Font problem - Helvetica Neue

Hi Sacha,

I've been working on my font management article, Font Management in Mac OS X Tiger and Panther, to update it for Leopard. The same text is on the forums here. Here's an except of it that you need for your situation.<hr>
4) If you work in a professional prepress environment, then this section will be important to you. As mentioned above, Courier (for Panther and Tiger), Helvetica Neue (for Leopard) and Helvetica (all) must be present in some form. They do not however, have to be the .dfont versions supplied with OS X. Any form of Courier or Helvetica will do to satisfy OS X's needs, whether they are the supplied .dfont, a Type 1 PostScript or OpenType version.

In Tiger and Panther, remove Courier.dfont and Helvetica.dfont from the /System/Library/Fonts/ folder. You will need Administrative access to remove these two fonts. Then permanently activate Type 1 PostScript or PostScript OpenType versions of Courier and Helvetica with your font manager. Despite its technically different name, "Courier New" conflicts with the PostScript "Courier". Remove the .dfont version of Courier New also and use a standard PostScript Type 1 or PostScript OpenType copy of Courier instead.

You can also place permanent copies of Courier and Helvetica in any of your hard drive folders listed in the next section. Unlike OS 9 or earlier, you can place folders of fonts into a Fonts folder. OS X will see and open all fonts in any subfolders. The disadvantage of opening fonts this way is that they will not be available to programs running in Classic. Use a font manager such as Suitcase (versions X or X1), MasterJuggler or FontAgent Pro to overcome this limitation.

Removing Helvetica and Helvetica Neue in Leopard.

Apple has gone to fairly great lengths in Leopard to protect the user from themselves by protecting certain fonts. While this is a wonderful safety net for the typical user, it's a headache for professional printers and prepress shops who must use PostScript versions of Helvetica. Especially since Font Book always favors the Apple versions when using Resolve Conflicts. It doesn't even give the option of choosing one over the other. On top of that, if you try to open a Type 1 PostScript or OpenType PostScript font, only these styles not already active in the .dfont versions will appear. I tried activating a Type 1 PostScript version of Helvetica through Suitcase Fusion with Apple's version still in place. Even with the option to allow Suitcase to manage system fonts on and Font Book's option to "Alert me if system fonts change" off, Suitcase still could not override the .dfont versions, leaving only one PostScript typeface active that didn't already exist in the .dfont copy.

Because Leopard keeps resurrecting them, removing Helvetica.dfont and HelveticaNeue.dfont is not a simple matter, but it can be done. To do so, follow the steps below.

1) Go to the /System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/A TS.framework/Versions/A/Resources/ProtectedFonts/ folder. Delete the files Helvetica.dfont and HelveticaNeue.dfont. Do not remove any other fonts! Restart your Mac.

2) If you use Font Book, open Font Book and highlight both Helvetica and Helvetica Neue. Disable the fonts using the menu or by pressing Command ShiftD. With both files still highlighted, right click (or Ctrl+click with a one button mouse) and choose "Remove Fonts". The fonts should disappear from Font Book's list and the fonts themselves from the /System/Library/Fonts/ folder. If the fonts remain in the /System/Library/Fonts/ folder, you can manually remove them after a restart. Again, you will need your Administrator password to do so.

3) If you do not use Font Book, go directly to the /System/Library/Fonts/ folder and delete the two Helvetica fonts. Enter your Administrator password when prompted to complete the action.

With the backup fonts for Helvetica.dfont and HelveticaNeue.dfont removed from the ProtectedFonts folder, they will no long keep reappearing in the /System/Library/Fonts/ folder. You will now be able to activate full copies of your preferred Helvetica fonts.

Courier is no longer a required font for OS X in Leopard, 10.5. As long as you have Administrative privileges, you can remove the supplied .dfont copy of Courier from the /System/Library/Fonts/ folder.

For the average user, there is no need to replace the supplied .dfont versions of Courier or Helvetica. The information in this section is intended for advanced users. If you don't feel you fall into that category, please disregard this section to avoid possibly causing your Mac to become unusable by accidentally removing critical system fonts.

That is exactly what I read earlier.

The first part of it is much the same, but very few people have seen the additional information of removing Leopard's Helvetica and Helvetica Neue .dfonts.

Using the correct version of Helvetica for your client's project is far more important than how using a version other than the one that comes with OS X makes the OS X supplied apps look.

You can't have it both ways. Since it's impossible to control which font the system will let you see when you have conflicting fonts (OS X will almost 100% of the time favor its own version in the System folder), you have to remove OS X's version so you can activate your client's font. Font conflicts will always cause problems.

If you don't want to permanently delete the Leopard supplied .dfont versions of Helvetica and Helvetica Neue, copy them to a separate location first. Then follow the instructions above to remove them from the System folder. After you've gotten the OS X versions out of your way, use the client fonts for your project. Deactivate them when you're done and reactivate OS X's versions by putting them in the /Library/Fonts/ folder, or by activating them with your font manager. They don't have to be put back in the /System/Library/Fonts/ folder.

Would be nice. I could see this coming for designers and prepress folks. There are a lot of font conflicts with the supplied .dfonts for Leopard. The Helvetica.dfont contains:

Helvetica
Helvetica-Bold
Helvetica-Oblique
Helvetica-BoldOblique

The HelveticaNeue.dfont contains:

Helvetica Neue
Helvetica Neue (bold)
Helvetica Neue (italic)
Helvetica Neue (bold,italic)
Helvetica Neue Bold Condensed
Helvetica Neue UltraLight
Helvetica Neue UltraLight (italic)
Helvetica Neue Light
Helvetica Neue Light (italic)
Helvetica Neue Black Condensed

Almost all of these have the identical internal PostScript name as Adobe's Type 1 PostScript and OpenType fonts. That's why most of the Neue fonts you need to use from your client won't show up until you get Apple's versions off the system.

Is there a way to rename a font so it won't create conflict with the system ones?

The only way is to change the internal names assigned to the fonts. The name you see on the desktop is irrelevant.

And so 2 Helvetica Neue fonts would be activated at the same time, but only a user would know which one is the right one to use?

If you can spot the difference and know which one isn't showing up in your applications. Though from the testing I've done, the Apple supplied .dfonts always trump the PostScript fonts. Any font conflict of internal names (which are the only ones that count) should always be avoided so you know you'll be able to open the version you need.

Maybe I have to get INSIDE the font file to do so... I don't know.

Yes, that's the only way. Other than just getting the fonts OS X installs off the system so you can use your full PostScript versions.

To be more specific, when I say the internal name, I don't mean the names of the individual TrueType fonts I listed above that are in each .dfont suitcase. That would be no different then changing the name of a single font on your desktop. The font will still appear in your font lists by the same name it did before.

In order to actually change the name a font reports itself as to the system, you need to alter the declared name listed inside the font itself. To do that, you would need a font editor, such as FontLab or Fontographer.

Ah, good! You already know exactly what I mean.

I am having the same problems with Apple's Helvetica Neue version vs. my own. I followed Kurt Lang's instructions to remove the offending Apple Helvetica and Helvetica Neue fonts.

The process worked, but I now get a message when I boot up from Font Book that my Helvetica Neue fonts are conflicting with system fonts. I got rid of this message by turning off "Alert me if system fonts change" in Font book, but that isnt exactly a solution.

Also, Mail stops responding when it starts up and requires a force quit. The second launch seems to open fine.

I am pretty sure I followed the steps to the letter and I backed up the system's Helvetica and Helvetica Neue fonts so I can go back if need be. Problem is, like a lot of other posters I rely heavily on Helvetica Neue in all its variations and need my type 1 versions for print work.

I am using FontExplorer X to manage my fonts. Is there a chance the system just doesnt like my versions? Admittedly a lot of my fonts are old and have been carried over from system to system over the years.

Adobe claims it jawboned Apple about this problem, but it's a really small developer and doesn't have any influence in Cupertino. Maybe it's also because Adobe's stated solution is to buy new fonts, Helvetica LT Standard and Helvetica Neue LT Std. This has indeed solved the problem for me. If Apple really cared, it would buy these fonts for you. But there just aren't any graphic designers that use the Mac, so it's not a priority with Apple.

Hi jack@*!,

The problem with the Apple supplied programs is that they need the Apple .dfont versions because they're larger fonts. The Type 1 fonts only have 256 characters, while the .dfonts have 65,000. The programs that balk are probably looking for glyphs that don't exist in the Type 1 versions. The .dfonts are also Unicode, which would be another thing throwing off the Apple programs since the Type 1 fonts aren't.

Removing the Apple supplied .dfonts is really the only way to ensure that you can properly use your Type1 or OpenType versions. But since you also need them for the OS X apps to work correctly, I would do this.

If you've already permanently canned the OS X Helvetica.dfont and HelveticaNeue.dfont fonts from both the System's Font and ProtectedFonts folders and didn't back them up first, extract fresh copies from the Leopard installation DVD using Pacifist. Copy them to a new folder somewhere other than a Fonts folder.

Now use your font manager to keep things straight. Have separate sets for the Type 1 fonts and the two .dfonts. When you're working on a client project that requires the Type 1 fonts, activate those and deactivate the Apple fonts. Otherwise, have the Type 1 fonts off and the others on so the OS X apps work correctly.

The people who develop Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Flash, Acrobat, Dreamweaver and other stuff is a small developer? What's a big one? 🙂

You're right through. Adobe would love to have everyone stop using their old Type 1 PostScript fonts. Which is one reason they don't sell them anymore. You can only get OpenType fonts from them.

Apple didn't really have any say on OpenType. TrueType was invented by Apple. They teamed up with Microsoft to introduce them as a way of breaking the very high cost of Adobe's Type 1 PostScript fonts. Microsoft broke an agreement and released TrueType fonts with Windows 3.1 ahead of schedule. Because of that, many people still think TrueType was a Microsoft invention.

OpenType was a collaboration between Adobe and Microsoft. Apple came up with the .dfont format to introduce a much cheaper 65,000 glyph Unicode font.