Font Won't Show Up In Word

Here's a hint. Don't know what it means.

In regards to wondering if you have a backup? From the text following that, I would presume "yes".

I don't use any type of remote storage, though an iCloud Drive isn't quite the same thing. It's a file sharing space. Anything you drop into the sharing folder can be accessed from any of your other devices. By creating copies of anything you put there to the cloud, it's also an ad-hoc backup system. However, I'm not thrilled with how it works, based on a description found on the web:

You can store documents, keep files and folders up-to-date across all your devices, work on items and access them from anywhere using iCloud Drive. Changes applied to a copy of a file on one device will automatically sync across all your other systems.

Hmm. So at one time, there could have been undamaged copies of the fonts on your system. But if they "change" in any way, iCloud will update the remote files to match. If you had good copies on the iCloud drive, now they're damaged copies, too. The site continued on with:

If you use iCloud Drive across multiple Macs then changes made to the Documents and Desktop files on both Macs will sync. The Mac you activate last will create its own folder for the contents of its Documents and Desktop, and this will also sync.

Also a possibility of losing good copies of files. If the last Mac to be activated had bad copies of the fonts on the drive, those will sync to iCloud, overwriting what might have been good copies. Your Mac in turn, pulls those damaged copies down to sync across all of your devices. Then, oh goody!, now you don't have undamaged copies anywhere.

This is one reason I will not use such systems. So, that brings me to what I meant by a backup. And that's, do you have copies of the original, and then likely undamaged fonts on a local, external drive? If so, pull copies of those fonts back to your Mac.

If not, your only way of replacing them is to go back to where you purchased each font and download clean copies from them. Normally (with most vendors), once purchased, you can always login to your account and re-download those items.

I moved the fonts from Font Squirrel from the desktop folder, which is in the cloud, to the Applications folder, which isn't. Presto, the fonts are getting the "serious problems, do not use" error message.

Not quite, at least as I understand how an iCloud Drive works. The folder is local on your Mac, but when you place anything into that folder, it is copied/synced to iCloud. The question then is, why is the simple act of placing fonts into the sharing folder damaging them?

It's the opposite. The fonts work in the iCloud folder, but not in the non-sharing Applications folder. So the sharing doesn't corrupt the files. In fact, I can switch them back and forth and they work from the iCloud, then don't from the Applications. So nothing is happening to the files. It's using them across the files. And oddly, the Font Book is on the non-sharing part of the computer.

I'm afraid I don't know enough about iCloud Drive to follow your procedure. I particularly don't understand putting fonts in the Applications folder. There's no need to ever put them there. Once activated with Font Book (using the normal method), they get copied to the Fonts folder within your user account anyway. Those are the ones that then get used. Any sitting in the Applications folder are doing nothing.

I do a lot of typographic work, and it's easier to have the font collections on the computer than to load them every time I want a new font. I have hundreds of fonts, can't load them all.

Thanks for trying. At least I've pinpointed the problem. Thanks for the troubleshooting help.

Welcome to Apple Support Communities, lindabodyplex!

I downloaded, installed, and verified a new font and it still doesn't show up in Word.

Sounds like you used the Font Book app, but did you install it using "Add Fonts." (See screenshot by Eric Root.) By default, Font Book will install in your user library font folder (HD/Users/your name/Library/Fonts/), which will then be available only to you and not other users of the same computer. As for it not showing in Word, all applications, especially Microsoft applications including Office Reminders should be off (quit) before installation of fonts.

Did you reboot the computer?

You might try clearing the font cache with an app such as FontNuke.

Generally, fonts for Microsoft are located in one of two Libraries: (a) HD/Library/Fonts, or (b) HD/Library/Fonts/Microsoft/

HTH

Thanks tons, the Font Nuke utility solved my issues. Perfect solution!

FontNuke deleted around 500 fonts from my computer and now I can't install ANY new fonts, via fontbook or by directly putting them in the library. Fonts I've used for years with no issues, now I can't get to show up in ANY program, whatsoever, even though they're all in the font library.

Maybe rethink recommending FontNuke on an apple Forum, since it's not from an apple verified developer.

FontNuke doesn't delete fonts, it deletes font cache data. All of your fonts are still on the drive. What's wrong is Font Book's database is corrupt. Or at least, 99% of the time, that's what's wrong when the fonts are listed in Font Book, but none, or only some of them appear in your apps.

Restart your Mac and immediately hold down the Shift key when you hear the startup chime to boot into Safe Mode. Keep holding the Shift key until you see a progress bar towards the bottom of the screen. You can let go of the Shift key at that point. Yosemite is a bit different. Whether it's a Safe Mode boot or a normal one, you get the same progress bar. It just takes longer to get to the desktop in Safe Mode. So hold the Shift key until you get to the desktop.

OS X asks you to log in (you will get this screen on a Safe Mode boot even if your Mac is set to automatically log in). Let the Mac finish booting to the desktop and then restart normally. This will clear Font Book's database and the cache files of the user account you logged into in Safe Mode.

What font is missing? Exact name please.

Is it an OS installed font, or a third party font you added?

It is a third party font, Melior. It worked fine until we did OS and Word updates over the weekend.

It was totally strange. I've NEVER had anything like that happen before.

Thanks, but this didn't work. The problem is probably not the fonts, since all the fonts from all sources still come up as having serious problems.

Great article, by the way.

Font Squirrel is an excellent source of quality made, free fonts.

I tried two fonts. One worked well, the other worked with a yellow warning. Is it possible that all the fonts which were stored on my computer outside the font folder when I upgraded were corrupted?

PS Kurt, I really appreciate your help and all the time invested. Left you a small token at the PayPal address on your article. Sorry it can't be more.