Why does this happen

[MB]

I have WORD97 on 3 different computer systems. One is a DELL at home with
XP, another is an older Gateway at home with W98, and the 3rd is an older
DELL at work with ME.

When I create certain documents, I might need to insert a special symbol. In
one case it was a smiley face in some other cases it was a math symbol
(angle symbol and little triangle symbol)

OK , when I do this it works fine on the system I created it on. But quite
often, the symbols will not appear on any of the other systems. The symbol
will come out as a small little rectangle. This will also show up this way
on the PrintPreview.

Why does this happen?? Do the differing Window versions matter or is it
something else?? I would like to, say, write a document at home, save it to
disk, and then use it at work. (Could it be due to saving it on a diskette??
I guess I could always send it to myself at work as an email attachment.
But, somehow I don't think it is the media).

Mel

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

One computer might have an older version of the font used, which does not
contain the character you inserted. This is especially true for
"double-byte" characters (the ones with numbers above 255). Or it could be
that the font used is not present at all or is damaged. This could be the
case with such characters as smilies, which are inserted from Wingdings or
symbols that you took from the Symbol font, and is much more likely to be
the case if the font you used was not one of the Windows core fonts (that
is, is a symbol font that is not installed on the other computer).

If the problem is a missing font, you can copy the font from one computer to
another.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[RWN]

MB;
I've never had the problem with the characters but have had plenty of
problems with saving directly to disk (or CD).
You're farther ahead to save to your HD then copy/move to whatever removable
medium you're using.
--
Regards;
Rob

Please reply to the NG I'm already up to my eyeballs in
Nigerian/South African get rich letters as well as
"Microsoft Critical Updates" et al.

 

[MB]

Suzanne:

How do I get the font (character??) from one computer to another.
In other words, what would the name of the font be and where would I find it
in order to copy it.

For example, one of the characters is a smiley face.
I got that from the program/accessories/system tools/character set. Where
would I find the font/character file in order to copy it to my other
computer.

Also, I think I got the math symbols from Math Type.

Mel

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

If you got the character from Character Map, then see what font was selected
when you inserted the character. If you got symbols from MathType, then
you'll need MathType (or at least the MathType fonts) installed on the other
computer. In either case, you can't copy a single character; you have to
copy the whole font.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Ian]

How do I get the font (character??) from one computer to another.
In other words, what would the name of the font be and where would I find it
in order to copy it.

You could try saving the fonts with the original document:

Tools > Options > Save, then check "Embed TrueType fonts" and "Embed
characters in use only". This will bloat the file, but it should
guarantee that your special characters are saved (assuming they are
TrueType of course).