Text disappears when replace fonts (ID CS 5)

[Magnus]

Hi all!

Sometimes we get Indesign packages with missing fonts. In those cases we are using fonts from our font library, and sometimes the customer has been using a postscript font and we only have the open type font. Now we have to replace the font in indesign. This is when the very scary problem occurs.
When replacing the font sometimes text disappears randomly from the document. It seems to be related to open type fonts..

Has anyone seen this problem before? Or even better - know how to solve it?

We are using Extensis Suitcase and Indesign CS 5 on Intel Mac.

[Lukas Engqvist]

Does sound scary. Do you get the same problem even if suitcase is off? Do the documents have a "document fonts" folder, or are they not propperly packaged? Is there any pattern as to what dissapears (ligatures, case changed characters)? Are there certain fonts more prone to this weakness?

If you look in the details of the find font you should be able to see how many characters use the font that was missing, and how many characters use the font after replaced…*are these numbers consistent?
Finally you are sure it is missing and not just overset? Changing font version can sometimes mean that the font is cut in a slightly different way and therefore reflows, (or in some cases has slight variation in metrics.

[Magnus]

Does sound scary. Do you get the same problem even if suitcase is off?

I have not tried it with suitecase switched off.

Do the documents have a "document fonts" folder, or are they not propperly packaged?

They are properly packaged sometimes but sometimes there is fonts missing.

Is there any pattern as to what dissapears (ligatures, case changed characters)? Are there certain fonts more prone to this weakness?

It's seems very random.. :/

If you look in the details of the find font you should be able to see how many characters use the font that was missing, and how many characters use the font after replaced…*are these numbers consistent?

I havn't looked at the details, I will do the next time!

Finally you are sure it is missing and not just overset? Changing font version can sometimes mean that the font is cut in a slightly different way and therefore reflows, (or in some cases has slight variation in metrics.

Yes Im sure, thats not the problem. The text is really disappearing..!

[Lukas Engqvist]

did you try to do the font substitution on a system without extensis?

[oxburger]

This may or may not be helpful, but swipe the text and check the paragraph attributes and see if it has a large left indent setting.