Font problems and management in OS X
I've run across a variety of situations both personally and on discussion threads where seemingly normal systems will suddenly start showing odd behavior, including slow application launch times, extensive login times, or just specific functions of a program (ie, menu access) not working. Many times bizarre system behaviors such as these in addition to obvious problems such as distorted or garbled text may be nothing more than a problem with fonts; however, tackling font problems can be one of the most tedious and frustrating ventures in OS X.
There are several approaches to managing fonts, some that are crude (ie, "remove them all and start over") and others that take a long time, depending on the task. One problem with troubleshooting fonts is that it's a fine balancing act. While the presence of some fonts is required for certain application or system features, those can conflict with other fonts that are required for other features. As such, if you remove the wrong one you can solve one issue but introduce another.
Global font management has been desired for years, and while there have been advances, no solution encompasses everything. This is mainly because companies that develop applications which extensively use fonts tend to use their own font organization techniques (ie, storage locations). Other times a company will require a certain type of font and not adopt newer technologies, requiring you to have multiple font formats on your system, sometimes keeping them in global locations where other program may have trouble when trying to load them. The possibilities go on and on.
Apple has done a decent effort in tackling font issues by introducing Font Book, which contains font validation routines to isolate a number of problems that may crop up with Fonts. However, Font Book is still limited in what it can detect, and even when fonts are found to be valid there still may be problems.
For an extensive look at font management and handling font problems in OS X, the following tutorial and FAQ by Kurt Lang is an excellent resource for anyone, but especially for those who extensively use fonts: http://www.jklstudios.com/misc/osxfonts.html
Kurt Lang's article is well organized, but also long so if you are just experiencing problems with fonts, here are some basic troubleshooting steps to take:
Run validations with Font Book
Launch Font Book and press command-A to select all fonts. Then from the "File" menu select "Validate Fonts" and wait for the results in the font validation window. Keep in mind that even though you may find minor problems with your current fonts, its best to follow the saying "if it's not broken then don't fix it", and leave well-enough alone unless you're experiencing problems.
Clear the font cache
In OS X, fonts are handled by the Apple Type Server process, which stores commonly used fonts in a cache for quick access. If there is corruption in this cache then you may experience a variety of troubles. To clear the cache, in pre-Leopard versions of OS X go to the /Macintosh HD/Library/Caches/ folder and remove the "com.apple.ATS" file. After doing this, restart the system.
For OS X 10.5 and later, you cannot easily access the user and global font caches, but you can use Apple's "atsutil" terminal command to manage the ATS process. Open "Terminal" and enter the following commands to clear the user (or global) databases and restart the server:
atsutil databases -removeUser
atsutil server -shutdown
atsutil server -pingNOTE: Use "sudo atsutil databases -remove" instead of the first command to remove the database for all users.
Avoid older font formats
If you can, avoid ".dfont" and "Type 1 PostScript" fonts. This suggestion may depend on the requirements for various programs, but if you have an older font suite that you are thinking about installing, it may run into problems with newer programs so you might consider getting an updated version of the suite before installing. Granted you can always try, but there is the potential that older font formats can cause problems so we recommend you stick to the more modern ".ttf" and ".ttc" fonts.
Manually clear out duplicates
Font Book has an option to "Resolve Duplicates" (available in the "Edit" menu), but this is limited in functionality and may not remove the specific font duplicate which you desire to remove. As such, the best approach to managing duplicate fonts is to do it manually (tedious, but effective if done correctly). In Font Book, you can use the "Show Font info" option (command-I) to see information about a selected font, and especially where the font is located on your system. Doing this for your duplicate fonts will allow you to select which one to remove, either by removing it from its font folder, or by right-clicking it and selecting "Disable".
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I've tried to forget how unproductive I was when migrating from OS 9 to 10 years ago, and been waiting for things to be given attention and made as straightforward as Apple is famous for.
Instead, I now have more fonts I've never heard of running as system fonts and do experience odd behaviors from fonts, including corruption, and the never ending chore of replacing Helvetica with Helvetica when opening documents older than circa Leopard.
I'm also disappointed at how unclear and complicated font management has become, and has been, as you've pointed out.
I applaud you're addressing it, and hopefully you can post a more pedestrian prescription to setting up a healthy (professional) font library, including commercial apps (like Suitcase or Font Explorer etc) that you would recommend. I do use OnyX to clean caches etc, but still scoff at the time and education needed to truly manage a healthy library. And it still doesn't seem to address it all.
FWIW, it's not very practical for many of us to stop using Type1 fonts and re-buy the licenses as Open Types. It would cost more for my company to replace all my Type 1 Fonts licenses than to replace all application licenses and current hardware.
Seems odd that this would go on and on.
Kurt's FAQ is great, and I'm glad it got mention here.
I hope Quark can work out some of the problems that Adobe seem to have with CS4.
I usually use Linotype's Font Explorer to settle some of the pitfalls but it's not nearly enough. I will certainly applaud whoever straightens this out - it doesn't have to be this way, except to guarantee Adobe and other's profits...
Responsibility for font issues has always been divided between the OS, third-party developers and users. There is little likelihood this will ever change. Since users are the ones who suffer the most from font problems, the job of managing fonts and solving font problems ultimately falls on them.
There are two viable strategies for handling fonts. As is the case with most computer users, if you don't spend much time selecting and changing fonts in your everyday work, then keep it simple. Resist the temptation to tinker with your fonts. For these folks Apple's Font Book is sufficient for the infrequent troubleshooting they will need to do - validating, activating and deactivating fonts and resolving duplicates. On the other hand, if you use fonts extensively, you need to learn to use a third-party font management program like Suitcase Fusion or FontExplorer. You can blame Apple or Adobe or Quark till the cows come home but it won't solve your problems. Only you can do that.
Oh, and if you do use fonts professionally, avoid Snow Leopard for the time being. Apple has indeed failed to meet their basic obligations for font compatibility in Snow Leopard. When they will resolve these issues is anybody's guess.
Also can't believe someone hasn't written at least an eBook on the subject.
I concur that the entire font structure of OS X is needlessly complex. Why have 3 separate font locations, with arcane rules about which fonts go where? If some fonts are system fonts and can't be moved, why aren't they in their own location, from which application and user fonts are banned? In fact, why not have the OS enforce separate locations for system, user and application fonts, instead of mingling them at random? At least that way you'd know which it was, by the location, and wouldn't be guessing or digging through non-existent documentation.
System fonts are in the System/Library/Fonts folder and should not be tampered with - other than to use Font Book to turn off those (foreign fonts, for example) you don't use. Font Book cannot disable any required system fonts. Nor can FontExplorer or the latest versions of Suitcase Fusion.
Fonts that everyone needs access to are located in the Library/Fonts folder. These are accessible to all users of the system. Programs like Microsoft Office install their fonts here.
User specific fonts are (or should be) installed in the Users/~/Library/Fonts folder. This way only your chosen fonts load when you boot up; your personal space will not be burdened by fonts belonging to other users. While many of us are the only users on our computers, the system nevertheless has to provide support for potential additional users. And, in fact, at least one additional user account can come in handy even for solo users when they need to troubleshoot their systems. Got a font problem? Switch to your test user account and see if the problem persists. The user Fonts folder is the default location for Font Book when it's used to install fonts.
Earlier versions of OS X also had to support OS 9 fonts in the Classic workspace, so there was at that time another Fonts folder in the System Folder. While this is no longer needed, it was important at the time to smooth the transition from OS 9 to OS X.
OS X's complexity provides the necessary flexibility to support all these optional work environments. A simple, more rigid system might be easier to understand but it would not be nearly as useful. For most people font use in OS X is easy and transparent. They never need to look under the hood. Indeed, many are not aware they can manage fonts; they never even notice Font Book sitting there in the Applications folder.
If font organization in OS X seems too complicated, it's probably because you don't understand how and why OS X works. The solution is not to blame Apple for not making things easier for you, but to take the time to educate yourself on the subject. If fonts interest you this should not be too difficult.
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by bobsc_dotmac
November 5, 2009 6:37 AM PST
- You said "so we recommend you stick to the more modern ".ttf" and ".ttc" fonts".
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(8 Comments)Not just .ttf and .ttc. Also modern, in fact the most modern, is .otf.