MathType Equations Automatically Shrinks

Question

In the new update of Office for Mac, v16.16, MathType equations automatically shrinks after it is typed in. 

I've contacted MathType support and they mentioned that in the new update, any image images internally inserted as PDF (like MathType formulas) will automatically resize.

As such, is there any workaround that I can do for now?

Answer 1

Sorry for the delay; I was out of the office last week.

It wasn't a MathType issue, so MathType 7.3.1 doesn't fix it. However, it was fixed by Microsoft in Word version 16.17. The current version is later than that (it's 16.18, with the insider version being 16.19), so if you upgrade Word/Office, you shouldn't see the incredible shrinking equation.

Beyond that, one thing we have done with MathType is to detect if Word is shrinking the equations. If it is, MathType corrects Word's error by presenting the equations at the proper size. This is better than actually resizing the equations because

1. this scenario will only happen if MS breaks Word again and 2) if MathType simply resizes the equations to a larger size, they'll then be too large when MS once again fixes their bug. In effect, MathType now makes it irrelevant if this bug is present in Word or not.

Bob Mathews

Wiris America, makers of MathType

Answer 2

The indented information that follows is our response when a customer reports the above issue to us. Eugene already has this information because he wrote us last week about it (he's just hoping for another workaround, which is understandable, and this is a reasonable place to ask about that):

Unfortunately, this is an issue recently introduced by Microsoft in its 16.16 Office release for Mac. 

This issue happens with any image images internally inserted as PDF (like MathType formulas).

We honestly apologize for the inconvenience and we hope that Microsoft fixes the issue soon.

We encourage you to contact Microsoft regarding this issue hoping that it will speed up its resolution (https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/contactus/).

This is an issue with Retina displays, so that's one possible workaround: if you have a non-Retina display, use that when inserting or editing equations. The equations will be fine if merely viewed or printed when using a Retina display, but when you insert or edit one is when the sizing issue happens.

As Charles suggested in an earlier reply, "Consider reverting to Version 16.15." This is, in fact, Microsoft's recommendation as well. The answer on an earlier question in the Microsoft Community answers forum describes how to do that.

Bob Mathews

WIRIS America, makers of MathType

Answer 3

I have the same problem. And no, Rich's suggestion does not work

Answer 4

Hi Eugene,

I am not able to reproduce that problem, though I am running version 16.17.

Could you try turning on the display of hidden characters, the toggle button control for this is on the Home tab and it's the Pilcrow icon ¶. Check the style settings on the paragraph you are inserting the equation into. Make sure it is the same as the style used on the characters "Dsds" you are showing in your example.

If you haven't restarted your computer recently, particularly since the 16.16 update was applied, do that and then test the equation insert again.