Apache OpenOffice (AOO) Bugzilla – Issue 16401
Newly installed fonts should be recognized instantly
Last modified: 2013-11-09 17:00:53 UTC
When a new font is installed while an OpenOffice component (e.g. writer, impress) is running, the program does not automatically recognizes it. i believe that MS Office does so, but i have not confirmed it yet thanks
Reassigned to Bettina.
I have seen that there was no entry since July 2003 ... :( Have you tried it with a newer version of OOo? Does this also occur there?
OOo Version Tested: dev-3.2.0 (DEV300m56 build:9419) OS: Windows XP SP3 I have replicated this issue and can confirm that new fonts installed while the OOo tools are running, are not automatically recognized/usable. In addition, stopping the OOo tool is not enough to cause the font to be usable, the user must also stop the “OOo Quickstarter” that appears down in the system tray. In the case of the Microsoft Office tools, the newly installed fonts are immediately available and do not require the application to be restarted. Steps to recreate issue: 1. Start Impress (or Writer, ...) 2. Place the new font file (1 or more .ttf files) in the directory C:\WINDOWS\Fonts. (Free fonts can be found on the internet using your favorite search engine) 3. Look for the new font either using the font combobox on the "Text Formatting" toolbar, or by selecting the menu option "Format" -> "Character..." -> Font tab and looking in the font list. The name of the .ttf file(s) placed in the “Fonts” directory is the name you should look for. Note the absence of the newly installed font. It is worth noting that OOo is attempting to provide the functionality of the MS Office suite and any deviation from that goal may be reason enough to cause a user to stay with or switch back to Office. In addition, I think it is worth considering the potential problem that a user may encounter due to the Quickstarter. The typical user does not understand that OOo is still running in the background when the Quickstarter is running; because of this there is the potential for great frustration and loss of time in trying to figure out why the new fonts are not available.
(Mohamed J. Lahrech, 3/22/2010 - I found out an exception of the above described behavior with the font Ithornët) Configuration #C1 OOo Version Tested: dev-3.3.0 (DEV300m75 build:9488) OS: Windows XP HOme EDition SP3 Laptop Acer Asipre 5600, CPU Genuine Intel T2400 2x1.83GHz, RAM 1.99GB. Configuration #C2 OOo Version Tested: 3.2.0 (OOO320m12 build:9483) OS: Windows XP Professional SP3 PC Dell, CPU Intel Pentium 4 3.20GHz, 3.19GHz, RAM 1.99GB. Configuration #C3 OOo Version Tested: dev-3.3.0 (DEV300m75 build:9488) OS: Windows XP Professional SP3 Note #N1: Both OOo versions used are the latest in their category. Note #N2: OOo version in C1 is more recent than C2. Note #N3: I followed the steps mentioned in the precedent comment with an extra step at the end. The new step consists to enforce Impress to render the text using the new installed font even though it is not shown in the font list. By "enforce" I mean : Typing the name of the font in the Font name, then type Enter. I did some investigations and all of them resulted in successful replication of the bug except one case described in IV section. The results of the investigations are as following: I)Varying the Font installation method as described in the following steps: 1- Go to {Windows}\Fonts using Windows Explorer 2- Select Menu : File\Install New Font... 3- Select the path where the font has been downloaded or copied 4- Select the font in "List of Fonts:" 5- Click OK ===> I got the same result as described by this report II)Varying the inputs: Using some free fonts I replicated the issue successfully. The fonts used are 1942 Report (1942.ttf), G.B.BOOT (gbb__.ttf), Sick Capital Vice (sickcapital- vice.ttf). I downloaded them from www.dafont.com. They are free for personal use. These fonts have been created by different persons. ==> The extra step I added, did not change the results. III)Varying the configuration (OS version, OOo version and the machine): I succeeded to reproduce this behavior in all above described configurations C1, C2 and C3. IV)The exception : When I used the Ithornët (Ithornët.ttf) font in C1, I noticed that the text is rendered with the new font when I type Enter even though the new installed font is not displayed in the fonts list! I attached a screen shot that shows this. But I did not notice this using Configuration C2! ==> Til now I did not find out what happened. I tried to replicate this case but I did not succeed even though I tried on other machines with configuration C3.
Created attachment 68491 [details] Mohamed J Lahrech Comment on issue 16401
To grep the issues easier via "requirements" I put the issues currently lying on my owner to the owner "requirements".
(Mohammed Alzahrani 2/13/2011) I was able to replicate the issue as the first reporter, glmostoles, indicated using OO 3.3.0, OOO330m20 (build: 9567) & Windows Vista SP2. I was also able to replicate the steps in the ebower reported that even the user closed Impress, the font will not show until the user close OO Quickstarter too. If the font is installed while both Impress and the OO Quickstarter are not running the font will show on Impress once it is opened. Both “ebower” and “Mohammed Lahrech, mlahrech” did a detailed investigation and I agree with ebower that the OO Quickstarter will make it difficult for the user to realize the cause if the font does not show after installation. Modification to OO Quickstarter to recognize the new fonts will save the user time figuring why the new font is not recognized.
Platform: Microsoft Windows 7 Enterprise 32-bit Version 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1 Build 7601 Test version(s): Apache OO 4.0.1 Finnish Apache OO 4.0.1 English (via Oracle VirtualBox w/ Ubuntu Linux 10.04.1 32-bit) Descripiton: I did the exact same steps as "ebower" and "mlahrech". I used fonts such as HeraldicDevices.tff (http://www.fontspace.com/intellecta-design/heraldicdevices) and exotica.tff (http://www.fontspace.com/west-wind-fonts/exotica). On top of this I drifted into testing font handling with corrupted font data (manipulated w/ hex editor). I also experimented with OpenType and PostScript fonts on top of TrueType fonts. Conclusions: The only information value that adds to the findings of previous testers is that the original bug can be reproduced in AOO 4.0.1 both in Windows and Linux, which is run via virtual machine. Corrupted font data manifested some Windows errors, but the operation of AOO was unaffected. OpenType and PostScript fonts worked as TrueType fonts, and they were not recognized instantly either.