[scribus] Problem embedding fonts in pdf and workaround

Peter Nermander peter at nermander.se
Wed Oct 28 10:00:09 UTC 2020


> outlining fonts always works fine. But it does come with a cost:
>  - you text cannot be searched anymore and copy-and-paste does not work

Actually, in Scribus, as far as I know outlining does not mean
converting the text to native vectors, but rather subsetting into a
type 3 postscript font, and from what I understand that still means
the text is fully searchable.

The most common reason is that the font is not possible to embed "as
is". The PDF format does not allow for embedding all types of fonts.
If I recall correctly, only type 1 and truetype fonts can be embedded.
That means Opentype fonts can never be embedded.


As a final note, the term "unstable" for Scribus versions does not
refer to the actual stability of the version, but rather the
development stage. A lot of Scribus users actually use the "unstable"
version because it provides better features than the stable version.
And they would not use it if it was so unstable that it could not be
used for everyday work.

I think the main issue with the unstable version is that there may be
sudden large changes, because it is under development. But
essentially, the last "unstable" release is usually what later becomes
the "stable" version. Then for the stable version there are mainly bug
fixes, any improvements and new features will end up in the "unstable"
version.

/Peter



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