[Solved] The use of OpenSymbol font

[mtnylmz]

I hope I open this in the correct forum.

Would you please basically explain the use of "open symbol font?

I tried to use it for the infinity symbol. For that, I tried: Insert>Special Character. The special character window opens but there are numberless symbol there.

[Zizi64]

Would you please basically explain the use of "open symbol font?

Where you want use it? In the text body of a Writer document, or in a Math Formula?

[mtnylmz]

Would you please basically explain the use of "open symbol font?

Where you want use it? In the text body of a Writer document, or in a Math Formula?

I want to use it where it is needed, and aren't Math Formula already used in Writer document?

[Zizi64]

I want to use it where it is needed, and aren't Math Formula already used in Writer document?

The Insert - Special Characters feature of the LibreOffice can remember the recently used and your Favourite characters (not needed to search the singn again and again):

LO_SpecChars.png (29.03 KiB) Viewed 6388 times

(The Apache OpenOffice has not such sub-function.)
But you can not use this feature when the Formula editor is launched. It is for the textual parts of the document.

[Hagar Delest]

The strange thing is that the character should be 221E and not E11C.
The rendering of the OpenSymbol font is also quite strange to me, like a 8 rotated +90° (the right part having a larger diameter than the left part).
The standard symbol for me is symmetrical:
∞

[mtnylmz]

In OpenOffice, is the interface different? I don't see any "search box" instead there is a box for "fonts".

[Hagar Delest]

OpenOffice does not benefit of new features, it's development has been stalling for years. I guess that it is a feature implemented by LibreOffice and that is not in AOO.
Note that I had never tried that Search field but quite handy, I typed "infi" and it found the infinity symbol.

[Zizi64]

The strange thing is that the character should be 221E and not E11C.

Maybe there are more than one similar signs. I just selected the first one what I have found.

[MrProgrammer]

Would you please basically explain the use of "open symbol font?

The OpenSymbol font is just an open source reproduction of the Symbol font, which was used in pre-Unicode days to typeset mathematical expressions. If the Symbol font supplied by your operating system doesn't display characters in Writer or Math properly, you can use OpenSymbol, which is supplied by OpenOffice.

The strange thing is that the character should be 221E and not E11C. The rendering of the OpenSymbol font is also quite strange to me, like a 8 rotated +90° (the right part having a larger diameter than the left part).

Those display identically for me in the OpenSymbol font. U+221E is Infinity and is part of Unicode's Mathematical Operators block. Many fonts will contain this character, though the appearance may vary slightly in accordance with the font's design. Note that Arial's character is not left-right symmetrical. U+E11C is in a Private Use Area. Its appearance in a font does not follow any standard, so one should use U+221E to display the Infinity sign.

202505172206.png (119.02 KiB) Viewed 5939 times

Maybe there are more than one similar signs. I just selected the first one what I have found.

U+267E, shown above, is the Permanent Paper Sign, not Infinity, even it if looks similar. It's in the Miscellaneous Symbols block. It's a recycling symbol like ♻.

Note that I had never tried that Search field but quite handy, I typed "infi" and it found the infinity symbol.

MacOS provides a Show Symbols dialog with a search feature which I can use to insert characters in a document. The dialog also allows me to get the Unicode value for a character in a document. And MacOS provides a way I can enter Unicode characters (like Line Feed or Character Tabulation) directly with the keyboard. I hardly ever use OpenOffice's Insert → Special Character dialog except when responding to topics in the forum. I can't tell people to use Mac features since that won't help people with Linux or Windows.

If this solved your problem please go to your first post use the Edit ☐ button and add [Solved] to the start of the Subject field. Select the green checkmark icon at the same time.

[Lupp]

Would you please basically explain the use of "open symbol font?

Where you want use it? In the text body of a Writer document, or in a Math Formula?

I want to use it where it is needed, and aren't Math Formula already used in Writer document?

This is a misunderstanding.
"Math Formulas" are created and edited using a different document model. The created object is then inserted with the help of an OLEshape into the Writer document, anchored by default "As Character" and displayed with a not-resizable graphic of a kind otherwise used for previews.
That's a reason for what the Writer menus don't offer >Insert>MathFormula , but >Inseret>Object>Formula (or similar mentioning OLE).
Fonts and character attributes for the formulas don't follow the settings made for Writer texts, but those chosen for Math via the >Format menu.
You surely already noticed that the UI (menus, toolbars...) is changing as soon as you activate a Math Formula for insertion or editing.