Missing Fonts Error

Question

A lot of people post questions or frustrations about missing font errors in FrameMaker. FrameMaker reports missing fonts because it can be a big expensive deal if you miss the mistake when going to press.

Answer 1

<b>Fixing the Missing Fonts Error</b><br /><br />This information is courtesy of Tim Murray. Check out his site: <a target="wander" href="http://www.techknowledgecorp.com">http://www.techknowledgecorp.com</a> and the Frame-specific help at <a target="wander" href="http://www.techknowledgecorp.com/help">http://www.techknowledgecorp.com/help</a>.<b r /><br /><font size="+1"><i>The Problem</i></font><br /><br /><ul><li>You open a Frame file and the console reports that a font was not found, so another was substituted.</li><br /><br /><li>You cannot generate a book because Frame tell you it can't properly open all the files.</li></ul><br /><br /><font size="+1"><i> Load the font</i></font><br /><br />This is the obvious fix.<br /><br /><font size="+1"><i> "Don't care" solution</i></font><br /><br />In this solution, you are positive you never used the font, but even if you did, the substitution FrameMaker provides would be okay anyway. <br /><br /><ol><li>Close the file.</li><br /><li>Turn off the "Remember Missing Font Names" preference.</li><br /><li>Open the file (you will get the error again) and save. </li><br /><li>The next time you open the file, the message will be gone.</li></ol><br /><br /><font size="+1"><i> "Programmed" solution</i></font><br /><br />Here you want to substitute the missing font for one that is different than the choice FrameMaker provides.<br /><br /><ol><li>Turn off the "Remember Missing Font Names" preference</li><br /><li>Exit FrameMaker.</li><br /><li>In a text editor (notepad.exe), open the maker.ini file.</li><br /><li>Edit the ini line "DefaultFamily=". In most cases it is Times New Roman, Times, Tms Rmn. Insert the font of choice at the front. For example:</li><br /><br />DefaultFamily=NewCenturySchlbk, Times, Times New Roman, Tms Rmn<br /><br />You don't have to have anything after the first item, but it doesn't hurt.<br><br /><li>Remove the changed font from your system either by turning it off in ATM or removing it from your Fonts folder.</li><br /><li>Add the new font. </li><br /><li>Open the FrameMaker file. FrameMaker's console should report that your original font is missing and the new font was substituted.</li><br /><li>Save the file. The change is done.</li></ol><br /><br /><font size="+1"><i>When Font Errors Interfere with Books and Updates</i></font><br /><br />You may be in a situation where you need to do an update, but in order to do so you would have to override the fonts . . . but you would rather not, because doing so would mess up the design.<br /><br /><font color="blue>The solution is to open the file or files that are missing the fonts; if the affected files are open during the generate, you won't get the "cannot open file" error message.</font><br /><br />If you need to open all the files of a book, you do NOT have to run down the book list and open each one separately. Instead, you can simply Shift+click or Ctrl+click the files you want (and a Ctrl+A, in Windows, selects the whole list). In FM6 and earlier, press Enter. In FM7, right-click > Open. Each file will open (but, of course, you may have to acknowledge missing font messages).<br /><br />Also, you can open all files in the book at once this way:<br /><br /><ol><li>Make the book file active in FrameMaker--so it is in the foreground.</li><br /><li>Shift+click the File menu selection, in the menu bar.</li><br /><li>Shift+clicking File gives you book-level options in the File menu, including "Open All Files in Book."</li></ol><br /><br />Thanks again to Tim for the information used here.<br /><br /><font size="-1">(Remember to post suggestions or corrections in the FAQ Suggestions and Corrections thread.)</font>