Characters change to box characters when you open an Asian document in Word 97 (206702)

SYMPTOMS

When you open a Word document that was created in an Asian version of Microsoft Word 97 for Windows, the text of the document changes to box characters.

CAUSE

If the appropriate fonts for the document are not installed on your computer, the English (U.S.) version of Microsoft Word 97 for Windows performs a font substitution when it opens a document that was created in an Asian version of Word.

RESOLUTION

To prevent this problem from occurring when you open a document that was created in an Asian version of Word 97 for Windows, install the Asian support files for Microsoft Word 97.

For more information about installing the Asian support files, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

159471 How to install the Asian support files to use in Word 97

If the appropriate Asian fonts are installed on your system, and you open a document that contains box characters, follow these steps:

In the document that exhibits this behavior, on the Edit menu, click Select All.
On the Format menu, click Font.
On the Font tab, change to the appropriate font for the document, and then click OK.