Arial Unicode TT font not available in ID 3.0.1

[David_Dunlap@adobeforums.com]

Because I design multi-language work, I sometimes use Arial Unicode MS truetype font which contains tons of special characters.

But it doesn't show up in the font list in ID -- whether it's installed in Windows XP fonts, or whether it's installed through a font management program (I use Suitcase).

Can someone help?

[Gabriel_Ayala@adobeforums.com]

Yes David, I can help.

I also do Multilanguage work. I make manuals in different languages and found out a while back that using anything other than OpenType Fonts will lead to problems printing, generating Indexes, Tables of contents and PDFs.

You should not use the Unicode MS TrueType version because it will not function the way you want it to anyway. I am talking from experience. I've had some very frustrating moments working with documents for other languages finding issues like the special characters not printing correctly etc.

I strongly recommend using the OpenType version of Arial.

I believe the font you are using is called ARIALUNI.TTF and it uses pseudo italics bold and bold italics. The font set you need is a true type OpenType edition of Arial with four files (one for each style). The names are ARIAL.TTF, ARIALBD.TTF, ARIALBI.TTF and ARIALI.TTF.

When you install these to your windows folder the Icon should be the letter O not the double T (TT).

Good luck.

[David_Dunlap@adobeforums.com]

Gabriel:

Thanks very much for your tip. I checked the Open Type version of Arial, and you are right -- I had no idea Open Type fonts have such a [large] extended set.

One problem remains, however. In the French language, there is extensive use of the liaison -- a small curved line that ties the ending consonant of one word to the beginning vowel of the next word. I can't find it anywhere in Arial OT extended set.

Here's a question: I notice in Windows' Character Map (which is where I looked to find Unicode characters), there is a Unicode number in the bottom left of the window. Can I access this code from the keyboard within InDesign?

Thanks for your help!