# MSWord font weirdness

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/msword-font-weirdness/437466>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 13, 2008, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/msword-font-weirdness/437466 "2008-02-13T18:43:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\
**Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/msword-font-weirdness/437466/1 "2008-02-13T18:43:45Z")

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I’m running MSWord 2003 under XPPro. Something strange has happened to my type fonts. Existing documents appear correctly, but when I go to Format -\> Font, I see just 3 entries in what formerly was a long list of available fonts. These three are: Device Font 10cpi, Device Font 12cpi, Device Font 17cpi. I checked available fonts (via Control Panel -\> Fonts) and found the expected long list of installed fonts.

I’m unaware of having done anything that would affect fonts. What has caused MSWord to lose track of all these?

How to I get back the use of them? One idea is to delete and then reinstall them - is that a sound approach?

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**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\
**Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/msword-font-weirdness/437466/2 "2008-02-13T18:50:11Z")

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Check what printer you have selected. If it’s some real crude obsolete printer that doesn’t support all fonts, you might not be able to select them. Just a shot in the dark.

Check another app like Excel. If you see all the fonts there, then don’t delete and reinstall. That is an absolute last resort.

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**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\
**Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/msword-font-weirdness/437466/3 "2008-02-13T19:30:27Z")

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Seconded. Check your printer selection.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\
**Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/msword-font-weirdness/437466/4 "2008-02-13T22:24:00Z")

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That was the problem - no printer designated as the default. Thanks.

What a fine concept: no default printer causes you to lose access to all your fonts. Maybe if I’d been able to think of program features like that I’d now be able to afford a trip to space, as [Charles Simonyi](http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2003677786_websimonyiqa23.html) (Microsoft Word developer) did.