PopChar X – Frequently Asked Questions

This page answers frequently asked questions concerning PopChar X. When necessary, we add new hints and problem solving tips to this page.

We regularly update this page whenever we come across a topic that may be of interest for many PopChar users.

If you have a question that is not answered here, please contact our technical support.

If you have a problem with PopChar X, we suggest that you first try the following steps:

Make sure you have the latest version of Mac OS X and all system updates: Run "Software Update" and install all available updates. If you need to restart your Mac after the update, run "Software Update" again until it tells you that no further updates are available.
Please verify that you have the most recent version of PopChar X. Check the "Updates" tab in PopChar's Preferences window and click the "Check Now" button to perform an immediate online check for a newer version. If there is no "Updates" tab, you are definitely using an old version. In this case, please visit our download page and get the most recent version.

If there is a problem with PopChar X in combination with a particular application, make sure you have the latest version of that application. If you have a problem with any part of MS Office, run Microsoft AutoUpdate to install the latest updates.
Run Disk Utility, select your startup disk, and click the "Repair Disk Permissions" button in the "First Aid" section.
Restart your Mac (unless you already did that during the software update).

In many cases, these steps help to fix software-related problems. If this does not help, check if any of the following questions apply to your problem. If not, contact our technical support for help.

Why does PopChar X not recognize the current font in the active application?

There can be several reasons why PopChar X might fail to detect which font is being used in the active application:

If you get a message that "Access for assistive devices" should be enabled, open System Preferences, click "Universal Access" and enable the checkbox "Enable access for assistive devices".
If font detection does not work at all in a particular application, this is very likely because the application does not have a font menu in the menu bar.
If font detection generally works in an application but fails in some situations, a dialog window may be in the front or the font menu may be temporarily unavailable. In this case, PopChar X will display the font that has recently being used in this application. If you need a different font, temporarily select this font and return to the "As in Document" setting afterwards.

In general: If automatic font detection fails in a particular application, you need to manually select the desired font in the font pop-up menu of PopChar. PopChar will then remember the selected font for this application.

Why does insertion of Unicode characters produce wrong symbols in the application XY?

Unicode must be actively supported by applications. If an application fully supports Unicode (such as TextEdit, Mail, or Microsoft Word 2004), you can insert all Unicode characters with PopChar. Some applications (such as AppleWorks and older versions of Microsoft Word) support at least foreign script systems (like Japanese). You can insert many Unicode characters in these applications, but some of them will not work properly and appear as one or two wrong symbols. Some applications cannot use Unicode characters at all. Switch to ASCII mode to use PopChar with these applications.

We expect that more and more applications will take advantage of the Unicode features of Mac OS X in the future.

What is the best procedure to install or update PopChar X?

Starting with version 4.3, PopChar uses a "smart self installation" technique that makes installing and updating a breeze. Just mount the downloaded disk image and double-click the PopChar icon inside. PopChar will quit an older copy that may be running, copy itself to the Applications folder and launch the newly installed copy. There is no magic involved: You could do all this by hand as well; PopChar just simplifies and automates the process and gets you up and running in seconds.

Why does "formatted" insertion of characters not work in the application XY?

Applications must actively support "formatted" insertion of characters. It works for most word processors (such as Appleworks and Microsoft Word). If it does not work in a specific application, a wrong character may appear in the destination document. You can fix the problem by applying the desired font to the inserted character.

PopChar's "P" disappeared from the menu bar. What happened?

First try moving the mouse pointer into the top-left and top-right corners of the screen. If the "P" appears, you may have enabled the preferences option to "show 'P' only when pointing into the corner".

If the "P" does not appear even if you are pointing into one of the top corners, you may be running a utility application that creates multiple virtual screens (such as VirtualDesktop or VirtueDesktops). If you are running an older version of PopChar (before 3.3), upgrading to the current version will fix the problem.

Why doesn't PopChar appear after startup?

Make sure that the check box "Start PopChar at Login" in the Preferences window is checked. If that still does not help, try these steps:

Make sure that the "System Preferences" application is not running.
Launch PopChar if it's not already running.
Turn "Start PopChar at Login" off and back on again.

See also the special topics covered on our Tips pages