Question for Kurt Lang regarding Apple's Helvetica Neue

Question

Question for Kurt Lang regarding Apple's Helvetica Neue

Hi Kurt,

I found your Font Management OS X article on removing Apple's Helvetica and Helvetica Neue but in following your instructions on how to do so I noticed that my System/Library/Fonts folder doesn't contain two of the four files you mention: HelveticaNeue.ttc and Helvetica Light. Instead, my fonts folder contains HelveLTMM and Helvetica LT MM. Should I remove them? Do I need to to take a different approach if I am missing the files you mention in your article?

Please let me know.

Thank you,

Emma

Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on May 18, 2011 8:56 PM

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Answer 1

Kurt Lang

Level 9

68,690 points

May 19, 2011 4:37 PM in response to emmafrombrooklyn

Hi Emma,

You're mixing systems. Per the article, HelveticaNeue.ttf and HelveticaLight.ttf will only be found in Snow Leopard, 10.6.x. At least 10.6.5 before you'll find Helvetica Light.

So you won't find Helvetica Light at all in Leopard, 10.5.x. And your copy of Helvetica Neue will be a .dfont rather that a .ttc font.

The HelveLTMM and Helvetica LT MM fonts need to stay where they are. These Multiple Master fonts are used by Preview for compatibility with the Adobe Reader.

Everything listed under the OS X, 10.5 heading are the absolutely must keep fonts. As listed in the article:

AppleGothic.ttf

Geneva.dfont

HelveLTMM

Helvetica LT MM

Helvetica.dfont

HelveticaNeue.dfont

Keyboard.dfont

LastResort.dfont

LucidaGrande.dfont

MarkerFelt.dfont (for the Notes portion of Mail)

Monaco.dfont

Times LT MM

TimesLTMM

Times.dfont

Symbol.dfont

In the /Library/Fonts/ folder, you should also be sure to keep these fonts:

Times New Roman.ttf
Times New Roman Italic.ttf
Times New Roman Bold.ttf
Times New Roman Bold Italic.ttf

You don't really need them for the OS, but many web sites use Times New Roman.

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Answer 2

May 19, 2011 5:08 PM in response to Kurt Lang

Hi Kurt,

Thank you for that. You were right -- I was getting my systems mixed up.

I just did as your article instructed and restarted my computer. Upon restarting, I received two error messages saying that there was a font conflict with Helvetica and Helvetica Neue. I hit ok and continued to try and activate one of my Helvetica Neues in my font management system (FontExplorer X Pro) but, again, I received a similar error message.

Did I do something wrong?

Thank you,

Emma

Reply

Answer 3

Kurt Lang

Level 9

68,690 points

May 19, 2011 5:45 PM in response to emmafrombrooklyn

Font Book throws those errors out even when there are no conflicts. You need to open Font Book just for the purpose of changing a setting.

Launch Font Book and open its preferences. Uncheck the box for "Alert me if system fonts change". You should also turn off "Automatic font activation". Close the preferences and shut down Font Book. That should stop the messages.

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Answer 4

May 19, 2011 6:29 PM in response to Kurt Lang

Thanks, Kurt. I'll give it a try and see how it goes. Hopefully all will go smoothly after this. Thank you for your wonderful help!

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