Apple email cursor not synched

[Raven]

When I upgraded from 10.6.8 to 10.10.3 this summer, it took a while to get most things working...

My new Seagate 2 Tb external hard drive failed. I sent it back to Seagate California from Canada. Within 2 weeks I had a new one, no questions asked. That's been working fine. They sent me a Customer Survey for feedback. I have to praise their service.

I had several font glitches from my 1200 fonts library. I used Kurt Lang's font management advice to solve that finally. He recommended to switch from Font Agent Pro6 to trying Suitcase Fusion. I still have to try that.

However, my Apple email cursor is mostly in the wrong place which is VERY frustrating. It's usually 4-9 spaces ahead or behind where it should be. That's a pain in the butt to type a letter or report and not know where to place the cursor. Takes 3-4 attempts each time to get it where it should be. I've googled the problem and tried many remedies in Mail preferences, using only system fonts, etc. Nothing solves this permanently. A few times the cursor stays in the correct spot for a while after rebooting and then it's back to being out of synch again. Aaargh!!
Any other good advice?

24" iMac early 2009. 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo. 8 gb RAM.
OSX 10.10.3
Only one user.
Apple Mail 8.2
1 Ext HD  for Time Machine.
1 Ext HD for Super Duper.

[Xairbusdriver]

A few question, just the facts, ma'am.

I. Is this "cursor lag" evident in any other app?
A. Does the cursor move correctly in a word processor?
c. Filling a form at a web site? Here at TS?
4. How many email messages do you have?
v. Do you remember the last time you "Rebuilt" any mailbox?

Thanks! We'll get back to you as soon as possible. We appreciate your business!

[Raven]

Sorry to take so long to reply. Been out of town and swamped with business matters.

Cursor is only out of sync in Apple Mail.
Out of sync using Helvetica Regular font.
I can switch font to Helvetica Bold and it works fine, BUT it won't let me change back to Helv Regular.
Works OK with other fonts.

The Pages 6 font menu shows Helvetica Narrow 4 times in the font palette.
I cannot change font to Helvetica Regular. It stays in Helvetica Narrow and won't let me change to Regular. Bold and Italic are OK in Pages.

Yet no other apps seem to be affected - InDesign, Illustrator, etc.

So, it must be a Mac OSX 10.10.3 System font conflict???

[Xairbusdriver]

I seem to remember you are using a non-Apple font management app. If you are, it may have a something like a "Repair" or "Validate" function (check all its menu items). You do have an Apple supplied app called "Font Book" (Applications/Font Book). It does have a "Validate" function. You seem to have narrowed down the troublesome font to the Helvetica family and I'd suggest repairing/validating that font first.

See if you have more than one "Helvetica" installed. Remember, there are three different "Libraries" on you Mac: two are in different parts of the OS folders:

Your boot Hard drive/System/Library/Fonts path.
This is the only place I have Helvetica installed.
Helvetica is a System (required by the OS) font, so I think that's exactly where it should be.


Still in the boot Hard drive, but in the Library/Fonts directory. Notice Helvetica is not in there.


This is your user/Library/Fonts directory. No "Helvetica" here, either.
This is the location for Fonts you may want to add that only you have access to.
There will be one of these directories for every user account you ever set up.

1. If you have "Helvetica" in these last two directories: they probably need to be moved out of there, at least temporarily. Just move them to your Desktop for now.
A. Shut down the Mac.
B. Count to 10 by 1.25.
C. Start up the Mac and see if your cursor behaves any better in Mail and Pages.
2. If you have multiple instances of "Helvetic" in the first location: the older versions probably need to be moved as described in Step #1. Now follow steps 1.A., 1.B., and 1.C.

3. If you have no duplicate instances of "Helvetica": Open Font Book, select any and all Helvetica fonts in the list of fonts (probably the middle column), use the Edit->Validate Font menu item
A. Even if they validate, follow the three steps in Step #1.
B. Please report any problems shown in the 'validation' process.