Leopard Mail 3.0 Bug? - Displays fractions in header instead of "to, from, subject"

[danpat]

When viewing a mail message (Version 3.0 (912.1/912) from a brand new Leopard install) both in the preview pane and when fully opened there are what appears to be a fraction typeface displayed in place of the words "to", "subject", "date", etc as well as the entire subject line. Preferences are set to default for "show header detail", and problem remains when this is switched to 'all'.
Checked preferences and all fonts are standard and available. Swapped some around to check and the header text is not user editable.

See screenshot here:
http://myskitch.com/danpatmore/magical-1.jpg___100___rgb_8__-20071026-221025.jpg

 

[tersono]

That's a weird one and suggests a corrupted or missing system font.

For what it's worth, both Leopard installs I've done so far have been fine, and I've not seen this particular issue.

 

[thefunkymunky]

Have you tried repairing permissions and clearing out your font cache and restarting?

 

[danpat]

already tried the restart, checking and repairing permissions now.
can i clear font cache without a 3rd party app?
nice suggestions btw.

 

[thefunkymunky]

already tried the restart, checking and repairing permissions now.
can i clear font cache without a 3rd party app?
nice suggestions btw.

Probably via terminal but I wouldn't know the commands. You should be able to find a third-party Leopard compatible app for the font cache.

 

[danpat]

ok, onyx can apparently do it, but my verions isn't 10.5....but found this troubleshoot article:
http://www.creativetechs.com/tips/quicktips_04.html
and i'm going to try in Linotype Font Explorer to deactivate Helvetica Fractions which is my guess as the problem..

 

[thefunkymunky]

ok, onyx can apparently do it, but my verions isn't 10.5....but found this troubleshoot article:
http://www.creativetechs.com/tips/quicktips_04.html
and i'm going to try in Linotype Font Explorer to deactivate Helvetica Fractions which is my guess as the problem..

The Linotype app is perfect. I wasn't sure if it was working with Leopard though. It has an option to clean all font caches. It worked before for me when I had this problem in Tiger. Plus, its a much better alternative to Suitcase...and it's free.

 

[danpat]

Easy as!
Helvetica Fractions was the problem, disabled and fixed without restart or even shutting mail.

Thanks for the tips.
I am going to look for font cache clearing now though.

 

[danpat]

No option I cold see in Linotype, and anything else I can find online isn't Leopard compatible yet.

http://homepage.mac.com/mdouma46/fontfinagler/

 

[thefunkymunky]

No option I cold see in Linotype, and anything else I can find online isn't Leopard compatible yet.

http://homepage.mac.com/mdouma46/fontfinagler/

The options should be here. Note: I'm on Tiger atm as I'm in work. Should be the same in Leopard though.

 

[danpat]

fontfinagler says on their download page that it will not work in Leopard at all yet.
Ahh, I see you're using Linotype. Cool

 

[thefunkymunky]

fontfinagler says on their download page that it will not work in Leopard at all yet.
Ahh, I see you're using Linotype. Cool

That screenie was from Linotype. Do you not have those options under the Tools menu?

 

[danpat]

Yep, did system font cache clear which required a restart, and then application font cache clear.
All seems good now.

Thanks for the tips.

 

[netnothing]

Just for reference, you don't need any utility to clear the system fonts.

Just delete the folders under /Library/Caches/com.apple.ATS

Then reboot the system.

-Kevin