Expert: Amy - 10/15/2007

Question
hi ive recently installed illustrator CS2. Everything works fine except the character window. Somehow the fonts don't come in the character window.However when i go to the type menu, the fonts can be seen. Earlier i thought its an installation problem but i tried installing it thrice and the same problem occurs everytime

Answer
Hello Helina.

Adobe builds and uses font cache lists that are stored on your machine. Occasionally, these lists need a little "refresh."

1) Quit Adobe Illustrator.
2) Locate and DELETE all files on your computer matching the naming convention adobefnt*.lst where * is a number. Make sure you ONLY delete files ending in .lst. If you use the computer's search/find file function to locate these files, make sure you check the option to search inside HIDDEN FOLDERS.
3) Restart Illustrator.

If this solved the problem, great! If not, you may have a corrupt font on your computer. If you use a font manager, you may have a utility to help you identify and even repair corrupt fonts. If you do not have such software, you need to remove all fonts from the FONTS folder (except for the required system fonts for whatever platform you're using). Then restart Illustrator and see if the problem goes away. If it's fixed, quit Illustrator, add a handful of fonts back to the FONTS folder and start Illustrator again. Do this until the problem re-appears. At that point, you will know that the problem is being caused by a font from the most recent group you added back to your FONTS folder. It's a matter of elimination and it does take time, so for your sake, I hope it is simply the cache issue!

Thanks!
Amy