Font problems after 10.6.7

Question

Level 4

1,479 points

Font problems after 10.6.7

I'm getting lots of strange behaviour relating to fonts since updating to 10.6.7. This is all in things that used to work perfectly.
PostScript output causes errors in Distiller (problems in font definitions); and manipulating PDF objects can cause embedded fonts to become .... unembedded.

As I understand it, there were lots of security fixes to font handling in the update, but it seems to have caused loads of trouble.

The developers for an app I use, Imposition Wizard, have confirmed that things aren't working as they are supposed to and have filed bug reports with Apple.

However, as I do a lot of work with PostScript and PDFs, I will have to reinstall the OS to 10.6.6.

iMac 2006 2Ghz, Mac OS X (10.6.7), MacBook 2008

Posted on Mar 22, 2011 3:07 PM

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Answer 1

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

118,406 points

Mar 22, 2011 3:20 PM in response to benwiggy

Let Apple know here too:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html

In general, probably best to not apply OS updates to production machines until you are sure critical apps still work right, and in general also good to always have a bootable clone of your right-working OS on another drive in case something goes wrong with the one you normally use.

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Answer 2

benwiggy Author

Level 4

1,479 points

Mar 23, 2011 4:58 AM in response to Tom Gewecke

Well, while you are right, of course, though it's impossible to know how my particular combination of hardware and software (Finale music notation; Distiller; Imposition Wizard) is going to react in the absence of other people doing exactly the same thing.

I've been applying point upgrades since 10.2 and this is the first one that has stopped me working.

I've never had to roll back the OS before: but I always think that if you're going to reinstall the OS, best do it fresh rather than a clone that may already have some cruft on it.

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Answer 3

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

118,406 points

Mar 23, 2011 6:25 AM in response to benwiggy

it's impossible to know how my particular combination of hardware and software (Finale music notation; Distiller; Imposition Wizard) is going to react in the absence of other people doing exactly the same thing.

You don't need other people's experience for this, just an extra drive with a partition where you can install an upgrade and test your requirements before moving to it permanently. Lots of people who cannot afford to have OS update problems work this way. Superduper has a "sandbox" feature which makes this really easy.

I always think that if you're going to reinstall the OS, best do it fresh rather than a clone that may already have some cruft on it.

Perhaps. The main value of the clone is that you can keep working without losing the time required to reinstall, which could be important for a particular user on a particular day.

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Answer 4

Mar 23, 2011 7:08 AM in response to benwiggy

Hi,

I updated to 10.6.7 yesterday and during my work load today I noticed problems exporting PDF files under Mac now become unreadable to Window machines, and this for me is a huge problem - I might have to get onto the App Store to see if there's a PDF converter that will work for the meantime.

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Answer 5

Mar 23, 2011 10:42 AM in response to benwiggy

This is the worst update ever. I have a font unique to our corporate branding (Myriad Pro).

Cannot convert to PDF from Pages without it looking like a jumbled mess. Plus, I cant even print directly from Pages to our network printer! I get an invalidfont error.

<Edited by Host>

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Answer 6

benwiggy Author

Level 4

1,479 points

Mar 23, 2011 11:46 AM in response to benwiggy

I reinstalled Snow Leopard. It took an hour (over lunch) to reinstall and run the Combo to 10.6.6.

No further tinkering was required. Unlike previous OS X versions, everything seems to be retained and nothing needed to be copied over from a "Previous System" folder.

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Answer 7

-mcs

Level 1

1 points

Mar 23, 2011 2:25 PM in response to SithLord883

I'm having problems with Myriad Pro (OTF version, all 40 faces), as well. Only difference on this end is that it's in Motion/Final Cut, where it drops letters, haven't noticed anywhere else. The spaces for the letters are there - just not the glyphs themselves.

Just checked through FontBook - validates OK.

Going to try a different font (Frutiger), to see if it has the same problem.

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Answer 8

thobie

Level 1

4 points

Mar 23, 2011 2:50 PM in response to -mcs

DINPro -family (.otf) broke same time with 10.6.7 update I think.

The problem is with Office 2008/2011 Word - when using the font in document, and Print -> PDF -> Save as pdf... (Quartz PDF) Adobe Acrobat Pro / Reader hangs when opening (Windows or OS X). Same thing sometimes with Preview depending of the document. Only Skim opened files fine.

If I try to use Adobe PDF creator instead, it hangs while "Rendering document...".

Font works correctly if used in other programs, and saving PDF.

Example file (this one works with OS X Preview, but Adobe programs will hang): http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2663692/OSX106_7pdf.pdf

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Answer 9

thobie

Level 1

4 points

Mar 23, 2011 3:16 PM in response to thobie

Myriad Pro -family (OTF) is broken too, it atleast opens, but with errors and lacks letters.

PDF should say "Myriad Pro": http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2663692/Myriad_Pro.pdf

Something to do with OTF-fonts?

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Answer 10

-mcs

Level 1

1 points

Mar 23, 2011 3:51 PM in response to benwiggy

Okay - tried with Frutiger, all appeared okay, but haven't gone back to double-check.

Also tried with Myriad Pro (in a bunch of sizes & weights) in Pages - and one of the sizes (Semibold) defaulted back to Helvetica. Tried in Mellel (another word processor) and it Seemed to print fine... so maybe it's a combo of 10.6.7, Myriad Pro (OTF) and Apple apps

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Answer 11

C42D

Level 1

10 points

Mar 24, 2011 9:04 AM in response to benwiggy

This is absolutely a major problem here at the office today. Apple, you really screwed us. I have never EVER DOWNgraded my OS until just now, and I have used macs since 1989.

Simple. Postscript files were not distilling one hour ago under 10.6.7, and now they are under 10.6.4.

SOLUTION: Re-install the OS that came with your machine and install the 10.6.6 combo here: http://support.apple.com/kb/dl1349

THIS THREAD IS SOLVED. Thanks for <edited by host> us apple.

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Answer 12

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

118,406 points

Mar 23, 2011 4:00 PM in response to C42D

I have never EVER DOWNgraded my OS until just now

Font problems requiring downgrades were a major "feature" of 10.6.0 if I remember right…

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2154431&start=0&tstart=15

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Answer 13

C42D

Level 1

10 points

Mar 23, 2011 4:24 PM in response to Tom Gewecke

oh yes I spent days sorting out the mess with Keynote fonts. I still dont even know how I fixed it. Probably luck. Its not like anyone who uses macs places a high value on fonts that work... or anything... or perhaps requires Adobe software to be functional... or anything...

stop doing bong hits Jobs

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Answer 14

-mcs

Level 1

1 points

Mar 23, 2011 5:54 PM in response to -mcs

Did some further print testing and here's my final results:

Tried four apps. The two non-Apple applications (MS Word and Mellel) printed fine; the two Apple apps I used (Text Edit and Pages) swapped out different faces for Helvetica while keeping others. While not really insightful to the whole Motion problem I've been having (glyphs not showing, but spacing remaining), I can't help but suspect that the root cause of both behaviors is the same.

Back to 10.6.6 for us...

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Answer 15

logicbox

Level 1

15 points

Mar 23, 2011 7:15 PM in response to benwiggy

Count me in for broken PDF output from Word 2011,also crashing Acrobat Pro 9. FontExplorer X Pro crashed post updated, but that appears to be managing font requests OK.

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