Mail gibberish

I get the same problem with a single user... I've deleted Fonts and Fonts in FontBook, and the issue persists.. Suggestions?

Welcome to the Discussions.

Question for both posters: is the Helvetica.dfont shown on your Mac, and if so, where?

Deleting fonts, is not a solution, if the wrong fonts are deleted, but rather a cause. To review and learn about require fonts, see:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=122011

and then let us know what you find.

Ernie

I deleted all fonts on that Users and on the HD.... is that a bad thing?

If so, is there a fix to it?

Jim.

Yes, if you deleted those required fonts, it is a bad thing. Do you have access to another Mac? If so, you can copy the fonts from it. Otherwise (and here I will have to reread Kurt's User Tip) I believe you will have extract them from your Install disk, which may require a program called Pacifist, which has a slight cost, or to totally do a new Reinstall and go back through all the updates. In the latter situation, you would need to protect your data, including your email archives.

More info, please, about your skill level with Macs, system installation, and access to another Mac.

Ernie

I am going to copy the fonts from my computer to this users directory and computer... I made copies and just need to ARD into the computer

What can I do about my Safari/Mail issue with this user?

Jim,

I would expect the restoration of fonts to resolve the problem, at least as I remember as I type. I will out a few hours, however, I will have to check back. Let me know what the situation is after the fonts are restored. Of course if they added some font they shouldn't have, then that font might have to go!

Ernie

Ernie,
Thanks for your help... I put all the fonts back on the HD, in the User's Library, and in the FontBook. The user when she goes in as the local admin works fine, so I've pinpointed it to her.

Her e-mail gets a symbolized text and she has similar problems with Safari. What can I do to her and resolve this? Some of the messages can be turned back into plain text, but that gets annoying after 2-3 emails a day. Some e-mails, however, do not revert back to plain text and she's stuck with gibberish.

I debated creating a new user for her, transferring her documents over, and see if that is a fix, but I am hesitant to do so.

Suggestions?

--Jim

Jim,

Are her emails from various senders, using various mail clients?

Have you made sure that she has only the same fonts as you do on your Mac, and no more? If more, what are they? Have you repaired permissions since adding the fonts back?

What exactly is the version of OSX running on her Mac, and when you check the version of Mail, with About Mail, what version is reported?

Ernie

Ernie,
Her e-mails are from a variety of people and have the same basic result.

I did not revert back to her original fonts, I just copied and moved the fonts from my computer (where I do not have this issue) onto hers.

Her version of Mail is 2.0.3. Her OS is 10.4.2.

I made a snapshot of one of her messages, but I do not know if I can post it here or not... If you'd like to see, e-mail me and I'll send it in the reply.

Thanks again
-Jim

Jim,

If you click on my name to the left, then in the bio line of the resulting Profile, you will find my email. If possible, I would like to have an email forwarded, as well as see a screenshot -- but sent separately.

Ernie

Ernie,
I just sent it to you... I did not have a copy of her e-mail that was bad, only a screenshot.

I'll check to see if I have any that she's sent to me...

-Jim

cdeeis & Jim Wilson,
When you get gibberish that involves smashed together numbers,
it's often the font "Helvetica Fractions."

You can look for that font, and either turn it off
or totally trash it. "Times Phonetic" can also cause problems like this.

Hi Bee -- I was trying to find those! But I am not sure that is the issue, having seen a screenshot?

Ernie

The text is not "smashed together numbers" more like various symbols that have taken place of text.

I've done a search for both of those fonts and neither one shows....