Manage missing glyphs (CS4 and later)

For years, finding a solution to discovering missing glyphs – the dreaded pink boxes – in InDesign has eluded scripters. Until Peter Baumgartner came up with a solution that works very well. The script on this page uses Peter's solution but adds an interface which shows a document's missing glyphs in a window (rather than in the ESTK), and allows you to apply a font to the missing glyphs.

When run, the script shows the following dialog:

Missing glyphs dialog

You can choose to apply a font or a character style to all missing glyphs, or simply to display the missing glyphs. The glyphs are shown in a new dialog:

Missing glyphs displayed

Missing glyphs are shown by font, so a glyph can be listed more than once.

Note: It's not possible to find missing glyphs in overset text.


Version history

15 Sept 2022: The script didn't include footnotes by default. Fixed.

25 Nov. 2019: Added the possibility to apply a character style to any missing glyphs.

2 July 2017: Removed some version-specific code.

3 February 2013: the script crashed when it tried to process uninstalled fonts or illegal font style names. Fixed.

10 August 2012: the script cannot be used in CS3, and now announces that rather than crash; better display when no missing glyphs are found.

8 August 2012: posted.


Useful script? Saved you lots of time?

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