User profile for user: FKKD
FKKD Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

Font problems when converting from Pages to Word / Mac to PC

I have a Pages Document written on a Mac which includes numerous slightly non-standard characters (non-breaking hyphens, curly quotation marks, etc. — nothing too exotic). The entire document, including those characters, is written in Garamond.


When I convert the file into Word format (.docx) and open it in Word on a PC, these characters default to a different font (generally Times New Roman or Arial). Furthermore, they refuse to be corrected within Word -- if I highlight them and try to force them into Garamond, they refuse and remain in the weird font.


However, it's not the case that the destination computer's version of Garamond simply doesn't have those characters; I can delete them and reinsert them and they will appear in Garamond.


So something seems to be going wrong with the conversion process. What?

Posted on May 3, 2021 6:08 PM

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User profile for user: VikingOSX
VikingOSX
User level: Level 10
123,230 points

Posted on May 4, 2021 4:16 AM

Pages does not embed the actual font in the document, only references to the specific font that is installed on macOS. Microsoft Word may not be able to resolve that specific font reference in the translated DOCX content and possibly performs its own font substitution because the font name that Pages references may not match the GARA.TTF, GARABD.TTF, or GARAIT.TTF names installed by Microsoft.


As Apple does not install any Garamond font in macOS, the font that you used when creating that content in Pages must have been sourced elsewhere and that may have also contributed to the first paragraph substitutions by Word.


It is recommended here, both present, and in the past, that one sharing documents with users of MS Word on Mac, or Windows, should be using a comparable version of Word on the Mac so that the native, non-translated Word document has the best possible compatibility when shared. The export process to Word from Pages cannot, and does not guarantee document compatibility with MS Word on any platform.


Now that Microsoft has implemented their Cloud Font (700+ fonts) technology, a Microsoft 365 subscriber can create content that uses Cloud fonts, and when those documents are opened on a different platform in Microsoft 365/Office 2019 for Mac, those font references will be automatically resolved via the network when opened in either of the Microsoft Office products on Mac or Windows. Opening one of these documents in Pages will not resolve the fonts and may result in a mess. Another sound reason to be using one of these current Office suites on the Mac.

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User profile for user: VikingOSX
VikingOSX
User level: Level 10
123,230 points

May 4, 2021 4:16 AM in response to FKKD

Pages does not embed the actual font in the document, only references to the specific font that is installed on macOS. Microsoft Word may not be able to resolve that specific font reference in the translated DOCX content and possibly performs its own font substitution because the font name that Pages references may not match the GARA.TTF, GARABD.TTF, or GARAIT.TTF names installed by Microsoft.


As Apple does not install any Garamond font in macOS, the font that you used when creating that content in Pages must have been sourced elsewhere and that may have also contributed to the first paragraph substitutions by Word.


It is recommended here, both present, and in the past, that one sharing documents with users of MS Word on Mac, or Windows, should be using a comparable version of Word on the Mac so that the native, non-translated Word document has the best possible compatibility when shared. The export process to Word from Pages cannot, and does not guarantee document compatibility with MS Word on any platform.


Now that Microsoft has implemented their Cloud Font (700+ fonts) technology, a Microsoft 365 subscriber can create content that uses Cloud fonts, and when those documents are opened on a different platform in Microsoft 365/Office 2019 for Mac, those font references will be automatically resolved via the network when opened in either of the Microsoft Office products on Mac or Windows. Opening one of these documents in Pages will not resolve the fonts and may result in a mess. Another sound reason to be using one of these current Office suites on the Mac.

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Font problems when converting from Pages to Word / Mac to PC

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