Font Problem: Whatever I type shows up as gibberish

[Alverya]

I've been having weird font problems. It rears its ugly head the most when I'm using Apple Mail and sometimes with Adium.

When I try to type something, it shows up as gibberish to me (example: http://www.mydesignstreak.com/fontproblem.jpg).

Funny thing is, whoever I send it to though, gets it in proper english font. I'm using Max OS10.4.10.

This seems to be a recent problem. I've not had this before. Please help. thanks tons!!

PS: it also happens when i get emails through Mail, making it impossible for me to read my emails.

[xero]

a few questions for you to help us narrow it down.

are you able to reproduce it on your own... meaning are you able to click a menu or launch something and then it starts every time or is it random?

does it happen in other user accounts? (if you don't have another user account then i would create one from the system prefs and log in as that new user and run adium for a while and see what happens.

is it only in mail and adium or does it happen in other apps as well?

[Alverya]

its random. I've tried turning off other languages in the system, restarting my computer, even shutting my computer down for a few hours but it keeps happening.

It happens in other user accounts too.

So far, only Mail and Adium have been this way. Its not all the time with Adium, just once in a while when I type or when I copy something in from somewhere else, say textedit. In Mail though, its all the time.

Thanks.

[Zino Davidoff]

I've been having this problem in Mail: It seems that some messages sent in italic, specifically Helvetica Bold Oblique, show up as HBO gibberish. I just hit the reply button and then change the gibberish area to any other font and it's rendered normally. So, still not having sussed out the cause (it just started one day from no particular source) at least it happens seldom and has an easy workaround.

Oddly, even when I revert back to Helvetica Bold Oblique, once it's changed back to normal English, it stays there.

[Natobasso]

First, download the free FontExplorer from Linotype: http://www.linotype.com/fontexplorer

Then, install the app.

After that, go to Tools, Manage System Fonts and let it do its thing. You may have duplicate and/or unnecessary fonts in there. Once you do that, move all those moved fonts (you'll see a folder in ALL CAPS in the first layer of your hard drive directory) to a MY FONTS folder, or similarly named.

Then Add Fonts to Library (I believe in File menu) and let it work. Now activate any font you wish to use regularly or create groups of fonts that you can turn off and on; kind of like ITunes playlists.

DO NOT use fontbook for your fonts. It sucks for anything more than writing a letter to mommy.

Oftentimes font errors like this are caused by duplicate font errors, mainly with Helvetica, Arial, Verdana; the more commonly used fonts on pcs and macs.

[Zino Davidoff]

Hey, Natobasso... your response was right on.

I'd manually checked for duplicates of Helvetica, which was the font that seemed to be causing the trouble, but hadn't found any. I already use Suitcase Fusion which came with Font Doctor, so I just scanned for duplicates and found multiples of Monaco. Moved 'em out, restarted Mail... and the gibberish is gone.

I'd always been suspicious of compounding font issues with Font Doctor since it seems to cry wolf more often than I'd like, but in this instance it worked perfectly.

thanks for pointing me in the right direction...

[Natobasso]

Sweet! I still think you should ditch Fusion and move to FontExplorer. I agree FontDoctor does TOO GOOD a job of 'making problems'.

Glad it worked out for you. I strugged with this one for weeks before I found the answer; always glad to save someone time!