Special Symbols Display Incorrectly

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated October 18, 2021)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021


Erik is editing an English document for a client that uses a Spanish version of Word. If he inserts a TM symbol in the document, it shows up fine on his system. For the client, though, it shows as a lowercase "A" with two dots above it. Erik wonders how he can make sure that his symbols (such as TM) show up correctly on the client's system.

There are a couple of things you should check out to see if it fixes your problem. First, you'll want to make sure that the client has installed, on his or her system, the same fonts you are using in the document. Assuming you are both using the same Unicode font, there should be no problem in displaying the TM symbol on both machines.

If the client doesn't have the same font and you cannot change the document to use a font that the client actually has, then you might try to embed the fonts within your document by following these steps:

  1. Display the Word Options dialog box. (In Word 2007 click the Office button and then click Word Options. In Word 2010 or a later version, display the File tab of the ribbon and then click Options.)
  2. At the left of the dialog box click Save. (See Figure 1.)
  3. Figure 1. The Save options in the Word Options dialog box.

  4. Make sure the Embed Fonts In the File check box is selected.
  5. If you will be using a small number of characters in a particular font, choose the Embed Only the Characters Used in the Document check box.
  6. Click on OK.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (12365) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Copying Cells to Fill a Range

Excel provides two really helpful shortcuts you can use to fill a range of cells, either horizontally or vertically. ...

Discover More

Spell-checking Uppercase Words

Excel's spell-checker normally checks uppercase words for spelling. If your worksheet contains a lot of acronyms, you ...

Discover More

Pixels in a Text String

Determining the length of a text string is easy, but figuring out how many pixels are represented by those characters is ...

Discover More

Create Custom Apps with VBA! Discover how to extend the capabilities of Office 365 applications with VBA programming. Written in clear terms and understandable language, the book includes systematic tutorials and contains both intermediate and advanced content for experienced VB developers. Designed to be comprehensive, the book addresses not just one Office application, but the entire Office suite. Check out Mastering VBA for Microsoft Office 365 today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Understanding Underlines

Part of the formatting you can add to your text is underlining. That simple word (underlining) represents quite a few ...

Discover More

Automatically Formatting Text within Quotes

Some people use quote marks around text to make it stand out. At some point you may want to treat the quoted text ...

Discover More

Superscript and Subscript at the Same Place

Do you want a superscript and subscript character to appear directly above each other? There are multiple ways you can ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 5 - 3?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)


This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the ribbon interface (Word 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the menu interface.

Videos
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.