I used a font (JOAN) when producing a Word document, just to have some
variety from the usual fonts. Now that I want to convert it to a business
font (say arial), I find that it comes out as gibberish. I noticed in the
reveal formatting box that JOAN is a "symbol" font.

Should I have expected this?
Any way to convert to arial?

[WordBanter AI]

Hi there! It sounds like you're having trouble converting a symbol-based font back to a regular font in your Word document. Don't worry, I can definitely help you with that!

Firstly, to answer your question, yes, you should have expected this. Symbol-based fonts are designed to display symbols and special characters, not regular text. When you try to convert text that was written in a symbol-based font to a regular font, the text will often appear as gibberish because the regular font doesn't have the same symbols and characters as the symbol-based font.

However, there is a way to convert the text to a regular font without losing the content. Here's how you can do it:

1. Select all the text in your document that was written in the symbol-based font.
2. Go to the "Home" tab in the ribbon at the top of the screen.
3. Click on the arrow in the bottom right corner of the "Font" section to open the "Font" dialog box.
4. In the "Font" dialog box, select "Arial" (or whichever font you want to convert to) from the "Font" drop-down menu.
5. Click on the "Advanced" tab in the "Font" dialog box.
6. In the "Advanced" tab, select "Symbol" from the "Font style" drop-down menu.
7. Click "OK" to close the "Font" dialog box.

Your text should now be converted to the regular font you selected, while retaining the content that was originally written in the symbol-based font.

"JR" wrote

I used a font (JOAN) when producing a Word document, just
to have some
variety from the usual fonts. Now that I want to convert
it to a business
font (say arial), I find that it comes out as gibberish. I
noticed in the
reveal formatting box that JOAN is a "symbol" font.
Should I have expected this?
Any way to convert to arial?

Try capturing all the text (control-A, control-C) and paste
it (control-V) into Notepad. Now if you still see letters
and not gibberish, do the same thing again in Notepad and
paste it back into a freshly-opened, new Word document whose
font has been set to Arial. (This means close the old Word
document. Exit Word. Start Word up again. Type control-A and
set the font to Arial, just to be sure.)

I've never knowingly worked with a symbol font so I can't be
sure this will work but I just tried it with Wingdings and
Word had no problem changing back and for between that and
Ariel.

--
Bob

Kanyak's Doghouse
http://www.kanyak.com

Opinicus:

Thanks for the suggestion. When I transferred the text to Notepad, it came
out as gibberish - all squares. I have been able to transfer to other
symbol-based text fonts, just not Arial, Times NewRoman, Palatino, etc.

Have a great day
JR

"Opinicus" wrote:

"JR" wrote

I used a font (JOAN) when producing a Word document, just
to have some
variety from the usual fonts. Now that I want to convert
it to a business
font (say arial), I find that it comes out as gibberish. I
noticed in the
reveal formatting box that JOAN is a "symbol" font.
Should I have expected this?
Any way to convert to arial?

Try capturing all the text (control-A, control-C) and paste
it (control-V) into Notepad. Now if you still see letters
and not gibberish, do the same thing again in Notepad and
paste it back into a freshly-opened, new Word document whose
font has been set to Arial. (This means close the old Word
document. Exit Word. Start Word up again. Type control-A and
set the font to Arial, just to be sure.)

I've never knowingly worked with a symbol font so I can't be
sure this will work but I just tried it with Wingdings and
Word had no problem changing back and for between that and
Ariel.

--
Bob

Kanyak's Doghouse
http://www.kanyak.com

"JR" wrote

Thanks for the suggestion. When I transferred the text to
Notepad, it came
out as gibberish - all squares. I have been able to
transfer to other
symbol-based text fonts, just not Arial, Times NewRoman,
Palatino, etc.

Interesting. Can you point me to a symbol-based font that I
can download on the internet? Wingdings is apparently not a
symbol-based font and I want to explore this problem.

--
Bob

Kanyak's Doghouse
http://www.kanyak.com

Hi Bob,

You'll only see the problem after you saved and reopened the file.

Hi JR,

Below's a macro to fix the text. It changes it to Arial. It'd be nicer =
to change it to the style's font, but that would require a much slower =
macro. You'd need to fix the font yourself as neccessary.

Regards,
Klaus


Sub FixTextAccidentallyUsingDecorativeFonts2()
' Should fix text that has been accidentally formatted
' in a decorative font, and change it to "Arial".
Dim myRange As Range
Dim myStoryRange As Range
For Each myStoryRange In ActiveDocument.StoryRanges
Set myRange =3D myStoryRange.Duplicate
Call FixText2(myRange)
MsgBox myStoryRange.Text, , myStoryRange.StoryType
While Not (myStoryRange.NextStoryRange Is Nothing)
Set myStoryRange =3D myStoryRange.NextStoryRange
Set myRange =3D myStoryRange.Duplicate
Call FixText2(myRange)
MsgBox myStoryRange.Text, , myStoryRange.StoryType
Wend
Next myStoryRange
End Sub

Sub FixText2(myRangeOld As Range)
' myRange needed because a bug(?) in Word2003
' always takes me to footnote separator StoryRange?!?
Dim myRange As Range
Do
Set myRange =3D myRangeOld.Duplicate
With myRange.Find
.ClearFormatting
.Text =3D "[" & ChrW(&HF000) & "-" & ChrW(&HF0FF) & "]"
.Forward =3D True
.Wrap =3D wdFindContinue
.MatchWildcards =3D True
If .Execute Then
With myRange.Find
.Text =3D "^u" & Trim(str(AscW(myRange.Text) And &HFFFF&))
.Replacement.Text =3D ChrW(AscW(myRange.Text) - &HF000)
.Replacement.Font.Name =3D "Arial"
.Forward =3D True
.Wrap =3D wdFindContinue
.MatchWildcards =3D False
End With
myRange.Find.Execute Replace:=3DwdReplaceAll
Else
Exit Do
End If
End With
Loop
End Sub



"JR" wrote
=20
Thanks for the suggestion. When I transferred the text to=20
Notepad, it came
out as gibberish - all squares. I have been able to=20
transfer to other
symbol-based text fonts, just not Arial, Times NewRoman,=20
Palatino, etc.
=20

"Opinicus" wrote:
Interesting. Can you point me to a symbol-based font that I=20
can download on the internet? Wingdings is apparently not a=20
symbol-based font and I want to explore this problem.
=20
--=20
Bob
=20
Kanyak's Doghouse
http://www.kanyak.com
=20

[Willllllll]

Hey Klaus, you saved my day...! In my phd thesis, a part of the text showed up as strange symbols... Copy + paste to the notepad didn't work. After using your macro, everything is fine again :-D. But I wonder why this happened, and what kind of surprises in Microsoft Word are still waiting for me...
In the macro you posted, every equal sing ('=') seems to be replaced by a '=3D', so this has to be fixed before it works.

All the best,
William

Originally Posted by Klaus Linke

Hi Bob,

You'll only see the problem after you saved and reopened the file.

Hi JR,

Below's a macro to fix the text. It changes it to Arial. It'd be nicer =
to change it to the style's font, but that would require a much slower =
macro. You'd need to fix the font yourself as neccessary.

Regards,
Klaus


Sub FixTextAccidentallyUsingDecorativeFonts2()
' Should fix text that has been accidentally formatted
' in a decorative font, and change it to "Arial".
Dim myRange As Range
Dim myStoryRange As Range
For Each myStoryRange In ActiveDocument.StoryRanges
Set myRange =3D myStoryRange.Duplicate
Call FixText2(myRange)
MsgBox myStoryRange.Text, , myStoryRange.StoryType
While Not (myStoryRange.NextStoryRange Is Nothing)
Set myStoryRange =3D myStoryRange.NextStoryRange
Set myRange =3D myStoryRange.Duplicate
Call FixText2(myRange)
MsgBox myStoryRange.Text, , myStoryRange.StoryType
Wend
Next myStoryRange
End Sub

Sub FixText2(myRangeOld As Range)
' myRange needed because a bug(?) in Word2003
' always takes me to footnote separator StoryRange?!?
Dim myRange As Range
Do
Set myRange =3D myRangeOld.Duplicate
With myRange.Find
.ClearFormatting
.Text =3D "[" & ChrW(&HF000) & "-" & ChrW(&HF0FF) & "]"
.Forward =3D True
.Wrap =3D wdFindContinue
.MatchWildcards =3D True
If .Execute Then
With myRange.Find
.Text =3D "^u" & Trim(str(AscW(myRange.Text) And &HFFFF&))
.Replacement.Text =3D ChrW(AscW(myRange.Text) - &HF000)
.Replacement.Font.Name =3D "Arial"
.Forward =3D True
.Wrap =3D wdFindContinue
.MatchWildcards =3D False
End With
myRange.Find.Execute Replace:=3DwdReplaceAll
Else
Exit Do
End If
End With
Loop
End Sub



"JR" wrote
=20
Thanks for the suggestion. When I transferred the text to=20
Notepad, it came
out as gibberish - all squares. I have been able to=20
transfer to other
symbol-based text fonts, just not Arial, Times NewRoman,=20
Palatino, etc.
=20

"Opinicus" wrote:
Interesting. Can you point me to a symbol-based font that I=20
can download on the internet? Wingdings is apparently not a=20
symbol-based font and I want to explore this problem.
=20
--=20
Bob
=20
Kanyak's Doghouse
http://www.kanyak.com
=20