Updated, now fonts don't work!

[OutOfDate]

Hi, I recently upgraded my machine (which admittedly was very out of date) and most of the fonts which I've had and used for years don't seem to be recognised by Suitcase.

I copied them over on CD in the same way I copied them to that machine from the previous one. I've never had any problems with them before and neither have the companies I've sent them to along with completed jobs (who presumably are not as behind as me).

Any ideas? They are appearing in suitcase as grey boxes with "exec" written in the corner. When I "get info" on the files it says they are "Unix Executable File", whatever that means.

For one of the fonts I did a search and found that I had loads of versions of the same font most of which were grey boxes apart from a couple which were postscript and Suitcase recognises, so I've been lucky with that one.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do because I can't work without my fonts and there are thousands of them!

Help?

 

[CrickettGrrrl]

Ouch!

Please specify which OS's you moved from & to.

 

[LPZ]

Any ideas? They are appearing in suitcase as grey boxes with "exec" written in the corner. When I "get info" on the files it says they are "Unix Executable File", whatever that means.

In copying the files, you somehow changed the file modes. In particular, the execute bits got set.

Where on your computer did you put these font files?

 

[OutOfDate]

In copying the files, you somehow changed the file modes. In particular, the execute bits got set.

Where on your computer did you put these font files?

Thanks for your reply. All I did was copy them from the HD onto CD, and then copy onto new HD into the Documents Folder. All remained in their little folders, I didn't mess around with them.

Any chance that I've just put them in the wrong place and when I move them they'll miraculously work? (hopeful!)

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Ouch!

Please specify which OS's you moved from & to.

I know!

Now on 10.7 Can't actually remember previous. It was a bit of a jump as hadn't updated for quite a few years! (someones telling me it might have been 10.4?)


Should mention that I have the same problem if I use Fontbook so not a Suitcase thing.

 

[OutOfDate]

Actually I've just realised something . . .

the few fonts that are NOT appearing as stupid little grey boxes and are actually working are all one's I found in individual job folders but not part of the main "fonts folder". Do you think something could have gone wrong in the copy over? I have a back up somewhere . . .

(still hopeful!)

 

[CrickettGrrrl]

That is quite a jump from 10.4 Tiger to 10.8 Mountain Lion. Tiger was transitional -- Power PC & Intel, thus the software you were using may have been PPC.

Yes, I think you would have had less problems (not ruling out ALL) if you had used Migration Assistant to move your fonts rather than manually with a CD or DVD.

 

[LPZ]

Thanks for your reply. All I did was copy them from the HD onto CD, and then copy onto new HD into the Documents Folder. All remained in their little folders, I didn't mess around with them.

Please open Terminal (in Utilities). In Terminal, please type

cd

and add a space or two after the d. Don't press return yet. Then drag one of the font folders and drop it into the Terminal window. The folder is not actually being moved, but the folder's file path should be appended to the cd command you typed.

Now press return.

Finally, please copy and paste the following into Terminal and then press return:

ls -l

Post the output.

 

[OutOfDate]

Please open Terminal (in Utilities). In Terminal, please type

cd

and add a space or two after the d. Don't press return yet. Then drag one of the font folders and drop it into the Terminal window. The folder is not actually being moved, but the folder's file path should be appended to the cd command you typed.

Now press return.

Finally, please copy and paste the following into Terminal and then press return:

ls -l

Post the output.

Thank you for your help!

I don't understand this level of computer stuff (as you can probably tell!) but hopefully I followed your instructions correctly.

After the last code/return as instructed it says this . . . (I've replaced my name with myname)

total 0
-rwxr-xr-x 1 myname staff 0 8 Nov 1993 AacheBol
-rwxr-xr-x 1 myname staff 0 25 Oct 2000 Aachen Bold
myname-Mac-Pro:AACHEN BOLD myname$

 

[beowulf70]

I've had this problem before and it was down to the OS change also. I managed to fix it my zipping the font folders first, then copying them over.

 

[LPZ]

I've had this problem before and it was down to the OS change also. I managed to fix it my zipping the font folders first, then copying them over.

This might work, because zipping and unzipping might protect the file modes.

 

[beowulf70]

This might work, because zipping and unzipping might protect the file modes.

Exactly. It does work.

 

[LPZ]

Thank you for your help!

I don't understand this level of computer stuff (as you can probably tell!) but hopefully I followed your instructions correctly.

After the last code/return as instructed it says this . . . (I've replaced my name with myname)

total 0
-rwxr-xr-x 1 myname staff 0 8 Nov 1993 AacheBol
-rwxr-xr-x 1 myname staff 0 25 Oct 2000 Aachen Bold
myname-Mac-Pro:AACHEN BOLD myname$

Yes, the x's indicate these are now marked as executable files. If you still have the old machine, please try beowulf70's suggestion. Put all the font folders in one folder, create a zip file of that folder, transfer the zip file to the new machine using a CD, and then unzip.

There are other ways to fix all the files you've already moved, but beowulf70's suggestion may be easier for you.

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Exactly. It does work.

Sorry, didn't mean to doubt you.

 

[OutOfDate]

I've had this problem before and it was down to the OS change also. I managed to fix it my zipping the font folders first, then copying them over.

I was just about to try this as it completely makes sense, and I realised that I had copied the fonts onto my new machine from my backup HD not a cd. I checked the backup HD and they are all messed up on there. Managed to find old font backup cds, have copied loads over already and they seem fine!

I'm so relieved!

Thank you for your help

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This might work, because zipping and unzipping might protect the file modes.

Thanks so much LPZ! I wish I had known about this website and how helpful you all are years ago!

Thanks again everyone!
(and thanks for not laughing at my lack of computer know-how!)



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That is quite a jump from 10.4 Tiger to 10.8 Mountain Lion. Tiger was transitional -- Power PC & Intel, thus the software you were using may have been PPC.

Yes, I think you would have had less problems (not ruling out ALL) if you had used Migration Assistant to move your fonts rather than manually with a CD or DVD.

Yes all the software was PPC and had to be replaced. I didn't know there was such a thing as Migration Assistant!

Thanks

 

[CrickettGrrrl]

Yes all the software was PPC and had to be replaced. I didn't know there was such a thing as Migration Assistant!

Thanks

Yes, this IS a great site with incredible people like LPZ & Beowulf70. This is where I learned about Migration Assistant, and how best to update from Panther 10.3 to Leopard myself , and then to Mountain Lion & loads more good stuff... (I've since sworn an oath to myself not to get stuck so far behind again, but we'll see. You know, stuff happens...)

 

[beowulf70]

Yes, the x's indicate these are now marked as executable files. If you still have the old machine, please try beowulf70's suggestion. Put all the font folders in one folder, create a zip file of that folder, transfer the zip file to the new machine using a CD, and then unzip.

There are other ways to fix all the files you've already moved, but beowulf70's suggestion may be easier for you.

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Sorry, didn't mean to doubt you.

hehe. No worries. You just happened to mention why it works. Thanks.