Libreoffice calc export to pdf. Some characters appear different

Question

I'm having the following problem: when I try to export a .ods file to .pdf on Libreoffice Calc 4.3.2.2, I use some Unicode characters. Most of the time they appear in the pdf just fine, but in some cases they are all replaced (but only visually, because if I copy and paste it somewhere, it pastes the correct character) by a different symbol.

I started testing some of the inputs and realized the character ▲ (U+25B2; triangle), when placed before any of the other symbols (characters like ★star and ♪musical note) is what's causing the problem.

I have no idea how could this happen, or how could I fix it. Any suggestions?

By the way, I don't know the Unicode of the character that is used to replace the other characters, but it's possible to see it on the second link I'll submit below.

Here are the pdf files. It's from a ranking that I keep. The first one is ok, without triangles: https://www.dropbox.com/s/lg444e5zss9j0n6/ok.pdf?dl=0

The second is the same file with a ▲ character at the cell A4 on the .ods file. Some of the symbols change to a different character followed by a space: https://www.dropbox.com/s/zpi79dvq3xmbtwi/nok.pdf?dl=0

Answer 1

Not all fonts support all Unicode characters. The solid triangles you are trying to use (Unicode U+25B2 or ▲) are not included in the Palatino Linotype but are in the DejaVu Sans fonts. However, the export process is using a font substitution table that discards the DejaVu Sans font and replaces it with Segoe UI. The ★ character is not part of the Segoe UI font set so a substitution character was made.

So check the font substitution and font embedding settings. On the Export as PDF dialog, there is an option to embed standard fonts. FWIW, my own Calc test PDF export used Arial MT and Arial Unicode MS and there was no problem.