Installed fonts not showing up in Font Book or other apps

Question

Level 1

16 points

Installed fonts not showing up in Font Book or other apps

I am having an issue where fonts will install, but not show up in Font Book.

I go into Font Book, go to File > Add Fonts..., navigate to a font file and click Open, the validating and installing windows will flash by, but the font will not appear in the list of All Fonts. The file will show up in ~/Library/Fonts/, but not in Font Book or any other apps.

Any clues as to what the issue is and how to fix it?

Thanks!

MacBook Pro (13-inch Early 2011), OS X Mavericks (10.9.2)

Posted on Mar 24, 2014 5:22 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Solertia7 Author

Level 1

16 points

Mar 25, 2014 9:02 AM in response to Solertia7

An update!!

Okay, so just for kicks, I ran repair permissions again. Then deleted the plist for Font Book from my ~/Library/Preferences. Then I went into terminal, cleared my font cache, and restarted. Opened up Font Book, validated the files for a font family, selected all, clicked install, held my breath and...voila! They showed up in Font Book! And in other apps (TextEdit, InDesign, etc.)!!

Thanks to everyone who responded to this thread!

Reply

Answer 2

Solertia7 Author

Level 1

16 points

Mar 24, 2014 6:04 PM in response to SilverSkyRat

3/24/14 21:03:34.259 mdworker[1167]: FontImporter: Validation failed - "/Users/spencerstevens/Library/Fonts/TradeGothic".

3/24/14 21:03:34.259 mdworker[1167]: FontImporter: Validation Result - "(

kATSFontTestSeverityFatalError

)".

Reply

Answer 3

Solertia7 Author

Level 1

16 points

Mar 24, 2014 6:20 PM in response to SilverSkyRat

Tried installing another one, here are the Console details from after that attempt.

3/24/14 21:16:19.285 fontd[210]: Cannot save bookmark for file 'file:///Users/spencerstevens/Library/Fonts/TradeGothicLTStd-BoldExt.otf', skipping file

3/24/14 21:16:30.457 com.apple.IconServicesAgent[255]: main Failed to composit image for binding VariantBinding [0x679] flags: 0x8 binding: FileInfoBinding [0x835] - extension: eps, UTI: com.adobe.encapsulated-postscript, fileType: ????.

3/24/14 21:16:30.458 quicklookd[1258]: Warning: Cache image returned by the server has size range covering all valid image sizes. Binding: VariantBinding [0x803] flags: 0x8 binding: FileInfoBinding [0x703] - extension: eps, UTI: com.adobe.encapsulated-postscript, fileType: ???? request size:16 scale: 1

Reply

Answer 4

Mar 24, 2014 7:32 PM in response to Solertia7

OK, next thing is to see if there are any permissions issues with your home folders. Rather than changing them right now, open Font Book, Preferences..., and change "Default install location" to "Computer". It will then try to put them in /Library/Fonts. If this works, there are permission issues with your ~/ structure somewhere inside.

If it doesn't work, the most likely thing is indeed a corrupt font file. Try to get access to another Mac or even Windows Machine and locate a font that your mac doesn't have (Windows location is something like C:\Windows\Fonts). This should be a known good .otf or .ttf file from it working on the other machine. Copy that file to your mac and try to import it. Let us know 🙂

Reply

Answer 5

Solertia7 Author

Level 1

16 points

Mar 24, 2014 7:46 PM in response to SilverSkyRat

I changed the Default Install Location to Computer. It put the file in /Library/Fonts, but still wouldn't show up in Font Book or any apps.

I grabbed a font from C:\Windows\Fonts on my PC (a font that my Mac didn't have), tried to install it, and the same deal. Shows up in /Library/Fonts, but not in anything else.

😟

Reply

Answer 6

Mar 24, 2014 9:53 PM in response to Solertia7

Because of:

Solertia7 wrote:

3/24/14 21:03:34.259 mdworker[1167]: FontImporter: Validation Result - "(

kATSFontTestSeverityFatalError

I'd reckon. The ATSFont stuff is an old format it tries to generate (or something like that). I don't think that's the issue though because:

1. You got different errors above trying to import different fonts

2. I've got fonts on my new Mac mini I imported from CorelDRAW that were created in the late 90s and they went in without a hitch.

Sometimes the fonts do go in but don't sort alphabetically in font book - they go to the bottom of the "All Fonts" list. Sounds silly, but check the list again?

Also, many windows fonts list their bold, italic etc derivatives as different font files, but in font book these derivatives can list under the main font name when you see an arrow to expand the font. The windows font you brought over, was it a completely different font family?

I can't think of any other things except it may be the font system that's sick (I would have thought very unlikely though).

Reply

Answer 7

Solertia7 Author

Level 1

16 points

Mar 25, 2014 6:36 AM in response to SilverSkyRat

I had thought of that, but they literally are nowhere to be found in the All Fonts list. I've looked through the entire list, as well as searching for the font, but nothing.

The Windows font was a font was a completely separate family not found on my Mac at all.

I tried installing different set of fonts (ran them through the Validator and then clicking install when they all checked out), and got the following in the console:

3/25/14 09:26:26.736 fontd[210]: Cannot save bookmark for file 'file:///Users/spencerstevens/Library/Fonts/TradeGothicNextLTPro-Lt.otf', skipping file

3/25/14 09:26:26.737 fontd[210]: Cannot save bookmark for file 'file:///Users/spencerstevens/Library/Fonts/TradeGothicNextLTPro-BdCm.otf', skipping file

3/25/14 09:26:26.738 fontd[210]: Cannot save bookmark for file 'file:///Users/spencerstevens/Library/Fonts/TradeGothicNextLTPro-LtIt.otf', skipping file

3/25/14 09:26:26.739 fontd[210]: Cannot save bookmark for file 'file:///Users/spencerstevens/Library/Fonts/TradeGothicNextLTPro-Bd.otf', skipping file

3/25/14 09:26:26.739 fontd[210]: Cannot save bookmark for file 'file:///Users/spencerstevens/Library/Fonts/TradeGothicNextLTPro-HvCm.otf', skipping file

3/25/14 09:26:26.740 fontd[210]: Cannot save bookmark for file 'file:///Users/spencerstevens/Library/Fonts/TradeGothicNextLTPro-Hv.otf', skipping file

3/25/14 09:26:26.740 fontd[210]: Cannot save bookmark for file 'file:///Users/spencerstevens/Library/Fonts/TradeGothicNextLTPro-It.otf', skipping file

3/25/14 09:26:26.741 fontd[210]: Cannot save bookmark for file 'file:///Users/spencerstevens/Library/Fonts/TradeGothicNextLTPro-BdCnIt.otf', skipping file

3/25/14 09:26:26.742 fontd[210]: Cannot save bookmark for file 'file:///Users/spencerstevens/Library/Fonts/TradeGothicNextLTPro-Cm.otf', skipping file

3/25/14 09:26:26.742 fontd[210]: Cannot save bookmark for file 'file:///Users/spencerstevens/Library/Fonts/TradeGothicNextLTPro-HvCnIt.otf', skipping file

3/25/14 09:26:26.743 fontd[210]: Cannot save bookmark for file 'file:///Users/spencerstevens/Library/Fonts/TradeGothicNextLTPro-BdCn.otf', skipping file

3/25/14 09:26:26.744 fontd[210]: Cannot save bookmark for file 'file:///Users/spencerstevens/Library/Fonts/TradeGothicNextLTPro-BdIt.otf', skipping file

3/25/14 09:26:26.744 fontd[210]: Cannot save bookmark for file 'file:///Users/spencerstevens/Library/Fonts/TradeGothicNextLTPro-Rg.otf', skipping file

3/25/14 09:26:26.745 fontd[210]: Cannot save bookmark for file 'file:///Users/spencerstevens/Library/Fonts/TradeGothicNextLTPro-HvCn.otf', skipping file

3/25/14 09:26:26.745 fontd[210]: Cannot save bookmark for file 'file:///Users/spencerstevens/Library/Fonts/TradeGothicNextLTPro-HvIt.otf', skipping file

3/25/14 09:26:26.746 fontd[210]: Cannot save bookmark for file 'file:///Users/spencerstevens/Library/Fonts/TradeGothicNextLTPro-Cn.otf', skipping file

3/25/14 09:26:26.747 fontd[210]: Cannot save bookmark for file 'file:///Users/spencerstevens/Library/Fonts/TradeGothicNextLTPro-CnIt.otf', skipping file

And again, same behavior. Goes into ~/Library/Fonts, but nothing else.

Reply

Answer 8

Mar 25, 2014 6:50 AM in response to Solertia7

Well, if you want, we can try the permissions route, as it seems the system has been denied access to something (writing a file or part of one). Make sure you have a current backup of the system and either from disk utility or restart to the recovery HD, do a repair permissions and see how it goes. Afterwards, test adding fonts to computer (/Library/Fonts) as well as user, as before from the Font Book Preferences.

If that doesn't fix it, I'll defer to anyone else who might be able to help, because all I can think of after that is a complete reinstall of the os 😟

Reply

Answer 9

Mar 24, 2014 5:57 PM in response to Solertia7

There may be something wrong with the font files... I would look in Console, "All Messages" right after trying to add one to see if there are any errors, post any font-related messages back here.

Reply