(TT-based), and OTF (T1-based).

I just scanned through the registry (with regedit) and found the file
located in /windows/system32/ AND, an older, different, version in
/Program Files (x86)/OpenType Extension/TTFExtNT.dll

Maybe that one was just a leftover.

Unrelated, I've replaced FontView.exe with the old XP version (which I
like better because it displays the copyright info). So the old one gets
used MOST of the time, but sometimes it's the Windows 7 one that gets
opened. I have no idea what triggers the choice, or where it's hiding.
One of these days I'll dig a little deeper and replace some of the
fileviewer dll's as well, to get away from having it display default
arial-type glyphs if they're not in the font.

- Characte

[Ron Parker]

On Mon, 14 Jan 2013 22:53:28 -0800, Character wrote:
> On 1/14/2013 4:58 PM, Tom McCreadie wrote:
>> Since posting, I'd read elsewhere that, for Win 7 x64 systems, one should
>> register the dll file by using the 'regsvr32' command, and, moreover, use the
>> regsvr32.exe that's in the 'C:\windows\syswow64' folder. (FWIW the regsvr32.exe
>> in the 'c:windows\system32' folder had the same version no. but was slightly
>> larger.)

The one in syswow64 is the 32-bit version. The one in system32 is the 64-bit
version. I know that seems backwards, based on the names, but it's absolutely
true and there are actually defensible reasons why it is that way. You should
ideally use the one that corresponds to the DLL you're registering, though I
think each of them will automatically call the other if necessary when you
get it wrong.

>>
>> So I copied the ttfextnt.dll file into the 'C:\windows\syswow64' folder and
>> successfully registered via the Run command:

This is the wrong place for that file, as it is a 64-bit DLL. If you're going
to put it in a system directory, it should be in system32.

> I just scanned through the registry (with regedit) and found the file
> located in /windows/system32/ AND, an older, different, version in
> /Program Files (x86)/OpenType Extension/TTFExtNT.dll

Program Files (x86) is the 32-bit version of Program Files. It seems likely
that the version you found there is the 32-bit version and won't be used.
Like me, you probably installed the 32-bit version at some point, found that
it didn't work, and then forgot to remove it.

[Tom McCreadie]

Thanks for the further details. I've since:

a) Unregistered TTFExtNT.dll (the unsupported, revised version)
b) Moved that file from 'C:\windows\syswow64' folder to 'C:\windows\system32' (I
Confirmed that I had no other instances of a ttfextnt.dll already on my pc)
c) Re-registered TTFExtNT.dll by running:
C:\Windows\system32\regsvr32 c:\windows\system32\ttfextnt.dll

With the puzzling exception of Cambria Math Regular (which still displayed the
minimum font properties), the Extended Properties of the TrueType and OpenType
fonts were now accessible (via Rt-click > Properties >).

BUT I still encounter the restriction of only getting the Extended Prperties
whenever the font is listed in the Windows Explorer 'Font style' column as a
single font, not when it's grouped by Explorer in its font family.

As illustration, with some Lucida fonts, Explorer on c:\windows\fonts showed:

Name Font style
Lucida Sans Unicode Regular Regular
Lucida Sans Typewriter Bold Olique; Oblique; Bold; Regular

The top font-entry worked fine with Rt-click > Properties > But with the lower
fonts-entry, Rt-click again gave NO drop-down Property item. Perhaps I can
reconfigure Win7 Explorer to display the fonts as split out individual entries?

Ach, no big deal as I can do all this font extension stuff in Typograf...but
curious minds wanted to know :-)

[Ron Parker]

On Tue, 15 Jan 2013 19:37:22 +0100, Tom McCreadie wrote:
> With the puzzling exception of Cambria Math Regular (which still displayed the
> minimum font properties), the Extended Properties of the TrueType and OpenType
> fonts were now accessible (via Rt-click > Properties >).

Cambria Math Regular is a .ttc file. While the extension appears to register
itself for use with TTC files, it may not actually work with them. You can
see the same behavior with some of the Asian fonts, e.g. Gulim Regular.

>
> BUT I still encounter the restriction of only getting the Extended Prperties
> whenever the font is listed in the Windows Explorer 'Font style' column as a
> single font, not when it's grouped by Explorer in its font family.

The ones that are grouped by family act like folders. If you double-click
one, it'll show you all of the individual styles contained therein and you
can get the properties of those.

[Character]

I have never used the font properties extension (or much else, for that
matter) for fonts/files in C:\windows\fonts. That's a specialized folder
with unique attributes - for example, it lists FONT names, not FILE
names, groups families (up to a point). The peculiarities you mention
are to be expected.

- Ch.

[mik...@gmail.com]

Just as a note, the commands should be run in an elevated command prompt (Administrator). I knew this, because I've done this on another system, but missed that detail this time around.

HTH

-- Micah

[thuc...@gmail.com]

After upgrading from Windows 8.1 Pro to Windows 10 Pro 64-bit, the extension's tabs were gone. I tried to re-register the extension, per the above instructions, but now I get COM surrogate errors when trying to use the extension's tabs (which are again visible). I then tried to deal with the COM surrogate errors via DEP, but that has been no use. Does anyone have this working under Windows 10 64-bit? If so, did you encounter any of the issues I've just described, and how did you get this working? Thanks.

[pab...@gmail.com]

On Sunday, 9 August 2015 21:12:28 UTC-3, thuc...@gmail.com wrote:
> After upgrading from Windows 8.1 Pro to Windows 10 Pro 64-bit, the extension's tabs were gone. I tried to re-register the extension, per the above instructions, but now I get COM surrogate errors when trying to use the extension's tabs (which are again visible). I then tried to deal with the COM surrogate errors via DEP, but that has been no use. Does anyone have this working under Windows 10 64-bit? If so, did you encounter any of the issues I've just described, and how did you get this working? Thanks.

Me too! Exactly the same... Arrrgggh!

[David E. Ross]

There are a number of reasons not to transition to Windows 10. (Note
that I did not use the word "upgrade".) Among them is that Microsoft
states that a number of old applications from Windows 95 through Windows
XP that worked with Windows 7 will NOT work with Windows 10.

--
David E. Ross

Why do we tolerate political leaders who
spend more time belittling hungry children
than they do trying to fix the problem of
hunger? <http://mazon.org/>

[pab...@gmail.com]

On Sunday, 9 August 2015 21:12:28 UTC-3, thuc...@gmail.com wrote:

> After upgrading from Windows 8.1 Pro to Windows 10 Pro 64-bit, the extension's tabs were gone. I tried to re-register the extension, per the above instructions, but now I get COM surrogate errors when trying to use the extension's tabs (which are again visible). I then tried to deal with the COM surrogate errors via DEP, but that has been no use. Does anyone have this working under Windows 10 64-bit? If so, did you encounter any of the issues I've just described, and how did you get this working? Thanks.

Workaround!:
I've installed WOW64Menu [http://www.gasanov.net/WOW64Menu.asp] (it allows to access 32-bit properties of any object); then extracted the TTFExtNT.dll (32-bit) from the download from MS Typography, and registered it (regsvr32 TTFExtNT.dll). Maybe that running the installer works the same. Then:
1) Right-click over a font file
2) Select "WOW64 (32-bit) Menu"
3) There appears again a properties menu (this time are the 32-bit properties)
4) Select properties
5) Voilà!, everything works in the FPE!.
Sadly, the 64-bit FPE does continue broken.

[lorna...@sil.org]

Thanks, this solution works for me...except it doesn't work on installed fonts, just fonts outside of the fonts folder. That is, if I'm in C:\Windows\fonts and right click on a font I don't get the WOW64 (32-bit) Menu.
Any solution to that issue?

[David E. Ross]

I am using TTFExtNT.dll to view font properties. For some (not all)
installed fonts, I noticed that properties could not be viewed. On
further investigation, those were fonts that involve more than a single
file (e.g., a file for each of Roman, Italic, Roman bold, and Italic
bold). For those, I open what appeared to be a font file and instead
found it was a folder (or pseudofolder) containing separate files for
each style. On those files, I could indeed view the font properties.

--
David E. Ross
<http://www.rossde.com/>.

Donald Trump says he will create many jobs if he
is elected President. To find out about Trump's
ability to create jobs, ask those who are now
unemployed because Trump's Atlantic city hotel
and casino went bankrupt.

[pab...@gmail.com]

On Friday, 17 June 2016 15:53:31 UTC-3, lorna...@sil.org wrote:
> Thanks, this solution works for me...except it doesn't work on installed fonts, just fonts outside of the fonts folder. That is, if I'm in C:\Windows\fonts and right click on a font I don't get the WOW64 (32-bit) Menu.
> Any solution to that issue?

Copy the font file to other folder... :-)
But, iirc, the 64-bit FPE didn't work in the font folder (?)

It's a shame that this awesome utility doesn't have been updated