How to solve the font selection issue when opening CAD

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How to solve the font selection issue when opening CAD: 1. Simple method 1: If such a font is available, simply add it to the fonts folder located in the Autodesk CAD installation directory； 　　Simple method 2: If such a font is not available, after opening the file, click on Format, select Text Style, and replace all fonts in the drawing with your own font. Save the file; this way, no such prompt will appear next time it’s opened. 2. Downloading more fonts from the Internet won’t solve the problem either, because using less common fonts may make it easier for you to view the drawings, but it can cause trouble if you need to share those drawings with others. It’s best to find generic fonts to replace those uncommon ones. 3. Make use of the CAD font replacement method – by using this method, you won’t need to rely on CAD fonts anymore. We often encounter situations where, when opening someone else’s drawings, we can’t find the fonts used in the original files. What should we do? 　　When opening someone else’s image, I have to keep replacing font files that I don’t have. How can I solve this once and for all? 　　Here is a great method for you! Here to share with everyone! ! ! 　　Answer: There are two methods.
Method 1: Copy the font you want to replace and name it with the name of the font that is to be replaced. For example, if you open an image and it shows that the “jd” font cannot be found, and you want to replace it with “hztxt.shx”, then you can copy “hztxt.shx” and rename it “jd.shx”. This will solve the problem. However, the drawback of this method is obvious – it takes up too much disk space. It’s better to use the following method.
Method 2: Create an acad.fmp file in the autocadr14/support directory. If such a file already exists, simply open it. It’s an ASCII file; enter “jd;hztxt” into it. If there are other fonts that need to be replaced, you can enter them on separate lines, like “jh;hztxt”. Save the file and exit. In the future, if the images you open contain fonts like “jd” or “jh” that aren’t available on your computer, you won’t have to keep searching for ways to replace those fonts.
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Of course, some users may not be using R14, and the default directory might not be there. In that case, I’ll tell you how to find the acad.fmp file in your CAD system 　　In the Start menu (Windows), click “All Programs” (or “Programs”), then “Autodesk”, “AutoCAD 2005”. This will open the CAD program. In the “Tools” menu, click “Options”. In the “Options” dialog box, click the “File” tab. On the “File” tab, click the plus sign (+) to the left of “Text Editor, Dictionary, and Font File Names”. Click the plus sign (+) to the left of “Font Mapping File”. Under “Font Mapping File”, click on the path name to see where the font mapping file is located; mine is in the Application Data folder on drive C.

4. When using AutoCAD, font issues can trouble many people. My approach is to store fonts that are not included in the default set in a separate folder. When the program asks for a font, one can look for it in this folder. Since there aren’t many commonly used fonts other than those included by default, storing them in a separate folder makes it easier to find them. This method also helps prevent font loss after reinstalling the system, though it’s a bit troublesome. For a simpler solution, go to the “Tools – Options” dialog box, select the “File” tab, and enable “Support File Search Paths”. Then add the folder where you store the fonts. The only downside of this method is that when no font is needed in a folder, manually searching through the long list of options can be cumbersome.

5. Method 1: Go to “Format” – “Text Style”. In addition to the standard style, there are usually 3–5 additional font styles available.
Method 2: You can also change the font name to “gbenor.shx” and the font style to “gbcbig.shx” in the CAD toolbar. This way, garbled characters will be displayed as SimSun font, making them more readable.

6. Tips for setting up ACAD fonts:
When converting ACAD drawings, font mismatches and garbled characters often occur. Here are some solutions to these problems:
1. When opening DWG files from lower versions of ACAD, such as R13 (and earlier), even if the correct Chinese font files are selected, garbled characters may still appear. This is because R14 (and later versions) use a different code page than R13 (and earlier versions). Solution: Download the wnewcp tool from Autodesk’s website to convert the code pages. If the original file contains Simplified Chinese, choose to convert it to GB2312 or ANSI936.
2. When typing text inside a block, such as in a title bar, if the text is too long and goes outside the boundaries of the block, it’s not possible to adjust the text properties within the block in versions prior to ACAD 2000. The solution is to upgrade to ACAD 2002, as it allows adjustments to the properties of blocks within other blocks.
3. When numbers and text are mixed together, their heights may differ, with numbers usually being taller than text. Solution: I usually use the STYLE command to specify that numbers should use the GBENOR font (a built-in ACAD font with a shorter height than other fonts), while text uses the HZTXT font (if HZTXT isn’t available, another font can be chosen).
4. When opening CAD drawings created by other companies, it might say that certain fonts are missing. Using alternative fonts may result in garbled characters. Solution: Create a new document and insert the CAD drawing as a block. This will eliminate the garbled characters (though the font style may differ from the original). For 100% accuracy, it’s necessary to use fonts that match those used in the original drawing.
5. When creating engineering drawings using Pro/E in its Chinese version and then converting them to DWG format and opening them in AutoCAD, no matter what font settings are used in ACAD, the text won’t display correctly because the text becomes part of blocks when converted from Pro/E to DWG. Solution: Don’t convert directly to DWG format; instead, convert it to DXF format first. This way, the text won’t be treated as a block in ACAD. Then open the DXF file in AutoCAD. The font style in this ACAD file will be in English. Use the STYLE command to change the font style to BIG FONT, select an appropriate Chinese font, and apply it. The Chinese characters from Pro/E will then display correctly. Tests have shown that the SYFS.SHX font is very similar to the font used in Pro/E.
6. If the text on a drawing appears solid but turns into hollow text when printed, change the value of the TEXTFILL parameter in ACAD from 0 to 1