Cross-platform font incompatibility across Windows, Mac and Linux
I have switched to Linux / Ubuntu / Debian (Linux mint) LibreOffice from Windows Microsoft Word for editing my Resume. I noticed a complex problem of document cross-platform portability affecting the look, feel, and potentially the layout of a word document (.DOC extension). I didn't see this issue discussed in the Libre Office/Linux forums, so I wanted to save other people time by posting this information here.
- Each operating system comes with a different set of default fonts.
- Windows font files are proprietary files included in windows operating systems that they won't share with other operating systems without a licencing fee. Apple has a different proprietary set of fonts and for the same reason as Microsoft: to ensure the look and feel of their operating system and all the software that is installed on it is unique. Windows Microsoft Word software use the proprietary True Type Fonts (.ttf) that are commonly included in Windows operating systems (but aren't included on Mac / Linux operating systems).
- Ubuntu / Debian / Linux Mint only comes with licence-free fonts installed by default. They are available for free on any operating system, but do not come with Mac or Windows operating systems.
- If I use Ubuntu/LibreOffice bundled fonts, they will not be viewable on Windows / Mac operating systems. Or at best, in Windows / Mac will be displayed with a different font potentially affecting the layout, length of the document, and look of the words in your document. Unless, you choose an open type font (.otf) and select the option in LibreOffice to embed the font in your document.
- Different windows versions even have different mismatched sets of fonts bundled in each OS.
- LibreOffice / Linux developers have done a lot of work to make Linux software able to work with fonts that your Linux distribution doesn't have installed by default. If you type the name of a font that is not installed on your operating system, Libre Office finds a similar font for use in the document. In this case, LibreOffice doesn't tell you which (Linux) font it selected.
- Just because you can view a windows / OSx created MS Word document in LibreOffice on Linux, doesn't mean that you see the same document/font/layout because free alternative fonts (supplied by your Linux operating system) can't use the exact same font shapes.
- Just because LibreOffice can accurately display a word document with a similar free-alternative font(that has slightly different graphics, but the same size fonts), doesn't mean that a word document created / updated in LibreOffice will be accurately displayed by Microsoft Word (various versions) on all Windows / Mac / iPhone platforms MS Word is released for. I doubt Microsoft management finds solving this problem in a free open-source competitor for their flagship product a high business priority for the Microsoft Office development teams.
- Writer Version: 5.1.6.2 has a checkmark to embed your selected fonts under the File -> Properties menu. Embedding a font includes the font file ...
.jpg "keme"){kind=small}
Wow. It turns out you write all that tldr pile of unconnected ideas about problems, and you use version 5.1? That doesn't make sense. New versions contain new fixes, and 5.1.6 from 2016-10-30 is 3 years old, and 6 major releases (5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3) with 6-7 bugfix minor releases each (but last) already released since then. It's possible you simply face problems already fixed.
This isn't a post about software bugs or even about a specific software implementation / version, but a description of broader, insurmountable, inherent limitations preventing cross-platform consistency for proprietary fonts leading to inherent inconsistencies across platforms and software implementations. This problem spans all software providing similar features (with varying implementations) across diverse operating systems. The proprietary, platform specific nature of fonts in each operating system and the extreme difficulty, complexity and limitations of trying to make a MS Word document file universally consistent across operating systems regardless of the chosen document editing software / version.
The best practice, even for Microsoft Word users is to only share their document in Portable Document Format (PDF) to prevent operating system, font substitution, or MS Word software version inconsistencies. This ensures a universally consistent document look and feel.
What you write here is not something fundamental, but something partly unrelated to the declared topic (i.e.,fonts), and partly wrong. But since you wrote a hell of characters, it's simply unrealistic to read everything both to discuss, and to "get it as a useful source of information".
I find it a nice write-up of the issues, and (if it is not already there), maybe this (combined with some info from comments) can be added to the documentation/wiki?