I have years of old files produced in MS Word for Mac using the Times font (not Times New Roman). Since upgrading to Sonoma, none of these old files display in Times. Often they show up as some other basic font; sometimes they show a blank page until I highlight all the text and select Times New Roman as the font. This is tedious for each and every old file. Is there a fix for this problem?
iMac 21.5″, macOS 14.3
Apple's insistence of hiding fonts installed by the OS is making it harder and harder for folks to use the fonts they not just want, but at times need to use.
Per VikingOSX's note, Times is still in the main /System/Library/Fonts folder as a TrueType collection, Times.ttc . A collection stores more than one typeface in a single desktop item. It includes:
Times Roman
Times Bold
Times Italic
Times Bold Italic
Then there's the /System/Library/Fonts/Supplemental folder, which holds the Times New Roman fonts. Which has the same four variations - Roman, Bold, Italic and Bold Italic.
They are distinctly different fonts with their own matching internal names. You should be able to see and use both, but Apple hides Times from the user.
In Office 365, this set of Times fonts are embedded in each app:
times.ttf
timesi.ttf
timesbd.ttf
timesbi.ttf
With fonts, the names you see on the desktop actually mean nothing. It's the internal names you see in your apps. In this case, the embedded MS fonts are actually another set of Times New Roman.
If you, for some reason, you need the slight visual difference of Times vs. Times New Roman, you're going to have to use a third party font the OS can't block you from seeing in your apps. Such as Adobe's Times LT Std set.
But really, with the way Apple is making it more and more difficult to use the OS included fonts, I would strongly suggest to never - and I do mean never - use any fonts installed by the OS. Always use third party fonts you have control of.
Apple's insistence of hiding fonts installed by the OS is making it harder and harder for folks to use the fonts they not just want, but at times need to use.
Per VikingOSX's note, Times is still in the main /System/Library/Fonts folder as a TrueType collection, Times.ttc . A collection stores more than one typeface in a single desktop item. It includes:
Times Roman
Times Bold
Times Italic
Times Bold Italic
Then there's the /System/Library/Fonts/Supplemental folder, which holds the Times New Roman fonts. Which has the same four variations - Roman, Bold, Italic and Bold Italic.
They are distinctly different fonts with their own matching internal names. You should be able to see and use both, but Apple hides Times from the user.
In Office 365, this set of Times fonts are embedded in each app:
times.ttf
timesi.ttf
timesbd.ttf
timesbi.ttf
With fonts, the names you see on the desktop actually mean nothing. It's the internal names you see in your apps. In this case, the embedded MS fonts are actually another set of Times New Roman.
If you, for some reason, you need the slight visual difference of Times vs. Times New Roman, you're going to have to use a third party font the OS can't block you from seeing in your apps. Such as Adobe's Times LT Std set.
But really, with the way Apple is making it more and more difficult to use the OS included fonts, I would strongly suggest to never - and I do mean never - use any fonts installed by the OS. Always use third party fonts you have control of.
The Times Truetype named font that currently ships with Word 16.82 in Office 2021 for Mac shows as Times in the Word font menu, but in reality is Times New Roman. These fonts are in the individual application's Resource folder's Dfont folder.
There is a Times.ttc font in Sonoma 14.3.1 /System/Library/Fonts folder that Fontbook does not show as being available. Instead Fontbook shows a Times New Roman font in /System/Library/Fonts/Supplemental folder.
The Pages v13.2 font menu only provides Times New Roman now on Sonoma 14.3.1.
The LibreOffice Writer 2024.02 only shows Times New Roman in its font menu on Sonoma 14.3.1.
The Bean 3.6.2 word processing application only shows Times New Roman font on Sonoma 14.3.1.
On Sonoma, I think you can expect an MS Word document opened in a current version of Word, Pages, Bean, or LibreOffice Writer to perform automatic font substitution of Times New Roman for the older Times font (reference) in your older documents.
In my experience with Microsoft Word, the app installs its own set of fonts. Is it possible that they didn't install on your Mac?
What became of the Times font in Sonoma?
