3 Replies Latest reply: Sep 24, 2010 12:56 PM by BobLevine RSS

    Zapf Dingbats missing in cross-platform file

    Kenneth Benson Community Member

      I'm trying to set up a seamless file transfer between my client (on a Mac) and me (on Windows XP). At first, I got a missing font: "Zapf Dingbats".zapfdingbats.jpg

      So I sent this screencap to Fonts.com and asked them which Zapf Dingbats to buy. They gave me a link to the PC TT version of ITC Zapf Dingbats and I bought it and installed it.

       

      Now Indesign (6.0.5.602) shows the missing font as "Zapf Dingbats (TT)". It changed the name of the missing font, even though nothing changed in the file I'm opening. Not fair.

       

      It would be really easy to substitute my Zapf Dingbats for the missing one, but I want the client to be able to open my file without any font missing messages. Is this possible, or am I going to have to buy a Mac to get on the same page with my client?

       

      Ken Benson

        • 1. Re: Zapf Dingbats missing in cross-platform file
          BobLevine CommunityMVP

          Unless you're both using opentype versions you're going to have headaches.

           

          Bob

          • 2. Re: Zapf Dingbats missing in cross-platform file
            Joel Cherney Community Member

            I do lots of cross-plaftorm work, and I see this all the time. I can suggest a wide variety of duct-taped workarounds. The one I like the best is:

             

            1) Open doc from client and click past missing font warning

            2) Make a new charstyle for the dropped font. It should specify the name of the dropped font in the charstyle.

            3) Save the doc with a new name, like "DUMB FONT NAMING CONVENTION WORKAROUND.indd"

            4) Go to work on a different version of the file

            5) Before delivering to your client, Import the charstyle with the Mac name of the font from your "DUMB FONT etc etc" document you saved in step 3.

             

            Obviously, this method won't work if the Dingbats themselves are already charstyled. However, the reason I have a bunch of workarounds for this situation is that the same exact PC TT font will be named differently in ID on the two platforms - or that's what I discovered, if you have a Mac handy you can do the same research to discover whether or not you can just get away with using the PC TT on both platforms.

             

            You can do the math to discover whether or not it's worth your time to fiddle with workarounds - I'm sure that if the client is going to be a long-term source of revenue, and if you value your time at n dollars per hour, you can figure out how many hours spent fiddling with duct tape equals one el-cheapo Mac to keep you from needing to have a workaround at all.

            • 3. Re: Zapf Dingbats missing in cross-platform file
              Joel Cherney Community Member

              Oh heck - I just realized that I made the Mac-named Zapf Dingbats charstyle on my Mac at home. I don't know if my posted method works or not, in reality. Whoops!