How can I turn off Automatic Font Substitution

[gilorian]

Hi,

Whenever I open up a document containing a font I don't have OpenOffice Write 2.4 automatically substitutes that font for something else.
Is there any way to turn this off, or make it ask me for what i want substituted, or perhaps display a dialog box of some sort.

I really need something to draw my attention to the fact that what I'm looking at is not what the person on the other end created.
I've had a dig around in the options, and searched the forum but to no avail.

Thanks.

[acknak]

You have a good point, but can't think of any way to see that. What would you do if you could see that a font was missing?

[gilorian]

Hi Acknak,

I would get them to fax it to me.
Embedding fonts into documents seems to be too hard for most people to accomplish (which is infuriating considering how easy it is to do).

But it really wastes A LOT of time when you go to all the trouble setting something up with the font you think someone has requested only to find out they want something completely different.

[Hagar Delest]

I would get them to fax it to me.

Then, why not asking for a PDF?

[acknak]

I think you're barking up the wrong tree here, but it looks like this will do what you want: http://extensions.services.openoffice.o ... /TestFonts

[gilorian]

Thanks Acknak,
It sort of does what i need, although it take a fairly long time to generate a report, it would be far easier if Open Office could be made to warn me itself as it did the substitution.

Hagard; Suggesting I use pdf is incorrect. Unless the fonts have been converted to curves you still need to either have the fonts installed or get the person sending the file to embed the font in the file.

Hmmm I stumbled across the "issues" page. Apparently what I'm asking for is slated as being "necessary" for the next version, thats good to hear!

[acknak]

Could you post a link (or at least the issue number) here to that issue you found? It's very helpful when people read this discussion, to easily visit the relevant issue as well.

Thanks for the follow-up!

[Hagar Delest]

Suggesting I use pdf is incorrect.

No I suggested the other person send you a PDF. If you agree with a fax, then you don't need to edit the document. Therefore, they can send you a PDF. If done by OOo, it embeds automatically the fonts. If done with a PDF virtual printer, the user has to make the printer embed the fonts, but no big deal I guess.

[gilorian]

Issue number 45128 addresses this I think, it's a little hard to understand, but I've reread it a few times and it seems to address my concerns.
It is marked as P3 priority which means it must be fixed before the next release.
http://www.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=45128

[acknak]

That sure looks like the right issue to me.

Thanks, that's interesting info and good to have a pointer to it.

BTW, the "P3" priority does not mean that the issue will be fixed for the next release. It means that it will be fixed for whatever "target milestone" is determined. Right now, the target is "--", or "not determined", which basically means "we've no idea when we might get to this". Even when a target is set, it often gets pushed off more than once, and in very large chunks (e.g. a major release, which is >1 year).

So, don't despair, but don't plan on it being fixed "soon" either.