Links do not work when using Calibri font

PDFCreator
1

I was trying to convert to pdf a few odt (LibreOffice open document format) files with links. It works ok if i use default Liberation font. But if i change whole document to Calibri (select all, apply new font, this includes links), then after converting with PDFCreator some links do not work. It works ok if i convert with LibreOffice's internal Save to pdf option. PDFCreator 3.4.1 (same wiht older versions). Windows 7.

It seems that i can't upload files or add links, so i can't provide files with this issue.

2

Hi,

PDFCreator can't handle hyperlinks, regardless of the font used. Only fully written out links will work (and this is actually done by the viewer and not PDFCreator itself). Are you sure the font is having an impact on this?

Best regards

Robin

3

Well, yes. As i've said, it works when i use the default font. I don't do anything with the links themselves when i change the font for the whole document. It would be easier to show if i could somehow share the documents..

Let's try htt_s://drive.google.com/drive/folders/12LLe7WzbJfxOjK-KiWd6IkcMiJDEQgX8 (change _ to p)

I usually don't do hyperlinks manually. I just type the whole address and it coverts it into a link automatically. I have tested such pdf with Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (latest) and opening it with Chrome (internal reader). Same result. Links don't work. But it works fine if i save the document as pdf in LibreOffice itself.

4

Hi,

thanks for the example.
I had a closer look at it and the issue seems to be caused by the font not getting embedded into the document properly. Copying & pasting the broken link into a text only document revealed some characters are missing / corrupted (h
ps://igniterealme.org/projects/spark).
Looking at the documents properties, the Calibri font seems to be only partially embedded.
However, PDFCreator should embed all fonts by default and there is no place in the user interface to change this. Which PDFCreator version are you currently running?

Saving as PDF in LibreOffice itself doesn't send the document through virtual printing and will technically produce a different document, even if it looks very similar.

Best regards

Robin

5

3.4.1, was the same with older version.

I have noticed that it usually works with simple www type links, but struggles with ones that are longer and without www.

I understand that Libre produces different document. It even looks differently and for some reason one created with PDFCreator is opened with 66% zoom in Adobe Reader, when one produced with Libre with 100%. Libre's variant seems to have more weight to font also. But difference is not that noticeable for me and working links is more important thing.

6

Hi,

thanks for the feedback.
I was now also able to have another look at this and it is indeed very tricky. When you print the exact same document from MS Word to PDFCreator, everything works as expected. It seems to be caused by LibreOffice sending ligatures like "ff" or "tt" to the printer as a new special character instead of actually sending the character 't' or 'f' twice. While the special character can be rendered, it can't get reverted by into actual text properly, causing the links to malfunction due to missing characters. Unfortunately this means there is most likely nothing we can fix on our end, but perhaps it might be worth contacting Libre Office about this, perhaps there is a setting to control this printing behavior.

Best regards

Robin

7

I'm not sending files to print to PDFCreator virtual printer from Libre. Usually i launch PDFCreator and select a file to convert. Is it still using Libre to print a file in this case? I have also tried converting with Primo PDF and get the same issue. Links broken when using Calibri and work with Liberation Sans font.

I might file this for LibreOffice, but i don't have much expertize in this. And i already have a workaround to make pdf directly with Libre.

8

Did my best to describe this issue. ht_ps://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=125264

1 Like
9

Yes, PDFCreator will still use LibreOffice to print the document to its own printer, only PDF files can be converted directly without printing. Thanks for reporting this, it seems they were able to confirm the issue and are looking into it (if I understand the comment correctly).

Best regards

Robin

1 Like