InDesign CS 2 is buggy and crashing

[Macman17@adobeforums.com]

I have been having a problem with IDCS2. When I open a file, all of my palettes will flash about 3 or 4 times like the program is opening, then opening, then opening.... On pdf export, the program crashes alot.

I have tried deleting user-library-prefs to no avail.

Could this be an OS problem, or maybe a font problem? Should I reinstall anything, like the OS or CS 2, or even Suitcase?

[by_Buko@adobeforums.com]

does this happen in a new user?

[Macman17@adobeforums.com]

Yes

[Nini Tjäder]

fonts, suitcase auto-activation, are the most probable culprits.

[Macman17@adobeforums.com]

any suggestions on how to fix? i think one of the os fonts is the culprit. I manage all fonts with suitcase and i don't think os x likes that. if i reinstall os x, will this replace the os fonts where they should go?

I will then reinstall suitcase, then cs 2... what do you think?

[Nini Tjäder]

which version of suitcase?
you can tell suitcase to ignore system fonts.
I see no reason to reinstall everything, just check your fonts and remove eventual bad/damaged fonts.
If you are in Tiger you can check for damaged fonts with FontBook.
Just avoid activating and deactivting through FontBook when running Suitcase because that confuses both.
if you know which fonts are used in the document that crashes, start by removing those and see if it helps.

[Macman17@adobeforums.com]

I don't use FontBook, so we can elimate that. I am using Fusion 12.0. I have run Font Doctor and cleared out all bad fonts.

I am also running 10.3.9.

I am worried about moving/removing fonts. I did that once with one of the (now) hundreds of font folders Apple has created and ended up not able to boot up my system by any means.... that was really! bad!.

So how do I remove (or know which ones I can safely remove) from any of the User fonts, Library fonts, and System fonts folders, plus any of the other numerous font folders?

On a tangent, why did Mac go from the so great one font folder to the confusing 3,978,273 font folders?

[AlFerrari]

On a tangent, why did Mac go from the so great one font folder to the
confusing 3,978,273 font folders?




If you have that many font folders, it is no surprize that you are having problems. There are many sources of information about handling fonts in OS X. You may want to visit this link on Nini's web page:

<http://www.ninisworld.com/thecorner/tutorials/osxfonts.html>

or search the Apple web site. But 3,978,273 font folders is definitely too many.

Al

[Macman17@adobeforums.com]

Good link Al. I liked the explanations of what the many font folders are there for.

I wonder if some of the problems may be because I am using fonts from the 90's? But it may also be that I have moved some fonts with Suitcase too...

[by_Buko@adobeforums.com]

You only need Two font folders in OSX. The system font folder and Adobe's font folder that holds the Rqred folder and its contents. everything else should be controled by your font manager.

[AlFerrari]

You only need Two font folders in OSX.




So you mean Macman should just trash all the others?

Al

[Nini Tjäder]

That's a bit exaggerated (to have only 2 fonts folders). The main point is to have order with your fonts, no damaged ones, no incomplete ones, preferrably no obscure ones from freeware sites (they are often - I don't say always - of inferior quality and less well-functioning), no duplicates. You actually do not need the Adobe fonts folder/s either unless you fancy no other software seeing those fonts. The only thing you should keep in the Adobe font folder (inside the Adobe folder inside the Application Support folder inside the main Library folder) is the folder called Rqrd. Without that one the Adobe apps will not function at all. The rest of the fonts can be moved to elsewhere (where is a matter of taste).

Fonts from the 90th can - but doesn't have to - be problems. You need to check though that they are healthy and complete. If you still have fonts from the 80ths I would be very careful with those. Also note that fonts also gets updates and get rebuilt and that some of the earlier versions can have problems in certain fonts (I know for instance that the Meta font of an early version is big problem but that the updated version works very well - just one example).

[Nini Tjäder]

Addition: what I forgot to say is, that if you have fonts that you use on a daily basis - and those are not system fonts - you should preferrably not manage them via a font manager but put them either into the main library/fonts folder (for all users of machine and all applications) or the user libarary/fonts (for personal use of one user only). Much faster access to them than handling those too via a font manager.

[J.I.M.@adobeforums.com]

<http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106417>

.. . . on removing unnecessary system fonts and other essential OS X font info:
<http://images.apple.com/pro/pdf/L311277A_FontTT_v4.pdf>