There are 5 common Unicode to non Unicode conversion problems: Telugu text showing boxes, garbled output, the Anu font not displaying, wrong conjuncts or matras, and encoding mismatch after copy-paste. Each one is a different Telugu font conversion error with a different fix.
All 5 problems trace back to one of 3 root causes: the wrong Anu version was selected, the required font is not installed, or a copy-paste stripped the encoding. Identifying which of the 3 applies solves the problem faster than trying fixes at random. Most reports of Unicode to non Unicode not working reduce to the first cause.
This page covers the cause and fix for each of the 5 problems, how to verify a conversion is correct, and how to avoid these non Unicode text issues in future conversions.
Why Unicode to Non Unicode Conversion Fails
Conversion fails for 3 reasons: a version mismatch, a missing font, or a mixed-encoding paste. Every symptom on this page reduces to one of them.
Version mismatch
Anu 6 and Anu 7 assign different bytes to the same characters. Decoding or encoding with the wrong version returns wrong Telugu.
Missing font
Anu Script needs its font installed to render. Unicode Telugu needs any Telugu font. Neither renders in a font that lacks the glyphs.
Mixed-encoding paste
Pasting converted text beside unconverted text leaves one paragraph needing two fonts. No single font renders both runs.
Problem 1 — Telugu Font Showing Boxes or Question Marks
Cause
Telugu font showing symbols, telugu font showing question marks and telugu text showing boxes are three reports of two different failures. Boxes mean the display font has no glyph for those code points — the text is intact and the font cannot draw it. Question marks mean the text passed through a container that could not hold Telugu at all, such as a VARCHAR database column or a file saved as ANSI, and the characters were replaced at write time.
Fix
Apply a Telugu font that covers the characters: Pothana2000, Gautami or Noto Sans Telugu for Unicode text. Set the document or page charset to UTF-8, if boxes survive the font change. Recover question-marked text from the original source, because the characters were destroyed rather than mis-displayed. Telugu characters not showing at all points to the same write-time loss.
Problem 2 — Converted Telugu Text Is Garbled or Wrong
Cause
The Anu version selected during conversion does not match the font applied to the output. Anu 6 and Anu 7 assign different bytes to the same Telugu characters, and every gunintam form differs between them. Output encoded for one version rendered in the other produces unrelated letters and symbols.
Fix
Open the source file and read the font name in the character panel, because the name carries the version number. Convert again with that version selected. Try Anu 7 first, if the version is unknown, because most current files use it.
Problem 3 — Anu Font Not Displaying After Conversion
Cause
Anu Script output looks like Latin letters until an Anu font is applied to it. A browser has no Anu font installed, so correct output still displays as accented Latin characters there. The conversion is not at fault.
Fix
Paste the output into PageMaker, CorelDraw or Word and apply an Anu font to that text. Install Anu Script Manager (ASM), or the Anu font files on their own, if the font is missing from the machine.
Problem 4 — Telugu Conjuncts or Matras Are Wrong
Cause
Conjuncts break first when the Anu version is wrong, because that is where the two mappings diverge most. Every gunintam form — a consonant joined to a vowel sign — encodes differently in Anu 6 and Anu 7, so Anu conjuncts wrong is the first symptom of a version mismatch. Rare conjuncts falling outside the mapping table pass through unchanged rather than converting.
Fix
Switch the Anu version and convert again. Type the conjunct directly in your layout application for the few characters that fall outside the table. Check క్ష and జ్ఞ first, because they expose a version mismatch immediately.
Problem 5 — Encoding Mismatch After Copy-Paste
Cause
An encoding mismatch appears when one paragraph carries both Unicode text and non Unicode text. An encoding mismatch Telugu users hit most often comes from pasting a converted phrase into an unconverted paragraph: two runs need two different fonts, and no single font renders both correctly.
Fix
Convert the whole block rather than selected words. Check which font each text run carries, and apply one encoding across the paragraph. Keep an untouched copy of the original before replacing text in a layout.
How to Verify Your Conversion Is Correct
To verify a conversion, run one short word through both directions and compare the result against the original. There are 4 checks.
Round-trip one word
Convert a single word, then convert the output back. Matching text confirms the mapping and the version.
Test a conjunct
Use క్ష or జ్ఞ. Conjuncts expose a version mismatch immediately, where plain consonants do not.
Check the character count
Anu output is usually longer than the Telugu input, because one character can map to several bytes.
Apply the font
Paste into the layout application with the matching Anu font before converting the full document.
Conclusion
The 5 common Unicode to non Unicode problems are boxes or question marks, garbled output, the Anu font not displaying, wrong conjuncts or matras, and encoding mismatch after copy-paste. Each traces back to a version mismatch, a missing font, or a mixed-encoding paste.
Check the Anu version first, because it causes the two most-reported failures. Read Anu 6 vs Anu 7 to identify which version a file uses, and run conversions on the Unicode to Non Unicode Converter.