View an existing .pdf with its default fonts

[Kurt_on_LibreOffice]

Hello,

I just want to view an existing .pdf document with its existing fonts. When I open it in LO, much of the text displays in an uncommon Old English font whereas all other viewers show the font as Helvetica.

1. Have I somehow screwed up my LO settings to cause it use Old English font in preference to the document’s Helvetica font? If so, how do I stop overriding the document’s fonts?

2. Do I have to open the document in Draw rather than in Writer? Is Draw a separate application (separate executable) from Writer? My iMac shows the executable I am running is: /Applications/LibreOffice.app/Contents/MacOS/soffice
   Is that Writer, Draw, or both?

Thanks!

[ajlittoz]

Tag meta is reserved for questions about the AskLO site itself.

Your question rather addresses PDF in general.

• If “special” fonts (i.e. fonts likely not to be present on every computer) are not embedded in the PDF file, the OS will substitute some other font according to its own heuristics.
• From LO point of view, PDFs are graphical files (because PDF is a page layout format, not a document processing one). And no matter what, they’ll open in Draw.
• Writer, Calc, Draw and all others are called “components”. soffice is always launched and scans the file (or a part of it) to determine its nature and then invokes the component able to handle it.

IMHO, if you just want to view a PDF document, use the PDF viewer which ships with your OS. Results will be much better than in Draw. (I don’t remember the name of the utility under MacOS)

[Kurt_on_LibreOffice]

Thanks for all of the info, @ajlittoz .

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from @ajlittoz : Meta is reserved for questions about the AskLO site itself.

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Ah, okay, thanks. I wasn’t if I should choose Writer, Draw, or Meta.

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I’m sure experienced users immediately recognize whether they are in Draw or in Writer. For us newbies: when I open a file with soffice, is there somewhere I can look to verify whether soffice has put me in Draw or in Writer?

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Thanks for your advice on PDF viewers.

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On MacOS the default .pdf viewer is called “Preview”. MacOS allows only one default application per file type (i.e. per extension, e.g. .pdf). I wanted to make soffice my default application for .pdf files. I was hoping LibreOffice would be a good choice for creating, editing, and viewing .pdf files.

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Thanks for your rely.
Kurt

[LeroyG]

@Kurt_on_LibreOffice

is there somewhere I can look to verify whether soffice has put me in Draw or in Writer?

Look at the Standard toolbar:
The (default) first button is New, and show the icon/symbol of the module, just like it is shown in the Start Center (screenshot from version 7.2.3.2 on Linux):

Look at the status bar:
— In Draw you will see Slide 1 of 1; and just over the status bar three tabs: Layout, Controls, Dimension Lines.
— In Writer you will see Page 1 of 1.

Other OS show the component name in the title bar.

[mikekaganski]

@Kurt_on_LibreOffice

and viewing .pdf files

LibreOffice is definitely not designed to be a PDF viewer. It imports what it can and then shows you what it could import, not shows what is in the PDF.

[EarnestAl]

@Kurt_on_LibreOffice

Have I somehow screwed up my LO settings to cause it use Old English font in preference to the document’s Helvetica font? If so, how do I stop overriding the document’s fonts?

Helvetica font, if not installed, would by default show as Liberation Sans I think. Check if one of the pdf viewers can give you a list of fonts in the document, it might be another similar looking font.

Maybe you have added some font substitutions in the past? Open Tools > Options > LibreOffice > Fonts. Are there any fonts listed in the main panel on the right? You can disable the replacement list, if there is one, by unticking the box “Apply replacement table” or selecting the substitution line then clicking the cross to delete the substitution and either rely on the ones LO chooses or create a better substitution. The screenshot below shows Draw has opened a pdf file that uses Arial (I don’t have Helvetica) and followed the substitution table to display and print it in an Old English (Germanic) font.

Maybe the font is not on your system and is not one of the common fonts. You can either install (buy?) the font or you can use another font with similar characteristics by creating a substitution but with a better choice of font than the screenshot. Cheers, Al

BTW Help on Fonts

[Edit] After removing a font replacement you might have to click File > Reload to see the change. After creating a font replacement the effect seems immediate.

[Kurt_on_LibreOffice]

Thanks Leroy. Great info.!

[Kurt_on_LibreOffice]

@mikekaganski Thanks for the clarification.

[Kurt_on_LibreOffice]

@EarnestAl: I do have Helvetica installed, as well all of the web safe fonts, and many other common fonts.
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All of my other pdf viewers confirm the font is Helvetica.
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It does seem to be behaving as if I added some font substitutions, but when I check the Replacement Table, it is empty.
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Those are all good suggestions, but I still haven’t been able to pin it down.

[EarnestAl]

I was wrong, I should have said click in the text of the pdf and in the sidebar, under Properties, read what font the text is in; in the screenshot it can be seen that Arial is the font in the pdf. If the font name appears in italic then the font is not installed or LibreOffice cannot read the installed font. I think Type 1 fonts aren’t supported

You could

• create your own font substitution in the table, Helvetica replaced by Liberation Sans or
• Open LibreOffice in safe mode, Help - Restart in safe mode - Continue in safe mode and see if a better substitution is made. If so there might be something messed up in your user profile, read the page carefully to see effects of resetting.

[EarnestAl]

I notice that Acrobat X runs the font name together in a pdf, so Helvetica Neue font would be HelveticaNeue. LibreOffice believes that is a different font so will create a substitute, normally I would expect Helvetica Neue but maybe something else.

I just noticed this issue today with CenturyGothic in a pdf, happily substituted by Century Gothic installed on this computer but showing in italics as a substitute.

[Kurt_on_LibreOffice]

Thanks Ernest Al.
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I have included 7 screen shots:
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The first screen shot shows section of the document as displayed by Acrobat Reader. All of the fonts are different sizes of Helvetica. The text appears as I expect it to look:

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The next 2 screen shots show how it looks in LibreOffice. Each purple arrow starts at selected text indicated by a light blue rectangle and points to the font name. Note the Old English font(s).
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The next 4 shots are from LibreOffice in safe mode. In safe mode it looks considerably better.
I notice there are two ways to select text: 1) with a light blue rectangle or 2) with a light blue rectangle WITH 8 red squares red squares on the perimeter. When you select the same text the two different ways you get two different font names! I’m not sure what the difference between the two types of text selection is and don’t know which type of selection I should be using.
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With no red squares, font shows as MyriadProular (in italics):

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WITH red squares, font shows as Liberation Serif:

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With no red squares, font shows as MyriadProSemi (in italics):

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WITH red squares, font shows as Liberation Serif:

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I’m thinking I should wipe out all of my personalized settings but am not sure how to do that.

[Hrbrgr]

You can please upload your PDF file here so someone can look at it. Thank you very much.

[EarnestAl]

That looks like a problem with a variable font. Any support for variable fonts in LibreOffice is incidental or accidental.

Either

• Create a substitute entry in the table and replace Myriad Pro with a font that has similar metrics or
• Install a non-variable version of the Myriad Pro font instead

BTW you need to click again so the cursor is inside the text box to read the font name. If the text box only is selected then you will just read the default font name for your installation of Draw

In Acrobat Reader, if you click File - Properties and look at the tab labelled Fonts you should see the fonts in the document. My guess is they are all variants of Myriad Pro, not Helvetica

[EarnestAl]

You probably don’t have Myriad Pro or variations installed; I can’t find a price for it but it does say free for personal use on some sites. One of the substitutes LibreOffice has chosen is a variable font, possibly Georama, and it has chosen some other unsuitable fonts. If you can’t get Myriad Pro family his is a good reason to use a font substitution table.

I had a brief play with your sample text. Although Maven Pro was a recommended substitute for Myriad Pro, the metrics are all different. I would be inclined to make a substitute table of Myriad Pro replaced by Carlito (free on Google fonts I think), but Liberation Serif has similar length too.

This blog might be interesting LibreOffice Tips & Tricks: Replacing Microsoft Fonts - The Document Foundation Blog

[LeroyG]

@Kurt_on_LibreOffice

When I open it in LO

You must install the fonts before.