Inserting glyphs

I can't find any recent threads on how to do this. I'd like to insert a character from Zapfino into a Pages document. I've read you can't copy characters out of Font Book, and my experience bears that out. According to some online information, I read PopChar would make this easy. It didn't. I can't find the glyph using sierra's or Pages character tools. According to Font Book, the glyph iD is 1,367.


I'm using Pages 6.1.1 and Sierra 10.12.5. I also have PopChar 7.7.


For the curious, it's the curly line thing. (And I love to know the 'real' name of symbols or marks or whatever these things are.)


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MacBook Pro (13-inch, Late 2016, 4 TBT3)

Posted on May 25, 2017 11:16 AM

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7 replies

May 25, 2017 1:02 PM in response to IsThatYourBag

There is more information here than you need to get that Zapfino glyph into Pages. Just drag and drop it into Pages from Font Book character view. You can launch the Font Panel (command+T), select the Zapfino font, and from the gear icon, select Typography, and select ornaments.


Everything beyond this point is optional.


For years, the operating system has been installing a selection of iWork fonts that are not in the default font search path, and do not appear in Font Book, or application font menus. One of these TrueType fonts is named:


Type Embellishments One Let.ttf


and it contains the Digit Five flourish (U+F035) that is similar to what you have shown for Zapfino. Once you can see the characters of this font in Font Book, you can drag/drop to add them to Pages, or once the font itself is selected in Pages, just directly enter the unicode (with Unicode Hex Input enabled) as option+F035.

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You get this Unicode number when you hover over the character. The System Preferences : Keyboard panel : Input Sources will allow you to add the Unicode Hex Input item. Select Show input menu in menu bar, if you haven't already.


In Finder Go menu : Go to Folder... and enter /Library/Application Support/Apple/Fonts and click Go. You will see a folder there named iWork. Hold that thought...


Launch Font Book, and in the lower left corner, click the + symbol to add a new Font collection. Name it iWork, and press return. Keep it selected. From the Font Book File menu : Add Fonts... . You want that iWork folder from the previous paragraph. This will load the associated iWork fonts into the new iWork Collection, and present a panel of the fonts. Select them, and proceed.


Type embellishments will be at or near the bottom of the iWork fonts list. Click the dot grid icon from the Font Book toolbar to see the individual characters. Drag and drop what you need into Pages.

May 25, 2017 1:11 PM in response to IsThatYourBag

Interesting.


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With the font set to Zapfino, and some sample text entered, it was a simple copy/paste to transfer the character to a Pages document, using Pages 4.3.


The same course of action in Pages 5.6.2 produced only a brief 'blink' at the insertion point position.

And selecting a 'space' character in a string of text, then pasting gave this result (the screen shot was captured while the insertion point was visible):

User uploaded file

Note that the space character has been removed.


Copying the glyph from Fontbook, then pasting it into the search box in the character viewer (now called "Emoji & Symbols") gave this result:

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As does pasting it here (Safari 10.1.1): �


Curiouser and curiouser...


Peter? Viking?


Regards,

Barry

May 25, 2017 1:45 PM in response to Barry

There actually is a separate Zapfino Extra Ornaments font ($65) that is not installed by OS X, and that would solve this issue.


Font designers may choose to assign a unicode value to a glyph, or omit it. The zapfino glyph 1367 has no Unicode assignment.


With the Zapfino regular font selected in Pages, one can insert the desired glyph with shift+m. This works in Pages '09 v4.3, and Pages v5.6.2, provided one has opened the Show Fonts panel, selected Zapfino Regular, clicked the gear icon, and enabled Ornaments in the Typography panel.

May 26, 2017 5:07 AM in response to Barry

No. Keyboard Viewer does not permit specific font selection, and this particular glyph 1367 of the Zapfino Regular font has no Unicode assignment.


One is stuck with this workflow, and keyboard guesswork. It remains to be seen if the purchased Zapfino Ornaments font would allow one to view the ornaments in Font Book, and then drag/drop them into Pages.


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May 25, 2017 1:26 PM in response to VikingOSX

Update. Although some characters from other fonts will drag/drop into Pages from Font Book, the Zapfino Regular ornaments will not do so. I assumed before I posted, and was incorrect with this particular font. As there is only a Glyph number associated with the character that you want to insert, one cannot directly enter any Unicode sequence either.


All of my effort on this has been with Pages v5.6.2.

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Inserting glyphs

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