Unicode and Font Support Within Reports

The following information can help ensure that reports exported from OnTime appear correctly to viewers.

OnTime is fully compatible with Unicode fonts, making multi-language rendering possible across the entire system. This includes multi-language support for reports generated by OnTime.

Many of the standard report templates within OnTime use Tahoma as the default font. This font may not render all languages suitably. To ensure proper language support, reports within OnTime may need to be modified to use a font that accurately displays the required language.

For example, the Georgian language is currently supported by two standard fonts within Microsoft Windows: Segoe UI and Sylfaen. Tahoma would not work correctly because it does not support the Georgian language. A solution would be to modify reports to use a font such as Sylfaen.

Sometimes a font can be used within an OnTime report and appear perfectly normal on the author's computer. But when that report is saved to a PDF and displayed on another computer, the font is completely different. This can happen if the font used is not properly licensed.

All fonts are subject to licensing. Some can be used commercially, and others can only be used for personal use. Some require a special license to embedded or redistributed. Before using a font within your reports, check how it's licensed to ensure you have the right to embed it and use it commercially.

When exporting reports from OnTime, the fonts used in the report are often embedded. If the required license is not present on the computer generating the report, the font cannot be embedded. When that report is displayed on another computer, the embedded font will likely be missing, causing the computer to substitute another font in its place.

When reports are viewed within the OnTime Customer Web Portal, the OnTime servers are responsible for generating the report. While the OnTime servers support most general fonts available within Windows, non-standard fonts or licensed fonts are likely not available. If a non-standard or specially licensed font is used, the server may not be able to embed the font into the report. When that report is displayed on another computer, the embedded font will likely be missing, causing the computer to substitute another font in its place.

If this situation is encountered, try using alternative standard fonts.

For example, the Georgian language is currently supported by two standard fonts within Microsoft Windows: Segoe UI and Sylfaen. Other common fonts, such as Arial, Tahoma, and Times New Roman, would not work correctly because they do not support the Georgian language. Additionally, specialty fonts that support the Georgian language would not work properly as they are not available on the OnTime servers.