WD97: Fonts in Converted RTF File Not Mapped Correctly (170912)

SYMPTOMS

When you open a Rich Text Format (RTF) file that contains a font that is not on your computer, Microsoft Word 97 may make a poor font substitution choice and the RTF document you are converting may not look as it should.

CAUSE

Microsoft Word 97 ignores the Panose information in the font when calculating which installed font will be substituted for the missing font.

The Panose information is in the RTF file, but the Panose bit is not being set when Microsoft Word 97 reads in the RTF file.

RESOLUTION

To correct this problem, install Microsoft Word 97 Service Release 1 (SR- 1).

To work around this problem, you can manually change the font Microsoft Word uses during the substitution process by following these steps:

Open the document you want to substitute fonts in.
On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Compatibility tab.
Click Font Substitution.
In the Missing document font box, click the font you want to replace.
In the Substituted font box, click the font you want to use instead of the missing font.

NOTE: Microsoft Word does not replace the name of the missing font; it only changes how the font is displayed on the screen and how it is printed by substituting a font that is available on your system. If the substituted font is listed as "Default," read the message near the bottom of the dialog box to see which font will be substituted.
Repeat steps 4 and 5 for each font you want to change.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Microsoft Word 97 for Windows. This problem was corrected in Microsoft Word 97 SR-1.

For additional information about SR-1, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

172475 OFF97: How to Obtain and Install MS Office 97 SR-1

MORE INFORMATION

Panose is a typeface matching system that objectively classifies a font according to its visual characteristics and assigns a 10-digit Panose number to the font. Given two Panose numbers, the Panose mapper algorithm can be used to measure the "visual distance" between the associated fonts; the smaller the distance, the more similar the fonts.

REFERENCES

For more information about font substitution, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

163813 WD97: Square Boxes in Central European, Russian, or Greek Document

For more information about font substitution, click the Office Assistant, type "font substitution," click Search, and then click "Specify fonts to use when converting files."

NOTE: If the Assistant is hidden, click the Office Assistant button on the Standard toolbar. If Word Help is not installed on your computer, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

120802 Office: How to Add/Remove a Single Office Program or Component