[Solved] Certain symbols come up as dots

[DanM]

Hello

I am trying to type a lab report for chemistry, and I am entering formulas. My problem is that certain cymbols come up as dots when I type them, particularly the "rightarrow" and "+". I am using the window that has the cymbols to click on, then it types them in the formula. I have tried this is Writer and Math, but I have the same problem. How do I fix this?

Thank you!

[Hagar Delest]

Hi and welcome to the forum!

Can you upload a sample file (see: How to attach a document here)?

[Laurent093]

Hi !

Same problem for me. I can't find a solution...

I uploaded an example:

example.odt

(34.22 KiB) Downloaded 323 times

And a screenshot of the result on my screen :

example.odt

(34.22 KiB) Downloaded 323 times

Thanks for the help !

[Robert Tucker]

What have you actually typed to produce

x₁ = …
x₂ = ...

I just see:

x_1 = …

and

x_2=...

when I double-click on the formulas.

[Laurent093]

Thanks for your answer !

I should have delete those last formulae : My problem is with all the first ones.

There is a short example :

example2.odt

(13.69 KiB) Downloaded 333 times

With the result on my screen :

example2.odt

(13.69 KiB) Downloaded 333 times

[keme]

It is probably a font file issue. When you use a portable application, nothing is installed on your computer, so you need to take special measures to handle specialised symbols (use fonts that contain those symbols). With an installed version of the application, you get the required fonts installed too.

Solution (if my diagnose is correct):
Make sure Math uses a font that is installed in your system. Install the OpenSymbol font (which I believe the portable app defaults to as well), or set OpenOffice to replace OpenSymbol with a font which is installed on the system you are using (and make sure that font has the characters you need).
Font replacement is set in Tools - Options - OpenOffice.org - Fonts.

You could also edit the font setting for each symbol, but most likely you don't want to do that.

[Laurent093]

I can have some results by typing the problematic symbols between ", but it's really long and they are not displayed like a formula...

example3.odt

(13.76 KiB) Downloaded 349 times

screenshot3.png (2.93 KiB) Viewed 5996 times

[Laurent093]

Thanks a lot Keme, I just installed the OpenSymbol font on my computer, and all is working perfectly now.

Thanks all for the quick answers !

Laurent