MS Sans Serif font missing

Have you tested that your version of Microsoft Sans Serif is exactly the same as the Ms Sans Serif that was used in the original program that created the club bulletin (I assume MsWord for Windows)?

This is the problem of not using an independent, fixed format like .pdf which has fonts embedded. Likelihood, is the fonts are different and the rendering methods definitely are,

Suggest to the bulletin publishers that they don't use a proprietry format and print to .pdf instead. Even Windows users can manage that. Tell them there is the added benefit that the layout can be locked, tamperproof and smaller file size.

Peter

If someone is sending out a club bulletin the sender should make sure that everyone can read it as it is. PDF is the format for that. If PC users complains that they can't open a PDF the haven't downloaded the free Acrobat reader.

You can still have pagination problems even if you have the same font as the Sender. Pages doesn't translate the Word documents perfectly. MS Sans Serif is a Microsoft font and comes with some of their products.

It might or might not get the pagination wrong. It depends on which features used when creating the document.

My strong view is that the Sender has the obligation to make sure everyone who he/she wants to read the bulletin, should use a format or supply with alternatives, to make sure it can be read. The reader shouldn't be the one to adjust to the senders restricted view on which format or font to use. You have to ask for a pdf version at least. You can open in Preview, PC user have to get Adobe reader but they usually already have it on their computers.

I can't see it a a defeat on your part. Maybe I can see it on the senders part thoguh.

No it is not an admission of defeat on the part of Macs.

I was having these silly debates about having the free Acrobat Reader on PCs 15 years ago. Microsoft deliberately made life difficult for .pdfs and encouraged admins to not support it. For a long time it stopped font embedding in .pdfs and provided no way to print to .pdfs. It even came up with its own version of .pdfs which was a real flop. Just to **** in everyone else's soup!

I thought those days were long gone.

It is however absurd to assume that everyone has the NOT free Microsoft Word (Windows version only) on their computers. If they are such troglodites what happens when they only have old versions of MsWord, or only Windows ME, and monitors that only display 16 colors, which is what I had to face? Or it turns out they have the cheap OEM MsWorks and not MsWord?

As far as the font goes OSX is extremely tolerant and will accept the font copied from the Windows machines, presuming they have the same version amongst them. Probably don't.

Peter

I call it a defeat because my Macs can't handle such a document without third party software or requesting the sender to do something which all the Windows members don't need. This is the kind of problem which helps put people off Macs.

Can you tell me why the Windows user should not try to make it work for everyone? Mac users are always good at being compatible with the Windows users but not vice versa. It isn't a defeat on your part. You have several applications that can open a Word document on your computer. It will not always be a perfect match but often good enough. Windows users can't open Mac documents if they aren't created in a format that Window apps understand like .doc or .rtf or .pdf. Even using MS word for Mac doesn't always create a perfect match on the Windows machine.

You only have a font problem here. MS Word fonts are not free. You could ask them to use a font that is common for both platforms.

Mike, MSSS is a font I also keep, it comes with the system and has a rich repertoire, e.g. as compared with Gentium.

It is not clear why your regular documents are affected once imported in Pages,but note that, any import, from any app into any app, is never perfect. May be a bug with Pages but, on the other hand, perhaps the sender should consider sending PDF files or a more common font like Arial.

When I open it with Pages I get a warning that MS Sans Serif is missing, and I replace it with Microsoft Sans Serif.

Have you tried substituting Arial or Helvetica rather than Microsoft Sans Serif? Or a "fixed width" version of Arial or Helvetica if you have it?

The problem you're likely experiencing is caused by MS Sans Serif being a fixed width (bitmap) font where Microsoft Sans Serif is a flexible (vector) TrueType font. MS Sans Serif is just a grid of pixels, so substituting a TrueType font that does not match this grid and can better resize itself, will cause the document to look different.

I have to wonder why a person is using MS Sans Serif to create a newsletter. MS Sans Serif is a Windows system font designed to for menus and windows on a screen. It was never meant to be printed or for reading text in documents. Can you gently suggest to the author they move into the last couple of decades and use a font that is more appropriate, readable (enjoyable) and widely available?

NB MS Sans Serif is actually a copy of Helvetica specially designed for the menus and windows used by Windows 3.1 to 98. And Arial is also a copy of Helvetica.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS_Sans_Serif

Sometime you get extra Page breaks when converting a .doc document in Pages. Hunt for those and you pagination might work better.

Try to substitute the font with one of the monospaced on Mac. Courier, Monaco or Andale Mono.

Pages is rather appropriate as a final program, not for exchanging data. Definitely, LibreOffice deals better with doc and docx files than Pages. If you open those file in LibreOffice and they look better than a Pages import, it is clear that this is the best solution for you; or to purchase the Office version for mac.