OT: Bach font and Word for Mac 2011

[Andrew Harrison]

Hi everyone,

I realise this is off-topic, however I thought I might be able to get a sensible answer here, as the MS forums don't seem to have any!

I'm writing up my PhD thesis (nearly done!), and I've imported the Bach fonts into MS Word for Mac 2011. I've only just started using them. When I select the Bach font in Word, I can't seem to insert any ASCII codes to make the correct note symbols. I can insert basic symbols that don't require an ASCII code (like a '@' becomes a flat symbol), but when it comes to quarter notes and half notes etc, I can't make them work at all!

I tried to use Matthew Hindson's Rhythms font, but unfortunately it played havoc with the line spacing in Word. If anyone has any knowledge of how to make the Bach font work, it would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks for any off-topic replies. I look forward to being back 'on-topic' soon!

Regards,
Andrew Harrison

[BuonTempi]

The Bach font actually has standard alphanumerics (resembling Times New Roman) for the ASCII range. The idea being that you can write text and music symbols in the same font without switching.

Screen Shot 3.png (130.21 KiB) Viewed 3373 times

Most of the other symbols are Unicode chars that have no keypresses. You have to use Apple's Unicode Hex Input method. In System Prefs > Keyboard > Input Sources, add the Unicode Hex Input, and tick the box "Show input menu in menu bar". Then you can select Unicode from the menu bar.

Then with the Alt (Opt) key held down, you can type the four letter code for a given Unicode symbol. It's a bit tedious, but the only way for fonts that can conceivable contain thousands of chars. For example, the minim char is U+F0B0; the crotchet U+F0B1. So you would hold down Alt and press F 0 B 0 or F 0 B 1.

You might benefit from an app like PopChar, that lets you browse, select and paste font chars into your word processor.

PS. Sorry the image is so big: Retina display screenshot!

[Vaughan]

I second the recommendation for using PopChar. It's an extremely handy utility which places a small P in a corner of the screen (usually top-left) and provides practically instant access to the glyphs of all your installed fonts. It also creates a field with recently-used characters, making selection even more convenient. It's certainly a lot quicker than typing hexadecimal codes.

[elbsound]

You might also consider using other music fonts made for word processing software.
E.g. the "Musi"-fonts by Robert Allgeyer (MusiSync, MusiTone and MusiQwik). They are accessible through the keyboard and don't need any extra symbol picking software. And MusiTone and MusiQwik are come with regular, bold and italic versions.
Links can be found on https://elbsound.studio/music-fonts.php#processing
It lists more than 60 music font links for Word processing software. But most of them use stafflines and thus are not compatible with the Bach font.

The unicode fonts that use the "Musical Symbols" area and the SMuFL fonts with the "Text" ending are also designed for typing music in a word processor.
They have more symbols than Bach, but also require an software for accessing the symbols.
Links are on the same page as above in the unicode and in the SMuFL section.

[Andrew Harrison]

Hi everyone,

Thanks, as always, for the great responses. Elbsound, I did check out some of the fonts that you mentioned, and I have installed them. However, after the recommendation about PopChar, I downloaded the trial and ended up paying the 30 euros for the full version. It's been great thus far, and I can see myself using it well into the future. So thanks for all of the help.

Cheers
Andrew