Calc fonts broken after opening an excel file

J_H · March 30, 2022, 7:57am

The fonts in my Libreoffice Calc permanently broke after I opened a specific Excel file in it. Opening old .ods files now show the fonts wrong. Opening a new file in Calc has the font correct, unless the word is in English. How can I fix it?

So far, I have tried to verify that the issue is not in the user profile by first deleting the file /home//.config/libreoffice (did not help), and then by opening a native (.ods) file in Safe Mode (did not help).

Here is what it looks like. I have opened up a new calc file, and written the words “dog” and “cat” both in Finnish and in English. The font is the default, Liberation Sans size 10, for both.

fonts_not_fine

Additional Note: The words were displayed correctly, if the language considered them invalid. I changed the settings in Tools > Language > For All Text > More… , and now all words show up wrong, even Finnish words. Something somewhere is broken, but what, and how to fix it?

From Help > About LibreOffice:

Version: 6.4.7.2
Build ID: 1:6.4.7-0ubuntu0.20.04.4
CPU threads: 8; OS: Linux 5.13; UI render: default; VCL: kf5;
Locale: en-US (en_US.UTF-8); UI-Language: en-US
Calc: CL

Villeroy · March 30, 2022, 10:05am

https://extensions.openoffice.org/en/project/testfonts
Install this OpenOffice extension. It analyses the fonts of your document and if they are availlable on the system.

J_H · March 30, 2022, 10:57am

Thank you for the answer Villeroy. I installed the extension (version 1.4.5), and it shows in the extension manager. Unfortunately, it is not clear to me how to use the extension. I can’t find it in any menu. Could you explain how to use the extension?

Villeroy · March 30, 2022, 10:58am

menu:View>Toolbars>Test of missing fonts
It is a toolbar with one button.

J_H · March 30, 2022, 11:04am

I don’t seem to have that available:

J_H · March 30, 2022, 11:04am

Here it is though in the extension manager:

Grantler · March 30, 2022, 1:26pm

Workaround
I could not find the testfontsjtb.oxt on Calc but as an icon on Writer.
Copy your Calc spreadsheet into Writer as HTML. The fonts will remain - then check out the fonts with the help of testfontsjtb.oxt. - Cheers

Villeroy · March 30, 2022, 1:29pm

Right, it is a Writer extension. The toolbar is not availlable when a spreadsheet is on screen. If you can’t find the toolbar in Writer, there is also menu:Tools>Add-Ons>Test for missing fonts

J_H · March 31, 2022, 2:44pm

Thank you both, I can indeed see the extension in Writer. And it didn’t report any issues with the fonts when I copied the content from Calc and pasted it to Writer as HTML.

For an unknown reason, the issue with fonts had disappeared when I opened up the file today. I don’t know what could have changed. I don’t think I changed anything relevant, and the issue was there still yesterday. But I’m not complaining! I would have liked to understand the issue, but unfortunately (?!) it seems to have resolved by itself.

Thank you for introducing me to this extension though, I’m sure it will be useful in the future when dealing with Office documents!