FIXING FONTS WITH VALIDATION ERRORS ON MAC

So you are trying to add and install a new font on your Mac (which worked fine on your Windows machine) but it is telling you that “problems may have been found with some fonts during validation” and that “a serious error was found” and “do not use this font“.

Some of the common errors I ran into were:
 ‘post’ table usability
 ‘cmap’ table usability
 ‘name’ table structure
 Duplicate fonts
 System Validation

The solution below is for a specific set of fonts that I needed to use but it should solve the problem for just about any TTF or OTF font that you are trying to use.

The specific problem fonts that I was trying to use are required for use with the Ancient Hebrew Lexicon of the Bible AHLB which is a module for e-Sword. The fonts work fine on Windows but when I used Crossover to install e-Sword on my Mac, the AHLB module would not display its fonts correctly due to errors in the font files which would not allow the Mac to install the fonts properly. The fonts I was having problems with are:
 ancheb.ttf
 bsthebre.ttf
 olbheb.ttf
 semear.ttf
 semlate.ttf
 semmid.ttf
 semmod.ttf

 

QUICK INSTRUCTIONS
For those of you that do not have a very long attention span, here are the quick instructions…

– Download and install CR8 Software Solutions free font editor for Mac (or Windows) called Type Light from here:
OLD LINK: https://www.cr8software.net/typex.html
NEW LINK: https://www.cr8software.net/typelight.html

– Open your problem ttf or otf font in the editor (choose File then Open).

– Choose Font then Rename Font then click RENAME button (without making any changes).

– Save your font (choose File then Save As).

– Try installing the font on your Mac by double-clicking it.

DONE!!

 

DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS

STEP 1
Download the original AHLB fonts from Jeff Benner’s website here:
www.mechanical-translation.org/modules/ahlbfonts.zip

STEP 2
Unzip the files.

STEP 3
Download and install CR8 Software Solutions free font editor for Mac (or Windows) called Type Light from here:
OLD LINK: https://www.cr8software.net/typex.html
NEW LINK: https://www.cr8software.net/typelight.html

STEP 4
Open your problem ttf or otf font in the editor (choose File then Open).

STEP 5
Choose Font then Rename Font.
Make sure all three field names are the identical and have the same name. They should all say the same thing and be the proper name of the font as you want it to appear in your font list. For example when I went to rename the OLBHEB.TTF font, the Family Name and Full Name said OLBHEB but the Sub Family said Regular. So I changed the Sub Family to OLBHEB as well so that all three were the same.

STEP 6
Select Remove All Non-English Entries then click RENAME button and click YES to confirm the changes.

STEP 7
Save your font (choose File then Save As).

STEP 8
Try installing the font on your Mac by double-clicking it.

DONE!!

 

OR THE EASY WAY…
You can download the “fixed for Mac”AHLB fonts here:
ahlbfonts_fixed_for_mac.zip

 

Also here is AHLB.dctx module for e-Sword:
AHLB.dctx.zip

60 thoughts on “FIXING FONTS WITH VALIDATION ERRORS ON MAC

  1. hey man, awesome tool! but i got a new problem…
    i hav a regular font and a bold font and after saving mac font book is saying, that those fonts are the same despite all the edits i made… any clue on how to fix that? i went through the hole »font« menu ( Names…, Description…)

  2. Crikey, I have no idea how much time you saved me but I had a feeling I was going to pull an all-nighter with this one. I may now sleep. Thanks!

  3. This worked like a charm! I downloaded the free version of the Type software as suggested. Simple renaming and saving of the font based on the directions did the trick. Thank you for sharing!

  4. Thanks for the tip but my fonts remain grayed out when I try to open them in this program. Is that a different problem?

  5. Didn’t work for me 🙁 The new *.ttf file is destroyed/when I open the original file in Type it isn’t displayed correctly.. But when I open the original file in Font Book everything is fine

  6. Hi Laura

    After you have saved the font from typelight, you then can close typelight and then go to wherever you saved the font and double-click on the font file itself and it should ask if you want to install it.

  7. Ahh! I am still so frustrated. I get through everything except “now double the font to install it” -Where? I am not seeing any prompt like this when I’m in typelight. It just saves the font but never prompts with with an icon to install it. I’ve tried downloading this stupid font four times now.

  8. You are a legend. This fix finally allowed me to install the open source font I need in on my MAC for Adobe Illustrator.

    LIFE SAVER

  9. This post helped me fix broken fonts from a client! I was able to fix them with the Typelight you linked. Thank you!

  10. Can’t thank you enough—now my client’s .ttf font works on cs4 and cs6 (I used your quick fix for cs6)
    —Amazing!!!! —so simple to use

  11. I installed the fixed mac font, in Font book, I can see the ancient Hebrew fonts correctly, but when I type in Pages, I’m getting regular modern Hebrew letters for the Semitic Early font instead of the ancient pictographic letters.

  12. Well….it kinda worked, I was able to install using the CR8 Software but some of the letters within the fonts were missing, my guess this is why you get the errors in the first place

  13. This is really great info to know. Thank you for taking the time to write it up. I am sure that there are many others who have not taken the time to say thank you whose job you have secured for at least one more day, haha.

  14. Thanks loads! I can’t believe there’s a solution to this–I’ve always just haven’t installed the fonts 🙁
    You’re a lifesaver!!

  15. Hi !

    Thanks a lot ! The only solution I find and it works !

    I have a lot of fonts that have pb. Do you know a way to do it all in once ? With an another software maybe ?

    Thanks !

  16. Hey, I just got the new mac book pro 2015 and I cannot get the semear.ttf to show up to save my life! I have tried everything you said several times and it still just shows up like regular letters “ABCD”. I even called iApp since I am working with keynote and they couldn’t help me. I tried converting the font even to an .otf and still nothing. I am at a loss what to do. Any suggestions?

  17. Great! Just one thing. After hitting ‘Save As’ the program is still open. When I close it, I’m asked if I want to Save it. Do I save as well?

  18. Thank you!!! I used the “quick instructions,” and they worked perfectly! I had gotten so frustrated going through various webpages trying to follow instructions people suggested with nothing fixing my problem. This was all I needed!

  19. Dude you are a legend. It actually works for 3 fonts I downloaded!

    Thank you so much for posting this. I came across it after googling the error.

    You’re a hero man. Guys like you helping out the common folk are heroes.

    Take care and hope you succeed in your ventures.

  20. Hello. I tried your detailed instructions for a ‘name’ table structure error message, and still cannot get the font (Agent Orange.TTF) to show up in Word. Any more tips?

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