Windows 11 upgrade removed Font (Maori Langauge) Glyphs or Macrons

Check the exact font in Windows Character Map for the Māori macron characters; if they are absent, Word is correctly using a fallback font for those characters, and the remedy is a version of that font that includes them rather than reinstalling the same font file.

Test the font’s glyph coverage

1. Close Word.
2. Press Start, type Character Map, and open it.
3. In Font, select the exact font family and style that is causing the problem.
4. Select Advanced view and set Character set to Unicode.
5. In Go to Unicode, test:
   • 0100 — Ā
   • 0101 — ā
   • 0112 / 0113 — Ē / ē
   • 012A / 012B — Ī / ī
   • 014C / 014D — Ō / ō
   • 016A / 016B — Ū / ū

Character Map displays characters by selected font, so this distinguishes a font-coverage problem from a Word formatting problem.^1^

If the macron characters are missing

The installed font file does not provide those Unicode glyphs. Windows/Word must then render those characters using another font, which explains why only the macron letters have a visibly different typeface. This is standard font-fallback behavior.^2^

Obtain an OpenType or TrueType edition of that font which explicitly supports Māori or Latin Extended-A characters from the font publisher. If it is a commercial font, confirm that the correct Windows release and all required styles—regular, bold, italic, and so on—are supplied.

Then:

1. Close all Office applications.
2. Open the newly obtained .otf or .ttf file.
3. Select Install.
4. Reopen Word and repeat the Character Map test before editing the document.

Office uses fonts installed through Windows.^3^

Also test how the text is encoded. A Māori vowel can be stored either as one precomposed character such as ā, or as a followed by a combining macron. A font may support one representation but not render the other correctly. Copy ā from Character Map into a new blank Word document and apply the font. If copied ā works but your existing text does not, the document likely contains combining-character sequences and may need Unicode normalization by the originating application or document workflow.

If Character Map shows the glyph correctly

Create a blank Word document and perform this isolation test:

1. Paste A Ā a ā E Ē e ē I Ī i ī O Ō o ō U Ū u ū.
2. Select the entire line and apply the affected font.
3. Compare it with the same text in the existing document.

Results:

• Correct in the new document only: the existing document has character-level formatting, a style, or a template overriding the font. Select the affected text and press Ctrl+Spacebar to clear direct character formatting, then reapply the intended font.
• Incorrect in every Word document but correct in Character Map: Word may be loading a different font file with the same family name. Check Settings → Personalization → Fonts, open that family, and inspect its installed styles. Remove duplicates only after retaining a backup and verifying licensing.
• Only one style fails: obtain the corresponding updated style file. For example, a correct regular font does not establish that its bold or italic file contains the same glyphs.

Conditional post-upgrade check

If the whole original font family is missing, rather than just the macron glyphs, Windows upgrades can leave some previously supplied fonts disabled because they are now optional features.^4^

Open:

1. Settings → System → Optional features
   On some Windows 11 versions this is under Settings → Apps → Optional features.
2. Select View features beside Add an optional feature.
3. Search for the relevant supplemental font feature.
4. Select it, choose Next → Add, and remain online while Windows Update downloads it.

This path applies only if the required family belongs to one of Windows’ optional font packages. It will not add missing glyphs to a third-party font that is already installed.

References

1. Use a screen reader to explore and navigate different keyboard and text tools in Windows | Microsoft Support
2. Using Font Fallback
3. Download and install custom fonts to use with Office | Microsoft Support
4. How to add fonts that are missing after upgrading Windows (windows-11)