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Google search pages not showing text after Mac OS 12.6 Monterey upgrade

  • 10 replies
  • 0 have this problem
  • 29 views
  • Last reply by Pavi

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Since upgrading to Monterey, Google search pages show almost no text in Firefox. Google searches in Safari and Google Chrome are completely fine. Only Firefox is showing the problem. The blank text includes dropdown menus too - all options inside them are blank. Currently on Firefox v107.0, but the same problem happens with older versions.

If I go into Troubleshoot mode, the Google searches are working fine. I have refreshed Firefox, Cleared the startup cache. But the problem persists. I uninstalled Firefox from the machine, restarted the computer. Did a fresh download and install, haven't signed in so there are no addons/extensions to cause problems.

This is happening on both an Intel Mac and an M1 Mac running Mac OS 12.6 Monterey.

I attach one screenshot showing the same page with and without troubleshoot mode on. The second screenshot shows another page of results including what looks like weirdly encoded characters.

I've followed all the suggestions in the support page but nothing has helped. I'd really appreciate any advice on further troubleshooting. Thanks in advance for any help.

Since upgrading to Monterey, Google search pages show almost no text in Firefox. Google searches in Safari and Google Chrome are completely fine. Only Firefox is showing the problem. The blank text includes dropdown menus too - all options inside them are blank. Currently on Firefox v107.0, but the same problem happens with older versions. If I go into Troubleshoot mode, the Google searches are working fine. I have refreshed Firefox, Cleared the startup cache. But the problem persists. I uninstalled Firefox from the machine, restarted the computer. Did a fresh download and install, haven't signed in so there are no addons/extensions to cause problems. This is happening on both an Intel Mac and an M1 Mac running Mac OS 12.6 Monterey. I attach one screenshot showing the same page with and without troubleshoot mode on. The second screenshot shows another page of results including what looks like weirdly encoded characters. I've followed all the suggestions in the support page but nothing has helped. I'd really appreciate any advice on further troubleshooting. Thanks in advance for any help.
Attached screenshots

Chosen solution

You can check in Font Book for font issues like corrupted and duplicate fonts.

You can right-click and select "Inspect" to open the built-in Inspector with this element selected.

You can check in the Rules tab in the right panel in the Inspector what font-family is used for selected text. You can check in the Fonts tab in the right panel in the Inspector what font is actually used because Firefox might be using a different font than specified by the website.

Read this answer in context 👍 1

All Replies (10)

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If you "select all" using either Command+A or right-click (Ctrl+click) > Select All, is there white text where there should be black text? or just empty space?

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Additional info: all other websites seem to be displaying fine. It's only the Google search page that I've found has this problem.

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jscher2000 - Support Volunteer said

If you "select all" using either Command+A or right-click (Ctrl+click) > Select All, is there white text where there should be black text? or just empty space?

I've tried a couple of areas and it seems there's white text there.

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jscher2000 - Support Volunteer said

If you "select all" using either Command+A or right-click (Ctrl+click) > Select All, is there white text where there should be black text? or just empty space?

Yes, there seems to be white text when I copy/paste onto a black background. But there are no clickable links I can find, even where the text "should" be. I can click on the 3 vertical dots and a popup info window shows similar blank space and apparently strange encoding.

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Chosen Solution

You can check in Font Book for font issues like corrupted and duplicate fonts.

You can right-click and select "Inspect" to open the built-in Inspector with this element selected.

You can check in the Rules tab in the right panel in the Inspector what font-family is used for selected text. You can check in the Fonts tab in the right panel in the Inspector what font is actually used because Firefox might be using a different font than specified by the website.

Modified by cor-el

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I think Google generally uses Arial. Perhaps it is a problem with the "regular" Arial font (the bold variant seems to be showing up normally)?

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cor-el said

You can check in Font Book for font issues like corrupted and duplicate fonts. You can right-click and select "Inspect" to open the built-in Inspector with this element selected. You can check in the Rules tab in the right panel in the Inspector what font-family is used for selected text. You can check in the Fonts tab in the right panel in the Inspector what font is actually used because Firefox might be using a different font than specified by the website.

Thanks. This might be getting somewhere, but I'm not sure what to do from here.

I found: font-family: arial,sans-serif

And under "All fonts on page" it shows:

Google Sans Google Sans Regular https://fonts.gstatic.com/s/googlesans/v14/4UaGrENHsxJlGDuGo1OIlL3Owp5eKQtG.woff2

       @font-face {}
       Arial
       ArialMT
       system
       Arial
       Arial Bold
       system

When I mouse over the words "Google Sans Regular" and "Arial Bold" the visible text on the page is highlighted, but when I mouse over the words "ArialMT" only the weird numbered sections are highlighted. But in the blank space/white text areas none of those 3 fonts mentioned highlight those areas.

In Font Book, Arial MT was listed as having an alert for "multiple copies are installed", so I clicked to Resolve Automatically, which removed the alert. But refreshing the search page back in Firefox nothing has changed.

Any suggestions what I might try now?

Any suggestion what to do next?

Modified by Pavi

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cor-el said

You can check in Font Book for font issues like corrupted and duplicate fonts. You can right-click and select "Inspect" to open the built-in Inspector with this element selected. You can check in the Rules tab in the right panel in the Inspector what font-family is used for selected text. You can check in the Fonts tab in the right panel in the Inspector what font is actually used because Firefox might be using a different font than specified by the website.

Thanks. This might be getting somewhere, but I'm not sure what to do from here.

I found: font-family: arial,sans-serif

And under "All fonts on page" it shows:

Google Sans Google Sans Regular https://fonts.gstatic.com/s/googlesans/v14/4UaGrENHsxJlGDuGo1OIlL3Owp5eKQtG.woff2

       @font-face {}
       Arial
       ArialMT
       system
       Arial
       Arial Bold
       system

When I mouse over the words "Google Sans Regular" and "Arial Bold" the visible text on the page is highlighted, but when I mouse over the words "ArialMT" only the weird numbered sections are highlighted. But in the blank space/white text areas none of those 3 fonts mentioned highlight those areas.

In Font Book, Arial MT was listed as having an alert for "multiple copies are installed", so I clicked to Resolve Automatically, which removed the alert. But refreshing the search page back in Firefox nothing has changed.

Any suggestions what I might try now?

Update: After quitting and restarting Firefox, Google search seems to be working as it should. Thank you so much - this has been such a headache and you've brought relief!

Modified by Pavi

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Screenshot attached:

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cor-el said

You can check in Font Book for font issues like corrupted and duplicate fonts. You can right-click and select "Inspect" to open the built-in Inspector with this element selected. You can check in the Rules tab in the right panel in the Inspector what font-family is used for selected text. You can check in the Fonts tab in the right panel in the Inspector what font is actually used because Firefox might be using a different font than specified by the website.

cor-el said

You can check in Font Book for font issues like corrupted and duplicate fonts. You can right-click and select "Inspect" to open the built-in Inspector with this element selected. You can check in the Rules tab in the right panel in the Inspector what font-family is used for selected text. You can check in the Fonts tab in the right panel in the Inspector what font is actually used because Firefox might be using a different font than specified by the website.

Thanks. This might be getting somewhere, but I'm not sure what to do from here.

I found: font-family: arial,sans-serif

And under "All fonts on page" it shows:

Google Sans Google Sans Regular https://fonts.gstatic.com/s/googlesans/v14/4UaGrENHsxJlGDuGo1OIlL3Owp5eKQtG.woff2

       @font-face {}
       Arial
       ArialMT
       system
       Arial
       Arial Bold
       system

When I mouse over the words "Google Sans Regular" and "Arial Bold" the visible text on the page is highlighted, but when I mouse over the words "ArialMT" only the weird numbered sections are highlighted. But in the blank space/white text areas none of those 3 fonts mentioned highlight those areas.

In Font Book, Arial MT was listed as having an alert for "multiple copies are installed", so I clicked to Resolve Automatically, which removed the alert. But refreshing the search page back in Firefox nothing has changed.

Any suggestions what I might try now?

Update: After quitting and restarting Firefox, Google search seems to be working as it should. Thank you so much - this has been such a headache and you've brought relief!