Sharing Documents Containing MathType Equations

The information in this document applies to:

Note: Microsoft Office 2001, Office X, Office 2004 and PowerPoint for Macintosh do not support font embedding.

Note: Although supported, embedding fonts in the document will not solve the problem for Office 2007 and later. The only available workaround is to install the missing fonts in the Operating system.

Issue

To share a document containing MathType equations, it is important that you understand that MathType equations are graphics that use fonts. If the fonts used in your equations are not available on the computer being used to view them, the computer's operating system will substitute a different font, often resulting in an incorrect appearance. This problem can be corrected by embedding the fonts needed by MathType in your document. Font embedding will not work for cross-platform transfers, i.e., Mac OS-to-Windows or from Windows-to-Mac OS, so if you are sharing documents with people who use a different operating system, please see our notice about Transferring Documents between Platforms.

With the correct fonts available, an equation which appears as,

may appear as,

when the necessary fonts are missing.

To share documents containing MathType equations so that other people may view them, you must make sure that your recipient's computer has MathType's fonts available. Some applications allow you to accomplish this by embedding TrueType fonts in your documents. If you need for other people to be able to edit the equations in your documents, you can either both use the same version of equation editor, or both use MathType, as explained below.

Microsoft Word 98 (Macintosh) and Word 97 through 2003 (Windows), WordPerfect 9.0(2000) and later, and PowerPoint (Windows only) have a feature that allows you to embed TrueType fonts in your documents. Embedding fonts will increase the size of your document somewhat. For example, if you are using MathType 5 for Windows default fonts, you only need to embed MT Extra, and the increase is only 12K. If you are using the Euclid font family, your document's file size will increase by up to 268K. When the document is opened in the application which created it on your recipient's computer, the embedded fonts will be immediately available to the operating system and the equations will appear correctly.

If you are using a word processing or publishing program that does not support font embedding, such as Word 2001, X and 2004 for Macintosh, WordPerfect 8.0 or earlier, AppleWorks, Excel, PowerPoint for the Macintosh, et al., your document recipients will need to use the MathType font installer if they are using Windows or install the MathType for Macintosh application - both noted below. Your document recipient should run the font or MathType installer before launching the program to view or print your document.

Because there are 19 fonts included with MathType 4.0 and 5.x for Windows, we provide font installers which you can send along with your documents. You can also direct your document recipients on Windows to download the TrueType or Post Script font installers from our website at http://www.dessci.com/en/dl/fonts/default.asp. This installer can also be used by MathType 3.5 for Windows users. The best solution is to download and install the free, fully functional, 30-day trial of MathType for Windows. This also gives the option of editing and creating equations rather than just viewing them. After the trial period expires (or MathType is removed), MathType's fonts will remain on the system.

MathType 5.x for Macintosh installs 8 fonts (6 Euclid suitcases, MT Extra and Symbol). If you are using Microsoft Word 98 for Macintosh, you can embed MT Extra and Symbol (and any other font used that your recipient may not have) in your document. There is no font installer for the Mac fonts, so for all other kinds of Mac documents, you should direct your recipient to download and install the free, fully functional, 30-day trial of MathType for Macintosh. This is the only way to obtain the complete set of MathType 5 fonts and also gives them the option of editing and creating equations rather than just viewing them. After the trial period expires (or MathType is removed), MathType's fonts will remain on the system.

The older MathType 3.x versions for Macintosh use only one font, MT Extra. If you are using Microsoft Word 98 for Macintosh, you can embed MT Extra in your document. For all other kinds of Mac documents, you should provide the document recipient with a copy of MT Extra as a separate file and tell them to place it in their Fonts folder before viewing your document. PowerPoint for Macintosh does not support font embedding.

Solutions

This notice provides three primary methods for insuring that your document recipients receive the fonts necessary for the MathType equations in your documents to display and print correctly:

1. Strategy for MathType 4.0 and 5.x users (Windows only)

2. Distributing fonts as loose files (Windows and Mac)

3. Using the font installers (Windows only)

4. Embedding the fonts in your document

5. A disadvantage of embedding fonts

6. If your colleagues need to edit your equations

Strategy for MathType 4.0 and 5.x users (Windows only)

MathType 4.0 and 5.x come with a total of 19 fonts. You can reduce the number of fonts you need to embed by using MathType's Factory (Default) Settings. If you are using the Factory settings, the fonts your equations will use are Times New Roman, Symbol, and MT Extra. Times New Roman is distributed with Microsoft Office and Symbol is distributed with both Windows and the Macintosh OS, so you need only provide the MT Extra font. You may wish to learn which characters that you use are in the MT Extra font. It may be that you are not using any characters from MT Extra, in which case, if you are using the Factory Settings, you will not need to embed any fonts at all. To view the complete MT Extra character set, click here. 

Distributing fonts as loose files (Windows and Mac)

If you only need to include one or two fonts with your document, it may be simpler to include copies of the fonts with your document as loose files. Your MathType license entitles you to distribute the MathType fonts in order for document recipients to view and print your documents. For MathType 3.x for Macintosh users, the only font you need to include is MT Extra. For MathType 3.x for Windows users, you only need to include the MT Extra and Fences fonts. For MathType 5.x Windows and Macintosh users, you'll need to include the Euclid set of fonts as well (if you used them or are not sure). And for MathType 5.x Macintosh users, you'll also need to include Symbol.

Note: Make sure that your document recipients understand that they must place the loose font files into their Fonts folder before launching the program that they will use to view your document.

Using the MathType Font Installer (Windows)

We provide TrueType and PostScript font installers for the fonts used by MathType 3.5, 4.0, and 5.x for Windows. They can be downloaded from our MathType Font Installers Page. You can send document recipients a copy of the font installer or direct them to download it. The font installer must be run before launching the program which will be used to view the documents which contain MathType equations. Restarting the computer is not necessary.

Embedding the fonts in a document

Note: Although supported, embedding fonts in the document will not solve the problem for Office 2007 and later. The only available workaround is to install the missing fonts in the Operating system.

Many people prefer to embed TrueType fonts in their documents out of consideration for their recipients: they want to make it easy and convenient to view their document without going to any special trouble. Microsoft Word 97, 98, 2000, 2002 (XP) and 2003, PowerPoint 97, 2000, 2002 (XP) and 2003, and WordPerfect 9.0 (2000) and 10 provide this option. Microsoft Office 2001, X and 2004 for Macintosh do not support font embedding nor does PowerPoint 98.

There is a bug in Word 2000 and PowerPoint 2000 in that even if fonts are properly embedded, the embedded fonts will not be available for display in graphics (MathType equations) unless the fonts are marked as "installable". This bug has been fixed in Office XP applications. In MathType 4.0, the versions of the fonts included with MathType were "editable", which means that Word and PowerPoint will display them if they are used for text, but not within graphics. MathType 5.0 for Windows and the TrueType font installer currently available on our website include revised fonts which are "installable".

If you are using MathType 4.0 and want to embed fonts in a Word document or PowerPoint presentation, you must download the current TrueType font installer and run it before embedding fonts in your documents. If you do not, your recipients using Word 2000 or PowerPoint 2000 will not be able to view your equations correctly. MathType 5.x users do NOT need to download the font installer. Click here to download the Windows font installer that installs the latest versions of MathType's TrueType fonts for Windows.

When you embed fonts in a Microsoft Word document, those fonts will be permanently installed on the computer of anyone who opens your document. WordPerfect and PowerPoint do not permanently embed the fonts, but rather only make them available while the document or presentation is open.

Embedding the fonts needed by MathType equations is a four-step process: 

1. Make sure that you have the latest version of MathType's TrueType fonts as outlined above
2. Determine which fonts are necessary
3. Create an instance of each font in the text of the document
4. Activate the option to embed TrueType fonts

Note: If you forget any of these three steps, your equations will not appear correctly on a recipient's computer.

When Word, WordPerfect, or PowerPoint determine which TrueType fonts to embed in a document, they only inventory the fonts included in the text or text boxes. MathType equations are graphics and Word, WordPerfect, and PowerPoint do not inventory fonts used in graphics. It is necessary to "seed" the text portion your document with the fonts used in your MathType equation graphics so that they will be embedded.

Determine which fonts are necessary

MathType 4.0 and 5.x users who use the factory settings and are not inserting any special characters, can just embed the MT Extra font as explained above. MathType 3.x for Macintosh users who use the defaults (Times and Symbol fonts) can just embed MT Extra. MathType 3.5 for Windows users who use the factory settings can just embed the MT Extra and Fences fonts. These fonts are assigned by default to MathType's Styles upon installation.

Your MathType User Manual contains additional information about assigning fonts to MathType's Styles.

If you have changed the fonts assigned to MathType's default styles, have used the Insert Symbol command in MathType's Edit menu to include unusual characters into your documents, or have assigned fonts to the User 1 or User 2 styles in MathType, you should do a inventory of the fonts used in your equations. To determine which fonts to seed your document with, do the following:

1. Launch MathType.
2. Select Style>Define.
3. If you are using MathType 4 or 5, select Advanced.
4. Make a list of all fonts assigned to a style.
5. If you have used Style>Other command, add any fonts you used to your list.
6. If you have used the Edit>Insert Symbol command in MathType, add those fonts to your list.
7. If you inserted characters from other fonts which you have saved in your symbol or macro bars, add those fonts to your list. 
8. MathType 3.5 users should add the Fences and MT Extra fonts to their list.
9. Remove the Symbol font from your list if it appears. The Symbol font is included with Windows and Mac OS.
10. Remove common text fonts such as Arial, Courier, Courier New, Times, and Times New Roman that are present in the text of your document. 
11. Most MathType 3.5 users will have only Fences and MT Extra on their list. Most MathType 4.0 and 5.0 users will find that they have only MT Extra on their list, unless they are using the Euclid fonts.

Create an instance of each font in the text of the document

To seed the text portion of your document with characters from the fonts used in your MathType equations, you will need to create an instance of each font somewhere in the text portion of your document. Non-printing characters such as tabs or paragraph characters which are already present in your document can be changed to these fonts, but most people prefer to use blank spaces. To create instances of the MathType fonts, do the following:

1. Place your cursor in your Word or WordPerfect document or in a text box in a PowerPoint slide where you can add blank spaces without affecting formatting. Adding spaces after the final printing character in a paragraph works well, but do not put the spaces at the very end of a document.
2. Choose one of the fonts you need to embed on the Font pull-down menu on your toolbar.
3. Press the spacebar once.
4. Repeats steps 2 and 3 for each font you need to embed.
5. If you find that adding space characters in some fonts increases the spacing above and below the line in which it is inserted, select the blank space and decrease its font size.

Activate the option to embed TrueType fonts

In Microsoft Word, do the following:  

1. In Windows, choose Tools>Options. On the Mac, choose Tools>Preferences (Word 98).
2. Click on the Save tab.
3. Check the box next to "Embed TrueType Fonts".
4. Make sure that the box for "Embed characters in use only" is not checked.
5. Click OK.
6. Save your document.

In WordPerfect 9.0 and later, do the following:

1. Choose File>Save As.
2. Enter a name for your document.
3. Check the box next to "Embed Fonts".
4. Click Save.

In PowerPoint for Windows, do the following:    

1. Choose File>Save As.
2. Enter a name for your presentation.
3. If you are using PowerPoint 97, check the box next to "Embed TrueType". If you are using PowerPoint 2000 or 2002, activate this option by checking "Embed TrueType Fonts" in the pull-down Tools menu.
4. Click Save.

You must activate the TrueType font embedding for every document in which you need to embed fonts. The option to embed TrueType fonts is set per document, and the default for every document is for the option to be off.

The fonts required by MathType should now be properly embedded in your document. You may want to read more about font embedding in your documentation or help files.

Please note that your license allows you to distribute MathType fonts freely. If you are using fonts from other sources, their distribution may be restricted, in which case Word, WordPerfect, or PowerPoint may not allow you to embed them.

A disadvantage of embedding fonts

Many people consider plain, italic, bold, and bold italic to be different styles the same font. In fact, they are distinct fonts. Applications which allow you to embed TrueType fonts will only embed the plain style of a font, making font embedding an inappropriate method of sharing documents for professional printing or situations where aesthetics are important.

Many applications, including MathType, PowerPoint, Word, and WordPerfect, will simulate italicization and bolding when only the plain version of a font is installed. The characters from true italic and bolded fonts are distinct from simulations because each character was designed by a font designer for clarity, readability, and attractiveness. Consider the examples below:

The top line contains examples of the plain, italic, bold, and bold italic versions of the Times font. The second line shows how the Times font will be displayed as plain, italic, bold, and bold italic when only the plain version of Times is installed. Note how distinct the a and z characters are from each other in the non-italic and italic versions of the typeface. Even in the h and the y, the serifs (flares at the ends of strokes) are distinct. Also notice how a true bold font is much more clearly thickened than the simulation. If you wish to retain the clarity, legibility, and visual appeal of true bold, italic, and bold italic fonts, you should not embed fonts, rather you should either use our font installer if you are using the Euclid fonts included with MathType 4.0 for Windows, or send your fonts as individual files if their license allows you to distribute them.

Note: For the standard font configuration of Times (Mac) or Times New Roman (Windows), Symbol, and MT Extra, you do not need to worry about the bold, italic, and bold italic versions of fonts because your recipient will already have the bold, italic, and bold italic versions of Times or Times New Roman. The MT Extra font is not usually bolded or italicized. While some people like to bold Greek characters to indicate vectors, unfortunately, only the plain version of Symbol is distributed with Windows and Mac OS.

If your colleagues need to edit your equations

MathType 5 for Windows and Macintosh provides a way for MathType users to collaborate with people who don't have MathType.

MathType 5 is freely downloadable from our website and will run for an evaluation period of 30 days with all features available. After the evaluation period ends, MathType 5 will run in Lite mode. Lite mode will allow users to edit MathType equations, but its features are limited to those available in the equation editor included with Microsoft Word.

MathType 4 and 5 are intercompatible, so MathType 4 users can collaborate with colleagues running the evaluation version of MathType 5.

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