[Solved+Issue] Symbols not displaying in MS Word

[tarmac]

Hi,

I have to provide some work in Word 97/2000/XP format and when I view my docs on a Windows machine with Word or the Word viewer I see little squares instead of symbols like sqrt and setZ, etc.

From previous threads I gather that the symbols come from a font "opens___.ttf"? So I've tried installing that on the Windows machine, but the formulae still show squares.

So I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong? The people I'll be sending my work to will all have "Lucida Sans Unicode" already, which will have all the necessary symbols too. So another thing I was wonder was whether I could edit some config file somewhere to use that font for symbols instead? It'd save me sending opens___.ttf with my work.

I've seen in the previous threads that I can convert all the formulae to bitmaps, but I'd prefer if I can avoid that since they can't be edited without redoing them.

I've looked at the fonts under the Format|Fonts... menu, and I've tried with and without conversion to/from MathType under load/save options.

Thanks for any info.

[Hagar Delest]

Hi and welcome to the forum!

See that one perhaps: 'Symbol' font not displaying in imported .doc files.

Else, this query may help. Try to change the font to OpenSymbol.
Note that if you need to work with MS Office file format, better use MS Office. The .doc import/export filters have been reverse engineered, hence some flaws.

Please add '[Solved]' at the beginning of your first post title (edit button) if your issue has been fixed.

[tarmac]

Thanks for the info.

I've found this bug report that explains the problem: http://openoffice.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=80653

OOo is still using the font name 'StarSymbol', though it's been renamed 'OpenSymbol'. What I'll do is send "opens___.ttf" with my documents, and also I'll send this 'starsymbol.reg' file:

---snip---
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\FontSubstitutes]
"StarSymbol"="OpenSymbol"
---snip---

Then the recipient will have to install the font, execute the reg file, log out and back in again and then they'll be able to see the equations properly. Not a great solution but it'll have to do.