Aptos Font Fix?

[kentgorrell]

Does anyone know if MS have, or are about to, release a fix for the Aptos font rendering issue?
Or does anyone know a trick to setting it back to Calibri for Access.
If not then I'll write some code to change every control's fontname. sigh!

 

[The_Doc_Man]

Do a Google search with Gemini AI enabled and ask it "Is there a fix for the Aptos font problem?" There are a couple of things you could try.

One is to install the Aptos font on machines where it would be locally rendered. Another is when you create the PDF, if you have the option, tell it to include the font in the PDF file so that it will be available for local rendering. If you do that search, you might find something useful.

 

[kentgorrell]

there is plenty of info on Outlook, Word and PDFs but nothing on Access. It is the rendering in Access controls and datasheets that's causing me grief.

 

[isladogs]

The issue with truncated 'descenders' has been investigated by the Access team and appears to be fixed in Beta version 2510 build 19322.20006

I believe it only affected Aptos (Detail) 11pt - see https://www.isladogs.co.uk/bug-summary-2508/

So as a workaround you could change to e.g. 12pt or revert to Calibri by changing the default theme for new databases in Options | Client Settings.
Or change default control properties - see https://isladogs.co.uk/default-control-properties/
Or just wait till the fix works its way through the channels

 

[kentgorrell]

The main issue for me, is that the cursor appears one character to the right of where it actually is.
This affects Aptos <=11 but as you say, >11 works OK.
I can fix this in controls but for datasheet view, there is no option for fontname and I can't even get ds forms to respect my setting for font size.
I tried changing the theme to no avail.
Next test is to create a new db with the new Theme setting and import everything into it.

 

[isladogs]

Both issues were reported to the A-team by Karl in April with a reminder early in August
I'd not noticed problems with the cursor - only with descenders

Using Beta 2510 19322.20006, I have just checked for cursor position issues using Aptos 11pt in a datasheet but cannot replicate your findings.
So my presumption was that the issues were now both fixed in that build

However I have just discussed this with the Access team.
The issue hasn't been fixed but doesn't appear consistently
Indeed I have now found (and reported) a way of triggering it reliably as follows

Create a form datasheet with Aptos (Detail) 11 pt.
From th Home tab, change it to e.g. 14 pt.
Descenders are displayed correctly. Place the cursor on a letter and select it. Again OK

Using the Home ribbon, revert to 11 pt.
Descenders truncated and the cursor now appears midway between two letters

So for now, I suggest you change the font size to 12pt - the setting will stick for each datasheet
Or change the default font size to 12 pt in Options | Datasheet

 

[kentgorrell]

Thanks Colin, changing the font/fontsize using the ribbon resolves the issue.

 

[isladogs]

Glad I could help. The Access team are currently investigating the various issues.

 

[kentgorrell]

I've now added the Text Fomatting group to the Datashseet tab on the ribbon. This would seen the logical place for users to find it. I'm still a little intrigued as to how Aptos inflicted itself into these forms.

Calibri was the default font for Access/Office/365, that changed to Aptos at some point. Now that I'm aware, I'm looking at fonts in forms and seeing Calibri, Aptos and Tahoma and I'm left wondering how they got that way.

You wrote an article on changing the defaults for controls for each form which inspired me to write a procedure to loop through forms and change the detaults for each control. And of course we can have a Normal form from which new forms inherit these defaults.

But how did the new default (Aptos) enter the picture? Was this via a Theme or Form Template (Normal by Default) or did it wriggle in via some other undocumented route?

BTW: I tried to change my 365 channel with no success, CoPilot offered various methods including PowerShell scripts, none of which worked and the registry setting that was supposed to show the channnel, didn't. I usually use a batch file to install the specific build that I want but I couldn't get that to work with the Beta. Even tried with the ODT.

 

[isladogs]

Yes I agree that the Form Datasheet ribbon is a more logical place for the text formatting group items and have just done the same as you.

Your post has prompted me to get on & finish an article about the Aptos font which I began a few months ago
It should be ready in a day or so under the heading: What's Up with Aptos

When Aptos was released it became the default Office theme. New databases automatically had Aptos assigned but existing databases should not have been affected whether you used Calibri, Tahoma or whatever
That meant that the Detail & Header fonts changed to Aptos in all new databases
To change that, go to Options | Client Settings | Default Theme .... tick the checkbox and browse to / select e.g. the Office 2013 - 2022 Theme which has Calibri as the default font

Now when you create a new database, Calibri will once again be the default.
Interestingly, Aptos will no longer even appear in the list of available fonts - I'll explain why in the article and also how you can get it back in the font list again if you do want it available (without being the default)

NOTE:
1. You can also use Themes in the Form Design ribbon to change the theme including the default.
2. The expert on Themes is Peter Cole - https://www.thememydatabase.co.uk

As for changing the update channel, the easiest approach is probably to add the Update Channel to the backstage view (File | Account) if you don't already have it.

By default, its in the consumer editions - Personal / Family but missing in all Business editions (to prevent unwanted meddling by users).
To add this to your own version of 365, I recommend the instructions in Peter Doering's excellent article https://www.accessforever.org/post/demystifying-microsoft-365-update-channels

Peter provides a registry script which will add the button and allow you to switch channels easily. I do so frequently to test bugs / check the latest features etc

Hope that helps

BTW I'm currently using 365 version 2510 build 19322.20006 Beta Channel 64-bit (as shown above)
Since yesterday morning, I no longer see either truncated descenders or misplaced cursor selections. Perhaps it has been fixed in that version/build?

 

[kentgorrell]

@Colin Thanks for taking the time to post all the great info.

Peter Doering's registry script saves the day. Brilliant.
My previous attempt managed to take regress me from 2508 to 2507.
Current channel now takes me up to 2509. Yeh!
Installed Beta 2510 on me secondary dev machine. Ready to test.

Peter Cole's db of API calls has been way more than useful.

I've never used themes. I agree on a style guide and color pallet with my client and use that. I may be wrong but my understanding was that with a theme, the user could make changes that circumvented the company colors. Having said that, I do start out with ThemeBlue which suits my Framework objects but not usually my client's company colors.

I'll have a good read of ThemeMyDatabase.

30 years of using Access and still so much to learn. Great to have so many knowledgeable developers willing to share their knowledge.

Thanks again.

 

[kentgorrell]

OK now I know how I got Aptos. The db I inherited was very slow compacting and opening the VBE so I created a new db and imported all the objects. This is something I often need to do on large applications.

In future I'll create the new db with ThemeBlue.

 

[isladogs]

No need if you made both changes to the default theme that I described in post #10. Doing that will make Calibri the default in all new databases.

 

[kentgorrell]

Yeah but my buttons look better with ThemeBlue. Themes do some funky stuff with buttons that I've never quite been able to reproduce with fixed formatting and I've found that they don't always translate well to another theme.

 

[isladogs]

OK but as Theme Blue isn't a standard theme, I've no idea what it looks like!
For info, I've just published my article:

What's Up with Aptos?

This article outlines issues with using the new default Office font (Aptos) in Access. It also outlines how to change the default font and an unexpected side effect of doing so.

www.isladogs.co.uk

Feedback welcomed