Characters in Menus and Dialog Boxes Corrupt or Truncated

 Last reviewed: November 22, 1994
Article ID: Q84649
The information in this article applies to:
  • Microsoft Windows operating system versions 3.1, 3.11

SUMMARY

Missing or misaligned characters in menus or dialog boxes of Windows applications running under Windows 3.1 can be caused by a modified [FontSubstitutes] section in the WIN.INI file.

MORE INFORMATION

If a Windows application looks for Helv as its font in dialog boxes and that font does not exist, the application refers to the [FontSubstitutes] section in the WIN.INI file. Normally, MS Sans Serif is substituted for Helv. However, if this section has been modified to read Helv=Arial instead of Helv=MS Sans Serif, missing or misaligned characters may occur.

The [FontSubstitutes] section should read as follows: 

   [FontSubstitutes]
   Helv=MS Sans Serif
   Tms Rmn=MS Serif
   Times=Times New Roman
   Helvetica=Arial
If the [FontSubstitutes] section is correct as described above, check to see if MS San Serif has been installed in Windows 3.1. If it has not been installed, the same missing character and misalignment problems occur.

STATUS

Microsoft is researching this problem and will post new information here as it becomes available.

KBCategory: kbprb
KBSubcategory: win31
Additional reference words: 3.10 3.11 word for windows winword excel cut
off corruption garbled

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Last reviewed: November 22, 1994
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