WD: Different Character Displayed when Size or Zoom Level Change

• Microsoft Word for the Macintosh, version 6.0, 6.0.1, 6.0.1a
• Microsoft Word 98 Macintosh Edition

SYMPTOMS

Some extended characters or symbols, such as the robot character from the New York font, display as other characters or symbols in Word for the Macintosh when you change the font size or zoom percentage.

For example, the robot character changes to an uppercase Y umlaut, a heart symbol, or musical notes, depending on the font size or zoom percentage you use in Word. Regardless of which character is displayed in your document, Word always prints the character as an uppercase Y umlaut.

This does not happen in Word for Windows.

CAUSE

This happens only with bitmap fonts on a Macintosh, not with scalable fonts. In a bitmap font, the Macintosh operating system sometimes maps different symbols to different point sizes of a single extended character (that is, an upper character you cannot type directly from the keyboard). For example, in the New York bitmap font, the system maps a robot, heart, and musical notes symbol to the 12, 14, and 18-point sizes of a single character, respectively.

When a symbol from a bitmap font changes as a result of changing the zoom setting, Word is using a different font size to display the symbol. For the 12-point New York robot symbol, if you change the zoom to 125, 150, or 200 percent, Word displays an uppercase Y umlaut, heart, and robot, respectively. To display the character at the 125 percent zoom level, Word uses the scalable version of the font, whereas to display the character at the 150 or 200 percent zoom level, Word uses the 18 and 24-point bitmap font.

NOTE: By default, Word uses a bitmap version of the font whenever possible; otherwise, Word substitutes a scalable font (bitmap fonts are produced in only 8, 10, 12, 14, and 24 point sizes). For some fonts, such as New York, there is both a bitmap and a scalable font. However, Word always prints the scalable version of the font because Word cannot download a bitmap font to the printer. This is why the robot character always prints as an uppercase Y umlaut regardless of the zoom or font size.

STATUS

Word is functioning correctly. This problem stems from the Apple Macintosh font definitions for bitmap fonts.

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