special characters and Quark

[MasterBlue]

HI,

I am trying to import special characters from the character map for Ariel font into Quark express, characters such as a with a bar over it, however when I copy and paste, all I see is a '?' appearing in the document,

any suggestion as to how I could overcome this?

cheers

 

[blueark]

I'm not really sure. If you were bringing text from PC to Mac, it would make some sense, but copying and pasting on the one platform? A few suggestions:

1: Are you using the same font both in charactor map and in Quark? Copy & paste usually doesn't copy the font, just the charactor (unless you're copying from another Quark document). If your text box in Quark is set to another font, this might be interpretted differently.

2: Can you copy these charactors into any other program? If not, it might not be a problem with Quark. If you can, maybe try copying them from that program into Quark. Again, make sure you're using the same font.

 

[onewrite]

MasterBlue,
What version of Quark and what OS.
Is your version of Arial an OpenType font?
Check this link to see if it applies.

http://desktoppub.about.com/library/weekly/aa101102a.htm

Dave

 

[MasterBlue]

hi,

Im operating on a pc, Win XP, Quark Express 5

It is the same font in both character map and quark and the characters appear fine in Microsoft Word. I tried copying from Word to Quark again only to see the '?' appear!

 

[blueark]

The OpenType idea sounds right. Have you tried the same charactor in a different font, preferably a TrueType or PostScript font?

 

[MasterBlue]

no luck on anything, getting a bit frustrated here!

I've noticed that on character map any characters, on any font I have tried thusfar, that do not have a ALT+xxxx shortcut appear as '?' in Quark.

Can anyone try the same thing and see if he/she comes across the same problem?

 

[jimoblak]

I agree that this smells like an opentype issue, which I understand that Quark does not support well. I took Quark 5 off my XP PC some time ago so I cannot verify any of the drivel I'm offering.

Consider finding an old copy of arial.ttf font on the web to stand in for your OTF version of Arial.

Also consider Adobe Type Manager (Deluxe [$] or Light [free]). Even though XP negates the general need for this software, it can help with some stubborn fonts.

- - picklefish - -

 

[Steviek1]

Simple question: How do you insert a "TM" special character in Quark 4.1?

Thanks,

Steviek1

 

[blueark]

What OS are you using? On the Mac, it's Alt + 2 (or Option + 2, depending on your keyboard). On a PC, hold down the Alt key and type 0153.

 

[Steviek1]

thanks, Blueark, I am using a PC laptop and it does not have a number keypad or numlock, only QWERTY numbers. Is there any way to get the TM with this setup? thanks again.

Steviek1

 

[blueark]

Should be the same, but if not, try and find a utility called Charactor Map (CHARMAP.EXE). It's supplied with Windows, but later versions don't have a shortcut for it so you'll have to do a search. Pick a font you want to work with, scroll down until you see a TM symbol, then you can either copy & paste it, or see if it gives you a key combination for it.

 

[Steviek1]

Blueark, thanks for the tip. I was only able to copy and paste from the Charmap.exe program. I still cannot generate teh character within Quark itself using the laptop keyboard. But this should work for now. Thanks.

Steviek1

p.s. There is probably a way to use the existing keys as a keypad for numbers with one of the function keys or something. I'll have to check my Toshiba manual. Thanks again.

 

[Steviek1]

Figured it out! If I hold down:

Function Key + Alt key, then hit the "greyed" numbers on the number pad the shortcut works. I knew there was a simple explanation!