any good libreoffice/linux fonts for sharing documents with windows users

users
#1

I'm using LibreOffice 4.0.1.2 on Kubuntu 12.04.2. I'm working on a
spreadsheet that I will need to send to a windows user who is not using
LibreOffice. What native Linux/LibreOffice font can I use that will
also be available on the windows system?

Jason

#2

Not sure whether they're available on Linux, but Times New Roman (Serif)
Arial (Sans-Serif) and Courier / Courier New (Monospace) are usually found
on Windows Systems. If they are using MS Office and it is version 2007 or
later, then Calibri and Cambria should also be there.

Hope this helps!

#3

To complement Kieran's answer, the Liberation fonts (available as Mono, Sans Serif, Sans Narrow and Serif) are supposed to have exactly the same width and height of resp. CourierNew, Arial, Arial Narrow and TimesNewRoman. Thus you may use them as they'll either be available on the target PC or replaced with the default ones cited above.

#4

I would make sure you have "ttf-mscorefonts" installed on your Kubuntu system. That will give you the core Windows fontson your Kubuntu/Ubuntu system.

Verdana, Tahoma, Georgia, and Trebuchet MS, are core fonts that seem to be apart of most Windows systems. Add those tothe list of others.

So, you are creating a spreadsheet using LO that will be used in Excel? I would stick with the following: Arial, Tahoma, and Georgia.

There is an art and science involved in choosing fonts, or a list of fonts, that wouldbe a good choice to used for documents between systems and OS types. People have even made lists of which fonts are used on one system that would be as close as possible to other font names on other systems.

Personally, I tend to make sure my Windows and Ubuntu systems have the same set of fonts. If I need to share documents that are to be used and edited by others, and I know which OS they are using, I then stick with font names that I know they will have as one of their core fonts.

Since I currently have not installed any fonts on a new laptop, that was not installed by Win7/Home Premium. or LO and any other package, I could make a list of all of the installed fonts in the Win7 laptop and see if I can highlight the ones that were installed by packages like LO and Corel Draw, over top of the ones installed when the OS was placed onto the laptop by Gateway.

#5

windows users

#6

Hi :slight_smile:
Installing the mst core fonts does ask you to sign MS's Eula.  There might be OpenSource versions of Arial and other MS fonts but somehow i doubt it.  I think a lot of people just accept that those fonts are unavoidable and just sign the Eula but it would be really nice to be able to avoid it completely.  I wonder what other people do because i'm sure you are not alone. 
Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

#7

And having the same font doesn't mean it's the same font.
I was using Arial on linux and mac and found they were different enough to throw the formatting of my manuals out. So I had to delete Arial from my mac and re-install it from my linux to get the same layout. This may not be noticeable in a spreadsheet, but if you are relying on formatting specifically for a certain page layout, it might just cause a total or something to drop out of the print range.
Steve

#8

Nice link.

That was the best chart for the different OS installed fonts I have seen in a long while.

Yes, MS loves to change things. Having each version of their Os include a different set of fonts can make things interesting for a user/business with multiple systems and multiple OSs.

That is why I suggested the MS Core font add-on for Linux. It is free and it can serve for those people, like me, who uses Linux as its primary system and deals with Windows users on a daily basis.

#9

Jason,

You didn't say if the Windows user would be editing the sheet. If not, save the sheet as a PDF file, and you're problem is solved. :slight_smile:

#10

Hi :slight_smile:
Good point!  Thanks :)  It's something i kinda knew but didn't really think about it much let alone grok it!  I think you have just given me a big clue as to why my bosses machines don't display my documents correctly.  It could easily be formatting issues related to them having different versions of the same font.  It's a bit weird because they just use Windows and one of the machines appears to be identical to my neighbouring colleague's machine.  Howeve3r my neighing colleagues machien had a reinstall of Xp so it's possibly got the fonts slightly different.

So, thanks for helping me! :)  I hope the o.p.s question gets solved too!
Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

#11

Hi Tom.
I was out 1 line every 1 or 2 pages, which in 40 pages put my layout, images, illustrations, etc. all askew.
Steve

#12

I may be the issue if the amount of kerneling or the amount of "extra" space above and below the actual letters. I have seen that change between different "similar named fonts before.

#13

Hi :slight_smile:
I recently started using "Anchor to paragraph" instead of "Anchor to page" which i had previously preferred.  It's difficult to get the balance right either way tho.

Regards from

Tom :slight_smile:

#14

Yes, it is a juggle. Anchor to paragraph has the problem that you cant choose the paragraph it anchors to. There is some internal algorithm where the anchor can flick up and down between paragraphs.
Steve

#15

Jason, Tom Davies and I just exchanged emails, and it occurred to me that PDF's may not solve the problem, you should do some testing before fully relying on PDF's.

#16

Yep. In general I prefer anchoring to character. I anchor as character when the image must be inline with the text.

My 2 euro-cents,