Word 2010 Font Problem: different fonts showing up on screen

Anonymous
2010-06-09T21:52:26+00:00

I upgraded from Office 2007 to 2010 two weeks ago. Whenever I open up documents in Print Layout View that were created under earlier versions of Word (2000, 2003, 2007), Word replaces several of the fonts with something that looks like Arial bold.Sometimes it changes just the title fonts, sometime the entire body font--it's not always the same phenomenon in each document. 

The Font window on the Home tab still shows the name of the original font being used in the document, but the screen does not show that font--it just shows whatever it replaces the font with. Repeat: even though the screen in showing a different font, the Font window on the Tab Screen shows the name of the font the document should be showing.

When I change to Draft View, the fonts all display properly, but I need the correct fonts in the Print Layout to show because the bogus font that Word substitutes throws off the accuracy of what I'm looking at.

Is anyone else having this problem?

Jeff

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2010-06-24T19:57:39+00:00

I solved this problem by saving the troublesome file in what 2010 calls "compatability mode>"

Was this answer helpful?

30+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2010-06-28T15:17:36+00:00

Eutactic, I finally tried this solution. I really was not comfortable deleting everything under \Office, but after backing up the registry, I gave it a try. So far it seems to have worked. I will be finishing an important project during the week, so I will have daily opportunities to see how this holds up.

Thanks for the recommendation.

Jeff

Was this answer helpful?

10 people found this answer helpful.
0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2010-06-16T09:05:01+00:00

I believe I have solved this problem by simply backing up and deleting all the registry values in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office. Obviously this is an extreme approach that wiped my preferences, but it appears to have done the trick.

Was this answer helpful?

0 comments

161 additional answers

Sort by: Oldest
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2010-07-23T03:17:44+00:00

    It is interesting that you are having font problems in print layout view.  I have problems with fonts in draft view, and all I am using is simple Times New Roman -- no special fonts.

    I am running Win 7 64-bit, Office 2010 32-bit.  The documents where I see this are in compatibility mode, typically created in Word 2003.  In draft view, there will be parts of the document that appear to be in italics, even though they are not.  If I switch to print layout view, it looks correct.  If I switch back to draft, I have the same issue.  It seems to happen near other italic text, but I'm not positive about that.

    I've tried the fixes suggested above.  Deleting my settings had no effect.  Turning off "Disable OpenType Font Formatting Features" had no effect.  I noticed, though, that the setting did not "stick" -- that is, when I unchecked it, the next time I went back to the options screen, it was again checked.

    I wonder if my issues are at all related to all of yours -- perhaps not, given the different views in which they appear.  I thought I would post, however, since it is still an on-screen font display bug.

    Thanks,

    Tony

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2010-07-26T14:20:58+00:00

    After finally running out of patience, I've initiated an official support request with Microsoft on this problem.  So far I've been impressed with their responsiveness, hopefully they'll admit this is a problem "soon".  I'll update on this thread.

    The problem is isolated to fonts that are listed in the font viewer as "OpenType Layout" and "PostScript Outlines".  If a font is "TrueType Outlines", the problem does not occur.

    I can reproduce reliably as follows:

    • Close Word
    • Launch Word
    • type "=rand(10)" enter
    • ctrl-a
    • change font to a OT font with PS outlines
    • Save As...
    • close the file
    • open the file (should be broken)
    • close word
    • open word
    • open the file (should be OK)

    Interestingly, I don't think Microsoft ships any fonts which are PostScript outline.  This may be why only a few Word 2010 users see the problem.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments