Embedding fonts permanent setting possible?

[Peter in New Zealand]

Hello. I am using Microsoft Office 2000 SBE on Windows 2000, and there is
one thing that has frustrated me with Word for years. Whenever I save a
document I frequently prefer to embed the true type fonts used in it as I
often distribute docs to a wide range of clients with a huge variety of
computer setups. I have tried and tried to work out a way of making that
setting "stick" but seems that I have to plough through the
Tools/Options/Save menus every time and the setting is only good for one
doc at a time. Is there any known way to make this a permanent setting for
all new docs, or at least somehow put a tool bar button in to reduce the
process to just one click? I am not very good with macros etc, but if there
is one that will do this I would be incredibly grateful if someone could
provide it for me. Thanks for any help.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

You could change the setting in Normal.dot or whatever other template you're
using for your documents, but I question the wisdom of this. Embedding fonts
greatly increases document size, and I can't think that your clients really
appreciate this. It's much better to use standard fonts that are likely to
be installed on every client's system (the Windows Core Fonts or at least
those that ship with Word) and not embed them.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

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[Peter in New Zealand]

You could change the setting in Normal.dot or whatever other template
you're using for your documents, but I question the wisdom of this.
Embedding fonts greatly increases document size, and I can't think
that your clients really appreciate this. It's much better to use
standard fonts that are likely to be installed on every client's
system (the Windows Core Fonts or at least those that ship with Word)
and not embed them.

Good grief, I can't believe it's that simple. And here I was thinking it
would have to be something complicated. Next time I'll apply Occam's
Razor before bursting into print. Suzanne, I take your point about file
size, and it is a very real issue I know, but in my application, believe
me, it's not really a hassle. Far better for them to see my documents as
I need them to see them. Thank you for patiently steering me to the
answer to my problem.

Kind regards,

 

[Guest]

Peter....

I too distribute material to people across the country that don't have some
of the fonts I use. However, I don't send the Word file. I pdf it and have
embedded the font there. Since pdf writers automatically compress the files
to some degree (I have a lot of print screens in my files, so they are quite
large), the size is not a factor.

The program I use the most often for this is pdfFactory. I got it and its
companion program from http://www.fineprint.com. Both programs are quite
inexpensive and I have been using them both for years.

Hope this helps.

Kip

 

[Peter in New Zealand]

Peter....

I too distribute material to people across the country that don't have
some of the fonts I use. However, I don't send the Word file. I pdf
it and have embedded the font there. Since pdf writers automatically
compress the files to some degree (I have a lot of print screens in my
files, so they are quite large), the size is not a factor.

The program I use the most often for this is pdfFactory. I got it and
its companion program from http://www.fineprint.com. Both programs
are quite inexpensive and I have been using them both for years.

Hope this helps.

Kip

Thanks Kip, that's a good suggestion also. Unfortunately many of the
people I distribute to are pretty much users and a basic level. Some have
never heard of PDF format, and would struggle with even the most basic
concepts. If they can't click on it and "make it appear" they are more or
less lost. I blame the retailers, at least in NZ, for flogging PC's off
as appliances like a toaster or electric frypan. The salesman croons,
"Oh, it's soooo simple you know. Everyone's doing it." They omit to
mention that a good percentage of those "doping it" are also mucking it
up. TRagically some of the salesmen are no more knowledgeable than many
of their first time computer buyers. A friend of mine had a horror story
a few years ago when he bought a PC off an appliance retailer (I told
him, I told him!) Then it screwed up and he took it back to them. They
kept it for a couple of weeks and then returned it. As a computer hobiest
of some 15 years I looked at it as was flabergasted at the shambles it
was in. Apparently no one in the shop knew what to do so they let a young
salesman take it home for a few nights. By the time he had finished with
it the machine was in such a state that I decided it was a whole lot
simpler to format the drive and start again from scratch.

Sorry about that long rant, but what it means is that most of my clients
have MS Office preinstalled, and they think that's the entire world of
computing. I am not putting them down, but you see my position. I
actually did try using PDF a couple of years ago and got a deluge of
return emails wailing, "I can't open it - you must have sent me a dud
file." Grrrrrrrrrrrr!

Thanks for being patient. PDF is great, but I think I'll have to stick to
embedding the fonts for now anyway.

Cheers,

Peter.