All TextEdit documents created in earlier MacOS's (High Sierra and earlier) open as badly garbled documents in my newly-installed Monterey OS's version of TextEdit. None of the obvious Options in the Open menu works, nor does Reset Prefs. I can still open those docs just fine in the High Sierra and El Capitan versions of TextEdit on older computers.
MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 12.6
VikingOSX wrote:
Then, there is something about those documents, and not Bean or TextEdit. What is the actual file extension on that file?
I just used the current version of Bean on macOS Ventura 13.3.1 to open both .rtf and .rtfd from several years ago. Thus, the problem is not Bean or TextEdit, but corrupted documents, or documents that are some other format than what you think they are.
Place one of this documents on your Desktop, and then launch the Terminal application. Enter the following at the Terminal prompt, where filename is the actual name of the document on your Desktop:
cd ~/Desktop
file --mime-type filename
head -n1 <<<"$(< filename)"
# {\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\cocoartf1671\cocoasubrtf600
You should see something similar to the last commented output if it really is a .rtf file.
No cats were harmed in this example.
I am curious: is there any reason the last command above should be using the much shorter notation below?
head -1 filename
That is incorrect. No I don't have any other version of Helvetica installed – only what came with the Monterey MacOS. If that is corrupted, then it looks like I'll have to reinstall the OS.
Your system keeps reporting: "You’ve exceeded the posting limits. Please try again in a few minutes." Very annoying and prevents proper sequential dialog!
Not only TextEdit, but also Font Book in Monterey is accessing the wrong Fonts folder on a different partition, although many of those Fonts are grayed out as incompatible with Monterey ("ancient" as you mentioned). I paid good money to license a lot of them, including ones that I use for my business.
Thank you for your expert advice. Yes, I see in Monterey the User Fonts under Option > Go > Library > Fonts which contains the plethora of fonts old and new.
I assumed incorrectly that partitions would maintain separation between OS resources. I wanted to use older applications such as Adobe CS3 Suite that are incompatible with the newer MacOS with best performance when residing on my internal SSD, which is why I added High Sierra onto a different partition.
According to your information, this conflict means I should dump High Sierra and relegate all older applications to an older computer with MacOS El Capitan (speaking of "ancient"). That is disappointing, along with the obsolescence of many of my fonts, but since I have other computers I won't be suffering too much if I leave Monterey exclusively to its own resources.
Originally, after had installed Monterey on the fresh SSD, I found out that I could make a new partition (which I don't think I could have done with a regular HD). Will I be able to erase the added partition from the SSD without affecting the other one containing Monterey and the accompanying modern applications? This would be my first step before dealing with the font issue.
Thanks again for your help.
jfgaylord wrote:
Originally, after had installed Monterey on the fresh SSD, I found out that I could make a new partition (which I don't think I could have done with a regular HD). Will I be able to erase the added partition from the SSD without affecting the other one containing Monterey and the accompanying modern applications? This would be my first step before dealing with the font issue.
I don’t recommend making any changes in your disk partitioning. That was more of a suggestion for the future and a caution in case you notice other unusual behaviour. You were concerned about the operating system getting confused about the location of fonts. When you have multiple operating systems visible, that is a valid concern, regarding more than just fonts.
This is a difficult issue. Even a default installation of Monterey is extremely complicated if you look at the details (which Disk Utility is totally hiding from you). I don’t know how you made that partition. It looks like you would have to erase the entire hard drive to remove the container. I recommend leaving well enough alone for now.
Move it "aside" to where? If I move it to the Desktop it merely copies to there. Should I rename it temporarily? Considering the evidence you uncovered that Monterey has been accessing the fonts folder from my High Sierra on the other partition, shouldn't I first delete the MacOS on that partition? Or is there an 'uninstall' procedure for that?
Thanks for your reply. I installed Bean and it opened the docs in the exact same garbled formatting as TextEdit.
I'm guessing those documents are corrupt.
I rebooted in Safe Mode and opened a couple of the .rtf docs in TextEdit with exactly the same result.
I'd rather post one with permissions on Google Drive if you can give me an email address.
OK as per your instructions, a link to a troublesome TextEdit doc sent to myself on WeTransfer:
[Link Edited by Moderator]
I got a notice of "inappropriate link" and was referred to Terms and Conditions. What do you suggest next?
Yours is correct, however this document open now in Monterey on my system appears totally blank in the block of text when I search for "lens turbo"
Screen shot –
Screen shots are evidently OK
Yes, in retrospect, the simpler syntax would have sufficed, even if it were not an RTF document.
Uncle Sam is expecting an obligatory syntax :)
TextEdit docs opened in MacOS 12.6 Monterey are garbled
