How to Fix Word Displaying Symbols After Changing the Font
Question details
The user needs to restore readable text in a Word document after changing the font causes characters to display as unrecognized symbols.
- Product
- Word
- Device & OS
- not provided
- Scenario
- Modifying document fonts or applying a specific machine/printer font to existing text.
- Observed behavior
- The selected text incorrectly appears as unreadable symbols or boxes instead of standard alphanumeric characters due to font incompatibility.
Before proceeding, ensure you know the name of a standard TrueType or Unicode font (such as Calibri, Arial, or Tahoma) to replace the incompatible formatting.
Strip Font Formatting Using a Plain Text Editor
Use Notepad or WordPad to strip hidden, incompatible font properties before pasting the text back into your document.
This issue often occurs when text is formatted with a machine or printer font (like older SansSerif fonts) that isn't a standard TrueType font. Passing the text through a plain text editor removes all original font formatting, leaving only the raw characters.
Highlight the text in your Word document that is displaying as symbols and press Ctrl+C to copy it.
Open a plain text editor like Notepad on your computer and press Ctrl+V to paste the copied text. This will strip away the corrupted font formatting.
Highlight the clean text inside Notepad and press Ctrl+C to copy it again.
Return to your Word document, delete the problematic text, and press Ctrl+V to paste the clean text.
Highlight the newly pasted text and apply a standard Unicode font, such as Tahoma or Calibri, from the Home tab.
Replace the Incompatible Font Document-Wide
If the issue affects the entire document, use Word's Find and Replace feature to swap the problematic font with a standard TrueType font.
Fix Document Formatting Issues with WPS Office
WPS Office offers seamless font management and highly compatible formatting tools to ensure your documents always look professional. You can easily strip formatting and apply standard fonts without hassle.
- 1. Open your document: Launch WPS Writer and open the document containing the symbol characters.
- 2. Copy the problematic text: Select the text displaying incorrectly and copy it to your clipboard.
- 3. Paste without formatting: Right-click the destination area and select 'Keep Text Only' to instantly remove the broken font formatting.
- 4. Apply a standard font: Highlight the pasted text and choose a standard TrueType font like Calibri from the Home tab dropdown menu.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does my text turn into boxes or symbols after changing the font?
This usually happens when you apply a machine or printer font that isn't compatible with standard outline fonts, or when the underlying character encoding is corrupted. The application substitutes boxes or symbols because it cannot render the characters in the chosen font.
What is a TrueType font?
TrueType is a standard outline font format originally developed by Apple and Microsoft. Fonts like Arial, Tahoma, and Times New Roman are TrueType fonts, ensuring text displays correctly and consistently across different screens and printers.
How do I check if my document contains corrupted character encoding?
If replacing the font and using the 'Keep Text Only' paste method still results in symbols, the source text itself might be corrupted. You can try opening the document using the 'Recover Text from Any File' option in the Open dialog dropdown to extract raw characters.
