Mac Fonts...why are some "UNIX EXEC" and wont work as a font?

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Mac Fonts...why are some "UNIX EXEC" and wont work as a font?

I need to use some fonts so I can view a document the way it was made on another mac. They emailed me the fonts they used and they have no extension and have the black square icon with UNIX EXEC written in it. When i click them, it opens up some prompt window. Its also not reconized when i try to put into Font Book or any font manager. This isnt the first time ive seen fonts work like this, why is this and how do i make it work?

tower, Mac OS X (10.4)

Posted on Sep 6, 2006 5:49 AM

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Answer 1

Oct 24, 2006 6:12 PM in response to G F2

The suggestions to zip the files that the client is sending you is a good one. The other is to ensure that there is an extension associated with the font (or with any file).

You may have heard about "resource forks" and the confusion that can arise when sending files between computers. The end result is often a little "Unix Exec" file that won't do anything intelligent when you double click it. The problem is that the computer doesn't know what kind of file it is -- the easiest way to make sure that the recipient's computer knows what to do with the file is to name the file with an extension. E.g. for fonts, .dfont or .ttf. Not all fonts have extensions, but a lot of them do.

You may have to walk your client through zipping a file or turning on the Finder's "Show All Extensions" preference.

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Answer 2

Nov 7, 2006 1:11 AM in response to G F2

If you are sharing files through or coming from a PC network...

The PC (like LaCie Ethernet disks) knows, for your Mac's, only the "Apple Talk" protocol.

So on your Mac, just Activate "Apple Talk" in System Preferences.

And no more "EXEC" icons to see!

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