%%C acting strange after upgrading to Win10

[cweiland2]

I'm having a strange issue with some font types displaying the diameter (%%C) symbol after upgrading to Windows 10. These issues weren't present prior to upgrading to windows 10, when my machine had windows 7 installed. I'm wondering if anybody else has had similar issues and if you had a fix.

We just updated some of our computers from Windows 7 x64 to Windows 10 x64. This is the first round of upgrading windows on some of our older machines. We have about 8 more that need to be upgraded, and about 10 other machines that shipped with windows 10.

Now when we use the diameter symbol on those upgraded machines (%%C) it shoots the symbol off somewhere in the drawing, miles away. This doesn't happen with the unicode version, just Autocad's built in %%C. And it's not with all fonts. It seems to be some TrueType fonts, but not all. For instance we use Tahoma for one client, and with it the diameter runs away. But if you use Arial, it is fine. I've tried different fonts, and with some it's fine, and others not.

If you open the same file on a computer with Win7, everything appears normal. If you open the same file on a computer that shipped with Win10, everything appears normal. But we upgraded 4 machines to Win10, and on all of those machines, if you open it the symbol goes haywire.

It seems to be for anything that uses mtext, mtext, mleaders, dimensions, etc. Single line text appears to be fine.

It seems to only be for the diameter symbol, other symbols (degrees, centerline, etc) all seem fine.

It's not specific to any version of autocad. I tried it in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019, and got the same results in all versions.

If I go into the text editor, and Ctrl+A, and change the font to Arial, then the text all comes back together. I can then change it back to Tahoma, and it is fine, but if you look at it the diameter symbol is still shown as Arial, not Tahoma.

Changing the text style to Arial prevents it from happening on anything new added, but doesn't fix the existing ones. You have to go into each piece of text and select that diameter symbol and change the font to Arial.

I've uninstalled and reinstalled AutoCAD with no change. 

I've reinstalled the Tahoma font which i got the file from one of our computers which doesn't have the problem. I wondered if some of the font files had been corrupted on the windows 10 upgrade. Nothing changed.

I got curious about what would happen with a diameter dimension. It works fine. If you explode that dimension, Autocad created the diameter symbol using Arial Font, even though the text style we have selected for the dim style uses tahoma font. This is on both my machine which has the problem, and others who don't.

Our client wants us to use Tahoma font as that is their standard.

Has anyone else ever experienced anything similar? Or does anyone have anything else to suggest trying? At this point I'm baffled. The only thing I can think of is to format the workstations, and install windows 10 from scratch, and just hope that that fixes it. Not ideal. I could try to tell all the drafters to use Unicode for the diameter symbol, or use Arial font when typing %%C, but that seems like a band-aid solution and not likely to be followed 100%.

[cweiland2]

I'm having a strange issue with some font types displaying the diameter (%%C) symbol after upgrading to Windows 10. These issues weren't present prior to upgrading to windows 10, when my machine had windows 7 installed. I'm wondering if anybody else has had similar issues and if you had a fix.

We just updated some of our computers from Windows 7 x64 to Windows 10 x64. This is the first round of upgrading windows on some of our older machines. We have about 8 more that need to be upgraded, and about 10 other machines that shipped with windows 10.

Now when we use the diameter symbol on those upgraded machines (%%C) it shoots the symbol off somewhere in the drawing, miles away. This doesn't happen with the unicode version, just Autocad's built in %%C. And it's not with all fonts. It seems to be some TrueType fonts, but not all. For instance we use Tahoma for one client, and with it the diameter runs away. But if you use Arial, it is fine. I've tried different fonts, and with some it's fine, and others not.

If you open the same file on a computer with Win7, everything appears normal. If you open the same file on a computer that shipped with Win10, everything appears normal. But we upgraded 4 machines to Win10, and on all of those machines, if you open it the symbol goes haywire.

It seems to be for anything that uses mtext, mtext, mleaders, dimensions, etc. Single line text appears to be fine.

It seems to only be for the diameter symbol, other symbols (degrees, centerline, etc) all seem fine.

It's not specific to any version of autocad. I tried it in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019, and got the same results in all versions.

If I go into the text editor, and Ctrl+A, and change the font to Arial, then the text all comes back together. I can then change it back to Tahoma, and it is fine, but if you look at it the diameter symbol is still shown as Arial, not Tahoma.

Changing the text style to Arial prevents it from happening on anything new added, but doesn't fix the existing ones. You have to go into each piece of text and select that diameter symbol and change the font to Arial.

I've uninstalled and reinstalled AutoCAD with no change. 

I've reinstalled the Tahoma font which i got the file from one of our computers which doesn't have the problem. I wondered if some of the font files had been corrupted on the windows 10 upgrade. Nothing changed.

I got curious about what would happen with a diameter dimension. It works fine. If you explode that dimension, Autocad created the diameter symbol using Arial Font, even though the text style we have selected for the dim style uses tahoma font. This is on both my machine which has the problem, and others who don't.

Our client wants us to use Tahoma font as that is their standard.

Has anyone else ever experienced anything similar? Or does anyone have anything else to suggest trying? At this point I'm baffled. The only thing I can think of is to format the workstations, and install windows 10 from scratch, and just hope that that fixes it. Not ideal. I could try to tell all the drafters to use Unicode for the diameter symbol, or use Arial font when typing %%C, but that seems like a band-aid solution and not likely to be followed 100%.

[pendean]

"some fonts" means what to the rest of us, which other ones exactly (name and extension)? TAHOMA works fine here in R2019 and Win10Pro for example.

Share DWG files, let's see your work so to speak.

TIA

[pendean]

"some fonts" means what to the rest of us, which other ones exactly (name and extension)? TAHOMA works fine here in R2019 and Win10Pro for example.

Share DWG files, let's see your work so to speak.

TIA

[cweiland2]

Well I don't want to go through and test every font.  I know for sure Tahoma, Times New Roman, and City Blueprint all do it for me.  Arial displays fine.

I've attached a screencast to show what I'm talking about, how it behaves on mine, and the other machines we have which were upgraded from 7 to 10.

[cweiland2]

Well I don't want to go through and test every font.  I know for sure Tahoma, Times New Roman, and City Blueprint all do it for me.  Arial displays fine.

I've attached a screencast to show what I'm talking about, how it behaves on mine, and the other machines we have which were upgraded from 7 to 10.

[leeminardi · Accepted solution]

It might be worth it to try typing Alt 0216 (hold down the Alt key and enter the numbers 0216 FROM THE NUMBER PAD ON YOUR KEYBOARD) instead of %%c using either the Arial or Tahoma font.

If you still have a problem open MS Word (if you have it) or Notepad and try adding Alt-0216 there with Arial, and Tahoma.  You should get a diameter symbol if the full extended ASCII font is available. 

[leeminardi · Accepted solution]

It might be worth it to try typing Alt 0216 (hold down the Alt key and enter the numbers 0216 FROM THE NUMBER PAD ON YOUR KEYBOARD) instead of %%c using either the Arial or Tahoma font.

If you still have a problem open MS Word (if you have it) or Notepad and try adding Alt-0216 there with Arial, and Tahoma.  You should get a diameter symbol if the full extended ASCII font is available. 

[cweiland2]

Yes, unicode works, but it crashes the custom software our client has installed to import the bill of materials into their system.

[cweiland2]

Yes, unicode works, but it crashes the custom software our client has installed to import the bill of materials into their system.

[cweiland2]

The only things I can think of that may fix it at this point, are to format, and reinstall windows 10 from scratch, or revert back to windows 7.  Autocad doesn't like something that happens during the upgrade.

[cweiland2]

The only things I can think of that may fix it at this point, are to format, and reinstall windows 10 from scratch, or revert back to windows 7.  Autocad doesn't like something that happens during the upgrade.

[leeminardi]

It might be that your custom software is having a problem with extended ASCII characters (i.e., >128). Does it handle for example a degree symbol ° (Alt-0176)?

[leeminardi]

It might be that your custom software is having a problem with extended ASCII characters (i.e., >128). Does it handle for example a degree symbol ° (Alt-0176)?

[cweiland2]

It is our client's software, I don't have access to it.  I do know from previous experience, placing the unicode symbol for diameter causes their system to abort extracting the data.  %%C does not do this for them.  We place each BOM item into an attributed block, and their system opens the dwg, searches for that block name and extracts the attributed data, and imports it into their system for ordering/scheduling purposes.

I think my point is not how do i fix my clients software, that is out of my control.  My point is why does autocad not work like it is supposed to?

[cweiland2]

It is our client's software, I don't have access to it.  I do know from previous experience, placing the unicode symbol for diameter causes their system to abort extracting the data.  %%C does not do this for them.  We place each BOM item into an attributed block, and their system opens the dwg, searches for that block name and extracts the attributed data, and imports it into their system for ordering/scheduling purposes.

I think my point is not how do i fix my clients software, that is out of my control.  My point is why does autocad not work like it is supposed to?

[leeminardi]

Here’s my guess at what’s happening.  In the early releases of AutoCAD before True Type fonts, the .shx fonts were the only font options.  The gdt.shx font was created to address the need for True Position Dimension symbols as specified in the Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerance standards.   These fonts are stroke base and the early ones were very crude. The GDT font include only uppercase letters, numbers, a few symbols and many GDT symbols including the diameter symbol which can be accessed via the letter “n”.  The font does not rely on extended ASCII or Unicode characters so it may be compatible with your custom software. Eventually AutoCAD supported the True Type font which addressed only a few GDT symbols indirectly. You might try using the GDT font for the diameter symbol but then it would be a question if your clients software has the GDT font.  If all else fails, you could consider using DIA instead of the symbol!   Although you may feel differently it appears AutoCAD is acting as it is supposed to and it may be your custom software that is the problem.

It is interesting to note that if you use the GDT font today in Word you will get an accurate character for the diameter symbol, i.e., one that is 150% the height of the standard character as specified in the GDT standards.   In contrast, the so-called diameter symbol you get with Arial or Tahoma is really a capital O with a line through it.  The other GDT symbols are not included in Arial or Tahoma.

[leeminardi]

Here’s my guess at what’s happening.  In the early releases of AutoCAD before True Type fonts, the .shx fonts were the only font options.  The gdt.shx font was created to address the need for True Position Dimension symbols as specified in the Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerance standards.   These fonts are stroke base and the early ones were very crude. The GDT font include only uppercase letters, numbers, a few symbols and many GDT symbols including the diameter symbol which can be accessed via the letter “n”.  The font does not rely on extended ASCII or Unicode characters so it may be compatible with your custom software. Eventually AutoCAD supported the True Type font which addressed only a few GDT symbols indirectly. You might try using the GDT font for the diameter symbol but then it would be a question if your clients software has the GDT font.  If all else fails, you could consider using DIA instead of the symbol!   Although you may feel differently it appears AutoCAD is acting as it is supposed to and it may be your custom software that is the problem.

It is interesting to note that if you use the GDT font today in Word you will get an accurate character for the diameter symbol, i.e., one that is 150% the height of the standard character as specified in the GDT standards.   In contrast, the so-called diameter symbol you get with Arial or Tahoma is really a capital O with a line through it.  The other GDT symbols are not included in Arial or Tahoma.

[cweiland2 · Accepted solution]

Wiped the hard drive, and reinstalled windows 10 from scratch, and the issue is no more.

[cweiland2 · Accepted solution]

Wiped the hard drive, and reinstalled windows 10 from scratch, and the issue is no more.