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Font Book not working since Lion Download

I recently downloaded Lion for my MacBook Pro, and now Font Book is not working. It opens, but I can't do anything - I just get a never ending "loading rainbow circle". I have tried deleting the com.apple.FontBook.plist file and it didn't help. Any other ideas? Do I need to delete the com.apple.FontBook.plist.lockfile file as well? I haven't because I'm reluctant to delete anything called lockfile - seems important!

Posted on Jan 11, 2012 2:31 PM

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1 reply

Jul 3, 2013 12:20 AM in response to MurdockCam

The following tutorial is a combination of what i experienced in AppleCare phone support, plus my own research online. Combining them together i solved the problem. I am sharing with you two particular links that helped me alot. Good Luck


Before You Start: In each step pay Careful attention to the process, you do not want to hurt your system by experimenting your OWN intuitions or TRYING things just to see what happens.


1 - Go to Applications > utility > Activity Monitor. Choose the CPU and see "which List Items" are taking the most CPU memory. If it is fontd and fontBook then go to Step 3. If it is fontworker follow step 2.


2 - Go to System > Library > fonts and make sure all the system fonts necessary by the OS Version of your operating system is located there. See the 2nd link i provided to match the lists of reuired fonts. If everything is fine here proceed to the next step. My system was 10.8.x so I made sure i keep AppleGothic.ttf in library>font folder since it is used by some applications on these machines. If your system files are lacking, then i think you should find a way to restore them first.


NOTE: Before proceeding pay attention to 3 different locations for fonts on your machine:

Path 1 - System > Library > fonts

Path 2 - Library > fonts

Path 3 - Users > YourName > Library > Fonts (it is possible that you cant see any library folder when you click on YourName folder, because it is hidden. to access it use the TOP MENU, click on GO and then hold OPTION KEY, you ll see the LIBRARY appearing in the dropdown menu. Click to see the Folder in Finder)


3 - This step is not explained in any of the links i provided. I had to do this specific step to solve the problem on my own machine. you can skip this step and see if your problem can be solved without it. What you need to do here is to LEAVE the system folder alone(Path 1), and only EMPTY the other FONT folders. I copied all the fonts i had in path2 and path3 into another folder. to make sure i m not losing any fonts. Also, read the second link i provided to see if you need to leave any specific fonts in the folder. I am using OSx 10.8.x and I left AppleGothic.ttf in the folders because apparently some applications are using it although it is not included in system folder. By the end of this step your path1 must be un-touched, and font folders in path2, path3 must be empty(or include whatever needed)


4 - Go to Users > YourName > Library > Preferences (Again if you cant see a library, hold Option as I explained in step 2) . Once you are in preferences TRASH the file com.apple.FontBook.plist.


5 - EMPTY your Trash to make sure the plist file is flushed.


6 - Now its time to "Clear Font Cash". To do so go to Applications > Utility > Console. Type the following and press enter: atsutil databases -removeUser

This apparently removes the font registery database for the user account that you are currently logged in (in case u use different log ins). Make sure the process is done, sometimes you need to type your admin password to let it continue.


7 - Restart your Machine and when it reBoots listen to the DING sound. As soon as you hear the sound hold the SHIFT key. Hold it until you see a PROGRESS BAR appear on the screen, then release and wait. When you are prompted by Log In, you can click on RESTART. you do not need to log in (This is the SAFE MODE screen, you can do more research to learn about loading into SAFE MODE)


8 - This time you do not need to hold anything, let it restart normally. Once you are back, check the Acitivity Monitor to see if there are any FONT related items in the list that take lots of CPU memory. I didnt encounter any. (If there are some suspiscious activities then probably moving the fonts caused them or you didnt clear the font cashe properly.Try to clear Font cache again, you can use some 3rd party software listed in the links below if you are shy to use console.)


9 - Check FONT folders in path2 and path3, make sure they are empty(or as you left them before restart). If there are. (If you see your fonts there, magically!, then again i think the clearing font cache was not succesful)


10 - Now open the Font Book again, in the same time look at your Activity Monitor, compare the results with CONFLICT time. In my case, Font Book and Fontd were taking almost %50 each, together consuming all the CPU. after going through this 10 steps, FontBook now takes 2 to 4 percents when i m interacting with it. which is normal i guess.


Additional Steps that might help you:


- Try to repair you Hard Disk.

- Zapping PRAM.

- ReInstalling Operating System


Read more about these, thankfully when i called AppleCare i went through all these amazing rides in Apple theme-Park. Not sure how much they helped me later to solve the Font Book problem on my own. I am listing them here as a reference for those of you whose problem is still unsolved and wonder what else could be done.


Final Note: Links provided below gives you an excellent guideline to Manage your Fonts in future. In general it is a good practice to turn-OFF the fonts not needed to avoid conflicts and slow process.


More readings and resources

http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/undofontbook.html

http://www.jklstudios.com/misc/osxfonts.htm

Font Book not working since Lion Download

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