Dealing Wih Fonts That Can't be Embedded
Phillip Hawke
Before I ask for help I'll mention up front that I've read the FAQ on font
embedding. So, here we go . . .
I took an old PPT presentation that probably originated in PP95, or back to
Mac even, brought it to PP97, and basically rewrote most of the material,
with much added. I have used a select collection of common and uncommon
fonts.
Becasue this presentation will leave my computer and go to parts unknown, I
must use font embedding. To my surprise, the first time I turned this
feature on, the following fonts were listed as un-embeddable: Courier,
Geneva, Helv, & Times New Roman Special G1. They are listed as
un-embeddable because they are not installed (which is true).
I say "to my surprise" because none of these fonts is desired, or was used,
by me. They must have been somewhere in the eariler material, even though I
tried to convert everything to my desired fonts. Because these fonts are
not desired by me, my first thought was simply to replace them. This I
tried using Format/Replace Fonts. The trouble was, though, that the options
in the "Replace" drop down do not include these fonts (which, by the way, if
anyone can explain I'd like to hear it. This is an incredibly useful tool
that, unfortunately, doesn't work well). This makes it impossible for me to
get rid of the fonts that way.
Now, there's two ways for me to go here. Option one: I need to replace
these fonts. Even though my presentation looks good as it is now, letting
them stay is dangerous. This is because my machine is substituting for them
(since they aren't loaded), but the presentation might wind up on a computer
with these fonts installed, which could then mess up the appearance of my
presentation. I tried finding them manually, to no avail. This leads to my
first question: since PPT Font Replacer can't find them, does anyone know of
a free- or share-ware app that can scan through a PPT presentation and find
fonts?
Option two is to load these fonts as TT so they can be embedded. I took a
stab at finding Geneva for PC-and that beast "Times New Roman Special G1,"
whatever that is-on the free font web pages, but couldn't. Does anyone have
these in TT, or will I have to buy a fonts collection with licences and all
that? Does anyone know of a tool to convert non TT fonts to TT, so that if
I can find these fonts in a format other than TT I can create my own TT
version? One final trick I thought of, but don't know how to do, is to take
any freeware font, rename it as one of the fonts in question, and let the
computer use that file to map the font. If I use something distinctive-like
one of those dripping blood-type fonts, for instance-then at least I can
find the text in my presentation and replace it.
And finally, perhaps its time for me to break down and actually buy a really
good font creator/editor/maneger tool. Can anyone give a good
recommendnation?
Anyway, any help anyone can give on this thorny issue would be greatly
appreciated.
Phillip
Steve Rindsberg
options
> in the "Replace" drop down do not include these fonts (which, by the way,
if
> anyone can explain I'd like to hear it. This is an incredibly useful tool
> that, unfortunately, doesn't work well). This makes it impossible for me
to
> get rid of the fonts that way.
I've seen this kind of thing before, almost always in situations like
yours -- older ppt files brought forward, usually with a side-trip through
Mac-land.
> Now, there's two ways for me to go here. Option one: I need to replace
> these fonts. Even though my presentation looks good as it is now, letting
> them stay is dangerous. This is because my machine is substituting for
them
> (since they aren't loaded),
That or PPT simply *thinks* they're in use, though they may not be.
Try this on a copy of the pressie: use the font replacer and replace the
fonts you know are used with something ridiculous - all monotype sorts, for
example, or something even more off the wall if you have it. Critters is a
fave of mine. Then scan the pressie carefully looking for any text that
isn't little animals or whatever. If there isn't any, then you're probably
covered, PPT isn't using these other fonts.
Font Replace won't get fonts in charts and other pasted stuff, so you may
also want to ungoup any content from other apps and check this also.
> that? Does anyone know of a tool to convert non TT fonts to TT, so that
if
> I can find these fonts in a format other than TT I can create my own TT
> version?
There are programs for this - don't know any names for you offhand, but bear
in mind that converting T1s to TT so you can embed them in PPT is more than
likely not legal.
Austin Myers
Phillip,
Fonts and PPT are a real pain when sending the presentation to another
machine. There is no way of knowing what fonts are installed (or missing)
from one machine to another. As you've seen, embedding the fonts is not
without it's own problems. (License restrictions, etc..)
You said, "and go to parts unknown" which I think is the toughest audience
in the world! Depending upon the amount of text and the animations used,
you might consider creating the text in your favorite drawing program (using
the font you want). Save it as a jpeg and then insert it in the
presentation with any animations you want.
Regardless of what fonts are, or are not installed, the presentation retains
the look and feel you desired. Just food for thought.
Austin Myers
MS PowerPoint MVP Team
Edd Clark
returns at the end of lines and paragraphs. For some reason the "replace"
feature never finds them, and it's probably not worth your time to search
them out, because it will take a lot of time. Fortunately, when I've had
the problem, it hasn't caused anything to change when transferred to a new
computer, so I've been able to just leave it alone.
Edd
"Phillip Hawke" <p.h...@telesat.ca> wrote in message
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