How do I prevent Arial Unicode to mess up texts?

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Level 1

6 points

How do I prevent Arial Unicode to mess up texts?

I have written a manuscript in Scrivener that I then transferred to Pages. Both are using the Font Helvetica. I forward the manuscript as a .docx. On a Microsoft computer EVERY quotation mark at the beginning of dialogue and EVERY inverted comma is suddenly Arial Unicode which cannot be deleted or swapped out for the correct punctuation marks. They do not show up on iMac or Air.

An absolute disaster. Obviously, nobody has time to delete and replace whole words one by one in a 120 k word manuscript. And it is equally impossible to take it back to text only because it loses ALL formatting. Not an option time wise to redo the whole manuscript like that either.

How do I get rid of the mistake the programme introduces? Or is there a way of using a different Font perhaps that stops this from happening in the first place?

Any help very much appreciated.

Working on Macbook Air with Sonoma 14.5

MacBook Air 13″

Posted on Jul 28, 2024 7:05 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

118,446 points

Jul 28, 2024 1:51 PM in response to ravenowl

Is this earlier discussion perhaps related?

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/254684249?sortBy=oldest_first

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Answer 2

Jul 28, 2024 9:05 AM in response to ravenowl

Scrivener can export to Word .docx, so why are you opening it in Pages at all? The latter must then translate the document twice: once to open in Pages, and again when exporting to Word. Apple does not guarantee that Pages will not perform font substitution or the accuracy of the translation process.

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Answer 3

ravenowl Author

Level 1

6 points

Jul 29, 2024 2:25 AM in response to VikingOSX

I work on an Apple, so a lot of my editing is done in Pages. If I transfer all the editing into Scrivener, I can probably cut out Pages.

And I'm not looking for guarantees, I'm looking for a solution to a problem. I also have texts that are written in Pages and I'm wondering if I can continue to use Apple if the compatibility with texts in Word isn't a given. I'm not going to an editor or publisher and tell them that sorry Apple isn't interested. I'll deliver texts that are usable and if Apple doesn't support converting from one format to another, then I'll have to change back to Microsoft based machines. Which I really don't want to do as Apple works far better for my work.

Hence I'm looking for a solution to the problem so that I can stay with Apple.

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Answer 4

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

118,446 points

Jul 29, 2024 2:38 AM in response to ravenowl

ravenowl wrote: if Apple doesn't support converting from one format to another, then I'll have to change back to Microsoft based machines.

I don't know why you would think that. The usual fix for such compatibility problems is to just use Word for Mac yourself to start with.

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Answer 5

ravenowl Author

Level 1

6 points

Jul 29, 2024 2:52 AM in response to Tom Gewecke

@Tom Gewecke

Yep, thanks for the tip. This is exactly the problem. It seems it has been around for a while and there isn't really anyone fixing it. I'll try and figure out a solution, perhaps by converting directly from the original manuscript to word, skipping Pages altogether. It makes more work for me but nothing in comparison to having to manually delete those mistakes that Apple/Microsoft are building into my texts.

This is just me, we, the users are their clients. They are working for us, not the other way round. They have between them clearly created a major problem for users. Not cool and not dealing with it shows a disregard for those who finance their jobs, an attitude that is hugely arrogant.

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Answer 6

ravenowl Author

Level 1

6 points

Jul 29, 2024 3:04 AM in response to ravenowl

Word for Apple might be a solution. If I transfer files to that first and attach those files, perhaps the issue doesn't occur. Worth trying out. I'll also explore the settings on the original writing programme further. Perhaps they already have a solution that would work.

Thanks for your help @Tom Gewecke! As I said, very much appreciated.

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