Why has the original Courier font been removed from Pages in Monterey?

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Level 1

19 points

Why has the original Courier font been removed from Pages in Monterey?

In the writing and publishing world, screenwriters, novelists, technical writers of manuals, and others who produce work for publication use Courier not for its aesthetics, but because it is the industry standard. Courier is the industry standard for monetary reasons.

A film producer, for instance, is able to gauge how many minutes a finished movie is likely to be so long as precise formatting parameters are met. A producer won't read a submitted script if its margins, tabs, spacing, type of font, font size, and other formatting elements are not strictly adhered to.

Similarly, editors at book publishing companies estimate how many pages printed and bound paperback or hardcover books will be if industry standard parameters are met by manuscript writers.

Producers and editors demand strict adherence to the standard for one reason: cost. The more pages in a screenplay or manuscript, the longer and more expensive the finished film or book will be to create.

When a word processing application designer drops the industry standard font for professional writers, it reveals one of two things: a lack of awareness around the industry's needs, or a conscious effort to drive professional writers away from using the product he or she has altered.

Which is it, Apple?

MacBook Air 11″, macOS 12.0

Posted on Dec 19, 2021 3:07 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Kurt Lang

Level 9

62,418 points

Dec 19, 2021 8:34 AM in response to Unicorn108

Hello Unicorn108,

This all goes back to Apple's decision to hide fonts from the user. Someone decided you simply shouldn't see certain fonts in any of Apple's own apps, even though they're active.

This started back in El Capitan when the user suddenly couldn't access Athelas.ttc, Charter.ttc, Marion.ttc, Seravek.ttc and SuperClarendon.ttc in Apple's apps. In Catalina and forward, Apple started hiding a lot more fonts in its apps, including from Font Book itself. It's not that they don't exist, or aren't active, they just won't let you access them.

Solution? Stop using Apple's apps like Pages, TextEdit, or anything else they write where access to certain fonts are blocked for no good or useful reason.

The Adobe suite? MS Office? Softmaker Office? Quark XPress? Continue naming any and all third party software that display a font list and you will see all active fonts.

This used to work. Set any text with Courier in Word, InDesign, or any other non-Apple app. Then copy/paste that text into Pages. That font would then be accessible in Pages and appear in the list of recently used fonts. Being able to bridge a "forbidden" font into Pages no longer works in Monterey. I think it still did in Big Sur.

Basically, all apps Apple writes that use a font menu have become literally 100% useless for anyone in publishing. When you cannot in any way access an active font, the app is garbage. Use a third party app.

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Answer 2

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

118,804 points

Dec 19, 2021 7:21 AM in response to Unicorn108

Just checked my own 12.1 (I only use it for testing currently) and you are right, there is no Courier in Font Book, so it is not available in any app unless you install it manually from someplace else. It is now missing from the list you get when you run the terminal command mentioned in the link I provided earlier which was for 12.01.

But when I manually open System/Library/Fonts I see Courier.ttc sitting there!

Something is messed up.

Let Apple know via

http://www.apple.com/feedback

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Answer 3

Unicorn108 Author

Level 1

19 points

Dec 19, 2021 6:17 AM in response to Tom Gewecke

Thanks for your reply.

Courier does not appear in the drop down menu.

I did check Format > Font > Show Fonts, with Collections set to All Fonts. I also set Collections to Fixed Width, Traditional, and English (see inserted images below). As you will note, Courier New is under All Fonts, Fixed Width, and English. Courier does not appear anywhere.

Courier New may sound intuitively acceptable, because—like Courier—it is a fixed width font. It is not acceptable to editors and film producers. The fonts are different enough to result in different page lengths for longer documents. Many producers and editors now make a point of mentioning this in their submission guidelines, i.e., "Do NOT use Courier New, or any other modernized version. It MUST be Courier," or something to that effect. They are adamant about it.

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Answer 4

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

118,804 points

Dec 19, 2021 7:34 AM in response to Unicorn108

Copy of Catalina version here.

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Answer 5

Unicorn108 Author

Level 1

19 points

Dec 19, 2021 9:05 AM in response to Kurt Lang

Thanks, Kurt Lang. Much appreciated.

I'm using Pages version 11.1 (Big Sur 11.6) on the MacBook Air I write on (not for online use, aside from installing updates which will never happen again on that computer).

The only MacBook Air I use online has been updated to Monterey. So, I tried what you suggested "copy/paste text with Courier ... into Pages," but not from a non-Apple app (I don't own any non-Apple writing apps). I copy/pasted it from the older version of Pages on my writing computer, and it actually does bridge across and it appears in the recently used fonts list.

I appreciate the suggestion and gave you the solve, even though it isn't a true fix, because people with the same question will be led to your answer.

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Answer 6

Dec 19, 2021 10:09 AM in response to Unicorn108

I am using Monterey 12.1 and the Courier TrueType collection (Courier.ttc) font is in the /System/Library/Fonts folder. Apparently, Apple applications (including Font Book) do not register this font, even after rebuilding the System and User font library databases. Affinity Designer and Adobe Acrobat Reader DC do show this font on their font menus, even prior to the font rebuild. LibreOffice 7.2.4 does not.

Here is a PDF text annotation in Adobe Acrobat Reader DC v21.007.20099:

I thought I would be crafty and copy this font from its System location into my local Library Fonts folder. This made no difference with Apple applications.

One of the things I did notice is that when I launch the Show Fonts panel, Courier shows up in the PDF category and not Fixed Width. With Pages v11.2 or Scrivener 3.x open, when I select that Courier font in the PDF category, it is added to the Pages and Scrivener font menu.

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Answer 7

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

118,804 points

Dec 19, 2021 4:32 AM in response to Unicorn108

This list of fonts says that Courier is still present in Monterey:

https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/429548/request-for-list-of-fonts-folder-contents-on-monterey

Are you sure you do not have it? Pages' drop down menu can be unreliable. Also do Format > Font > Show Fonts with Collections set to All Fonts.

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Answer 8

Unicorn108 Author

Level 1

19 points

Dec 19, 2021 7:04 AM in response to Unicorn108

PS: What I find most annoying is that, while the professional writing industry standard font has been removed from Pages, I can use three fonts named Chalkboard, Chalkboard SE, and Chalkduster. I can appreciate how a grade school teacher or graphic designer might have occasional use for such fonts, but to include these at the expense of the longtime industry standard for pro writers is perplexing at best, and against Apple Support Communities etiquette to describe at worst. I just don't get it.

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Answer 9

Kurt Lang

Level 9

62,418 points

Dec 19, 2021 9:28 AM in response to Unicorn108

I copy/pasted it from the older version of Pages on my writing computer…

Yes, that works, too. And apologies for not mentioning that. Any older Apple app that hasn't been written to ignore certain fonts will still display them and can also be used as a bridge, as you found.

Still makes no sense whatsoever this decision to intentionally hide fonts ever saw the light of day.

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