Unicode versus Symbol

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When a font has a Microsoft Unicode BMP only platform, the font is a normal font. When a font has a Microsoft Symbol platform, the font is a Symbol font.

Symbol character sets have a special meaning: all of the characters in the Unicode range 0xF000 - 0xF0FF (inclusive) will be used to enumerate the symbol character set. All glyphs in this range are mapped to the range 0x0000 - 0x00FF.

Symbol fonts do not form words so line breaks can occur after any character code. A spell checker should not check symbol font-formatted material.

Note: only the first 224 characters of symbol fonts will be accessible, a space and up to 223 printing characters.

From Symbol to Unicode

In order to change a symbol font into a normal font there are a few things:

•	Make sure the Microsoft platform is "Microsoft Unicode BMP only".

From the Platform Manager command (Format menu) select the Microsoft platform. Now press the Change button. The platform should be changed from "Microsoft Symbol" to "Microsoft Unicode BMP only".

•	In the Settings command (Format menu) on the Classification tab set the PANOSE - Family Kind from "Pictorial" to something appropriate and the Font-family - Class from "Symbolic" to something that suits the fonts style.

•	In the Settings command (Format menu) on the Ranges tab change the Code Page Character Ranges (if available). Unselect "Symbol Character Set" and select the appropriate ranges.

From Unicode to Symbol

In order to change a normal font into a symbol font there are a few things:

•	Make sure the Microsoft platform is "Microsoft Symbol".

From the Platform Manager command (Format menu) select the Microsoft platform. Now press the Change button. The platform should be changed from "Microsoft Unicode BMP only" to "Microsoft Symbol".

•	In the Settings window (Format menu) on the Classification tab set the PANOSE - Family Kind to "Pictorial", PANOSE - Weight to "No Fit", PANOSE - Contrast to "No Fit" and the Font-family - Class to "Symbolic".

•	In the Settings window (Format menu) on the Ranges tab no Unicode Character Ranges should be selected and Symbol Character Set should be the only selected Code Page Range.