Fonts going crazy in Corel Draw

[SoCalN8V]

We use CorelDraw 11 and have had a few fonts (Ethnocentric, Murphy Script) go wacko on us. By "wacko:", I mean:

1. Won't let me type
2. Text spacing changes each time I open the file
3. Text has irregular spacing
4. Text is squished together.
5. Can't resize the text without messing spacing up.

Most fonts are okay, but a handful of them do very weird things. Has anyone ever had this happen to them? If so, how did you resolve it? Thanks for your help.

 

[Bigdawg]

What system are you running and how many total fonts do you have loaded?

 

[Bobby H]

I've seen Corel go wacky with fonts that weren't well encoded. Many fonts from free font sites will often have problems. Lots of people trade fonts online and convert them using questionable methods to jump platforms from Mac to PC or PC to Mac. The resulting errors can make a font go haywire. Even something as seemingly simple as renaming a font can have consequences. I've seen some that would load under older versions of Windows but flat out refused to load in XP.

In the end, you get what you pay for. I've had no such troubles with my Adobe fonts, fonts that came with Corel, Freehand and Canvas. Other fonts bought from various foundries work okay as well.

 

[SoCalN8V]

Hi Stacy,
We have Windows XP Pro and I just checked the Properties of my fonts folder and we have 1,081 files.

 

[Steve C.]

RLS,
That's way too many fonts to have in your font folder. You have Corel so you should be using Font Navagator to manage you fonts. Its on you Corel CD, just install it on you desktop. I created a folder on my hard drive called JUST FONTS and place all my fonts there. Then install into windows font folder as needed using Font Navigator. Windows recomends less that 400 fonts in the Font Folder. I keep around 600.

 

[Bigdawg]

That's way past the maximum you should have loaded. Too many fonts drives windows nuts. Can't remember the exact number - I think 675 or so, but it may be as low as 475 - that was the recommended number. Had a very similar problem when I worked elsewhere and that was what the IT guy told me. I trimmed out the excess fonts that I didn't use often - you can reload them if needed - and it solved the problem.

 

[Techman]

Can't remember the exact number - I think 675 or so, but it may be as low as 475

Actually, Windows 95/98/Me

You can run safely about 900 TrueType fonts in Windows 98SE, and Millennium. The exact number varies, depending on font names. The number is restricted because the font files are registered under a single key. A registry key cannot exceed 64 KB so the max fonts you can install is about 900..

Windows NT, 2000 or XP have no limits on the number of fonts installed. But, the boot time will be increase.

--Techman..

 

[Bobby H]

New software releases are making the issue of font management even more complicated.

Take Adobe Creative Suite for instance. You get a little over 200 OpenType fonts (including 36 Asian font weights up to 14MB in size) with the package. Oddly, all of them wind up being installed when you install the CS package. However, they don't go into the normal Windows fonts folder. Instead, they're placed into the C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Fonts folder. With the fonts placed there, only Adobe CS2 applications can see them.

In one respect that is a good thing. Still, 200+ additional fonts, on top of what you already have loaded directly into Windows, can create some big load times. It doesn't hurt anything to move those fonts to another folder and install the ones you really want to use directly into the Windows OS. Just don't move any of the type 1 fonts from the "Reqrd" subfolder.

I have a separate CS2 fonts backup folder anyway -in part to hold my bonus OTF download of the Garamond Premiere Pro family. That's quite a font package.

 

[7oaks]

Try this fix...

You could try holding down the f8 key and launch
corel. a dialog box will appear and will ask you if you
want to overwrite current work space with factory default.

You only lose your personalized work space settings.

This can correct some problems with Corel

The above is one of my previous posts for a font problem. The only pain is putting your work space
back to the way you like it.
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