Messages crashes after applying font change

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Level 1

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Messages crashes after applying font change

I'm using a Macbook Air (M2) running macOS 13.4.1 (c). I was playing around with which fonts I could use in Messages, but I selected one and the app instantly crashed. When trying to reopen the app, it instantly crashes. I beileve the issue is with the font.

The most relevant info to the font from the crash logs is: __FONT_DATA 2352 1

I have not downloaded any fonts from the internet, and I have already tried resetting all fonts (Font Book>Settings>Advanced)

I came across this post from 2014 and tried to recreate most of the steps. However, things have moved around and I didn't want to risk messing with it too much.

Rebooting into Safe Mode does not work, additionally holding shift while attempting to open the app (Safe Launch?) doesn't fix the problem.

Is there a way to change the font by editing a file or through the command line?

Michael’s MacBook Air

Posted on Jul 20, 2023 12:31 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

121,542 points

Jul 21, 2023 03:43 AM in response to mcrotty1175

PS Here is another more recent message about resetting things that may help

How to completely reset the Messages (iMe… - Apple Community

(I think the main change is that iMessage is now Messages)

I would look at

~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Messages.plist

To get to ~/Library you do Finder > Go while holding down the Option key

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Answer 2

mcrotty1175 Author

Level 1

4 points

Jul 21, 2023 03:12 PM in response to Tom Gewecke

Thank you for helping me find this post. I did completely reset the Messages app (as per the instructions in that post) and it seemed to fix it.

I immediately checked the "Text Size", and it seemed to be "Papyrus 13". It's likely the font attempting to render messages is what caused the crash. Note the font didn't get cleared when I reset Messages (which is probably why my previous attempt by clearing the plists failed).

I changed the font back to "default" and I'm going to try and restore all the messages by unzipping the Messages folder from ~/Library.

Edit: Uncompressing & moving Messages folder back into ~/Library, then performing a system restart restored all my messages. Thanks again!

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Answer 3

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

121,542 points

Jul 21, 2023 02:35 AM in response to mcrotty1175

Do you remember which font it was you tried to switch to?

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Messages crashes after applying font change

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