KB0751: How do fonts work in PDF Exports from MicroStrategy Web

Starting with the release of Strategy ONE (March 2024), dossiers are also known as dashboards.

Summary

From Strategy Platform Web, Developers can use any font available in the Font section for the web interface to build their Strategy Documents/Dossiers/Reports. These users can then view the documents in a web browser or export them to Portable Document Format (PDF) for later use. 
For documents that will be exported to PDF format, special considerations have to be kept in mind regarding fonts so that the PDF document opens and loads with the correct font. 
 

How do fonts work in PDF exports in Strategy Web

To understand this workflow, it is important to understand that there two ways to include a font in a PDF document:

1. Embedded Fonts: The complete character set is embedded in the PDF document. This approach increases the total size of the document. Additionally, It is important to keep mind that not all fonts can be embedded as some of them might be protected by Copyright permissions as mentioned here:
   http://www.adobe.com/products/type/font-licensing/font-embedding-permissions.html
    
2. Non-Embedded Fonts: The name of the font to be used is included in the document. The font resolution process is then left to the PDF reader and the Operating System for where the PDF document is opened.  

Strategy Web can be configured to embed fonts as explained in the "Action" section of the following Technical Note:
KB221589: PDF files generated during export do not display the correct fonts in MicroStrategy
"Edit a Report Services Document and select 'Embed fonts in PDF' under Format menu > Document Properties... > Export tab,
Or
Login as Administrator, in Strategy Web, and select 'Embed fonts' under Preferences > Project Defaults > Print (PDF) (this can also be done at the User Preferences level)"
If Strategy Web is not explicitly configured to embed fonts as explained above, the font will not be embedded.
With the above concepts in mind, there are two ways to determine the font that will be used by the user that opens the PDF document.
 

A)If Strategy Web is configured to embed fonts in PDF exports:

The PDF export process is performed by the Intelligence Server. Therefore, the desired font has to be present in this machine in one of two places depending on the operating system:

• In Windows OS: The Font has to be installed and should show under:
  

  
  C:\Windows\Fonts
  

  
  

Note: If the font is not correctly installed or is not present, the intelligence server will embed the default Operating System font, typically, Courier.
 

B)If Strategy Web is not configured to embed fonts for PDF exports

The PDF export will be performed by the Intelligence Server, but only the font name will be included in the PDF document for the final system to resolve. 
The final users opening the PDF document must have the font available in their operating system for it to be rendered correctly. In Windows systems using Adobe Reader, this is typically under:
 

C:\\Windows\Fonts

Note: If the font is not present in the user's system, a substitute font will be used depending on the Operating System and PDF Reader that is used. Typically in Windows Adobe Reader, the substitution font is Adobe Sans MM (Multiple Master). Adobe Reader uses this font to synthesize a similar font to what was originally included, however, it is not always correct. 
 

KB0751