PDF to use System Font

Hi,

I am using Manager on Mac OS, works great.

I use the PRINT option when I’m dealing with documents that can fit into a single page, but for larger documents that span several pages, I prefer the PDF button since it will separate the pages and add a header, logo and address to each page.

Whenever I create a file, eg a Sales Invoice using the PDF button, the document is rendered using a different font compared to when I use the PRINT button.

Is it possible for the PDF function to use the default Mac OS System Font when creating a PDF file, or is it possible to allow the PDF function to use the same font as what one would get with the Print Function?

Thanks.

Manager’s internal PDF generator substitutes the Google Noto font for whatever else may have been used (including user-specified fonts in custom themes). This is necessary to accommodate the 70 languages into which Manager has been translated. But when you use Print, the application performs like a browser and prints what is displayed.

You can get around this by selecting Print, then choosing to print to PDF in the macOS print dialog box. Be aware that, depending on your printer driver, you may also see different margins and default font sizes when printing via the two methods. These can be altered with custom themes.

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Thanks @Tut for the information.
I understand that some characters may not be supported in certain fonts.
Is it possible to setup the PDF generator to use the system default font whenever the Manager language option is set to English?

I know how to use the Print>Print to PDF option on Mac OS, however, when printing a large document that spans over several pages, the resulting document does not have the Logo+Business Name+ Address at the beginning of each page, as it would if I used the PDF generator. That is why I would rather use the PDF generator. However, the PDF generator uses a different font.

No. Too many things could go wrong with layout.

The PDF library I’m using for Manager seems to be crashing way too often on Mac if system fonts are used. So this is something I’m trying to resolve with 3rd-party developer.

I’ll probably revert back to system fonts at some point but not until certain issues are resolved first.

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Hello. (I’m back.) Has there been any progress on using the standard system font (or at least a user-specified default font) in Manager-generated PDF files, rather than substituting Noto Sans for everything?

Yes it is possible. Search in the forum.

Better yet, read the Guide: https://www.manager.io/guides/18025.

I’m not really asking about changing the font for a custom theme, which is what the article @Tut pointed to addresses. (But see the postscript below.)

I’m talking about ensuring that PDF files generated by Manager use the same font that is used on the on-screen or printed version of the invoice. I’m trying to avoid this situation, where the same invoice appears on the screen in Arial but then changes to Noto Sans when sent to a PDF file:

On screen:


PDF:

If I understood what @Lubos wrote in June 2018, he was hoping to use the same system fonts in the on-screen document and the PDF file, but there were some issues to be solved first on the Macintosh version. My question here is whether that’s still happening.

Thanks.

P.S. I tried changing a built-in theme to the Times font by copying to a new custom theme and adding a “font-family=times” style to the initial table tag. I got the expected results on the screen, but when I tried to send to PDF, I got a long error message:

I just noticed that it’s not only the font that is changed when a document is sent to PDF. Some markup also changes and gets formatted improperly. For example, in the Notes section of my invoice, I have the following markup:

<span style="color:red;"><b>IMPORTANT NOTE: This invoice represents pass-through business expenses, not professional fees. If you operate under an accountable plan, please do <i>not</i> include the amount invoiced herein as compensation on Form 1099-MISC.</b></span>

On the screen and when printed, it appears like this, with the word not on the second line in italics:

When sent to PDF, it appears like this, without the italics and with unwanted line breaks around the previously italicized word:

Blank lines in the Notes section are also treated differently between the on-screen version and the PDF version:

On screen or printed:

SCREEN

PDF:

PDF

Yes. It supposedly was resolved at one point, but the problem resurrected itself. The difficulty is with a third-party library.

There is an argument to be made that some fonts are made for screens and some fonts are made for printed media.

I think it’s perhaps unfortunate that View button is trying to emulate the view as if the program is showing a piece of paper so that’s probably where expectations of consistency are set…

Invoice time again…

Has anything been looked into on this? To respond to @lubos’s last comment, I totally get that View isn’t meant to be WYSIWYG, but the differences are not just esoteric. I suppose I can live with the unwanted serfis in the default PDF font, but it’s painful to send out invoices with italics disappearing and unexpected line breaks in the notes.

@Tut mentioned that the problem was “supposedly resolved at one point” but has since regressed. Is there any chance it can be resolved again?

Thank you.

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This is the only thing that keeps me form upgrading. I’m still on version 16.11.43.

https://forum.manager.io/t/pdf-to-use-system-font/16322/5?u=adam

As @lubos mentioned

" The PDF library I’m using for Manager seems to be crashing way too often on Mac if system fonts are used. So this is something I’m trying to resolve with 3rd-party developer.

I’ll probably revert back to system fonts at some point but not until certain issues are resolved first. "

POSSIBLE SOLUTION
I noticed that this " ( double inverted commas ) causes the PDF process to throw an error. Simply exported my entire inventory list, opened it in a workbook and replaced them with ’ or Inch where necessary and it seems to be okay.

I hope the Helvetica Font comes back to both the PRINT and PDF functions.

I sincerely do not mean to sound rude, but you are so many thousands of versions behind you are wasting your time reading the forum. Virtually nothing being discussed applies to your version. And none of the Guides apply. They have all been updated several times since your version.

If you are hung up on the Noto Sans fonts in PDFs, and are using a Mac, just use the Print button and select the PDF option. You will get a PDF with the font you see on screen.

If you are hung up on the Noto Sans fonts in PDFs, and are using a Mac, just use the Print button and select the PDF option. You will get a PDF with the font you see on screen.

But then you can’t use the extremely useful Email feature.