Bookshelf Symbol 7 is a typeface which was packaged with Microsoft Office 2003. It is a pi font encoding several less common variants of Roman letters (including a small subset of those used in the International Phonetic Alphabet), a few musical symbols and mathematical symbols, a few additional symbols (including torii), and a few rare or obscure kanji.
In late 2003, several customers contacted Microsoft about the inclusion of two swastikas in this font (one diagonal, one straight), complaining that they did not like having the font on their computers.[1] [2] After being informed of the issue, Microsoft contacted several Jewish organizations about the font.[1]
In December 2003, Microsoft published a tool to remove the font from Microsoft Office, and Steven Sinofsky, Senior Vice President for Microsoft Office, issued a public apology on behalf of Microsoft for the inclusion of the swastikas.[3] [4] Microsoft Office product manager Simon Marks clarified that the font was based on a Japanese font set, and the inclusion of the swastikas was accidental.[1]
In February 2004, Microsoft released a critical update (KB833407) for Microsoft Office 2003 to remove "unacceptable symbols" from this font.[5] This update removed the two swastikas and a Star of David from this typeface.[6] [2] According to Microsoft Office product manager Simon Marks, the Star of David was removed from Bookshelf Symbol 7 due to its proximity to the swastikas, but remains in other fonts shipped by Microsoft.[2]
The removed symbols are shown in the chart below at 0x7E, 0x86, and 0x74.