Font Book 198: Validate fonts

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Validate fonts

If fonts don’t display correctly when you open documents, or if you can’t open documents, fonts required by the documents may have been damaged.

Using Font Book, you can validate installed fonts to determine whether they’re safe to use, or you can validate fonts before you install them.

Validate a font before installing it

Do one of the following:

  • To have Font Book automatically validate fonts before installing them, choose Font Book > Preferences, click General, and then select “Validate fonts before installing.”
  • Choose File > Validate File, locate the font you want to validate, and then click Open.

Use the Font Validation window to resolve issues.

Validate an installed font

Do one of the following:

  • Select the font in the Font column, and then choose File > Validate Font.

    Use the Font Validation window as described below to resolve issues.

  • Open the Console application (in the Utilities folder in Launchpad), and type “font” or a font name (such as “Arial”) in the Filter field.

    Console displays any log entries that contain the word or phrase you typed. The log entries may contain information about corrupt or missing fonts. Console logs can provide valuable information to a support technician assisting you with a problem.

Use Font Book’s Font Validation window

  1. Choose a viewing option from the pop-up menu in the upper left.
  2. Click the disclosure triangle next to fonts listed to view validation information.
  3. To save a copy of your validation results, choose File > Save Report.
  4. To remove a font, select its checkbox, and then click Remove Checked.

    To remove all fonts, select “Select all fonts” and then click Remove Checked. Make sure that fonts you want to keep aren’t selected.

  5. To resolve duplicate fonts, close the Font Validation window to return to the Font Book window, and then follow the instructions in:

    Resolve duplicate fonts

Last Modified: Sep 3, 2015
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