10. Fonts and typography
Every font a document uses is embedded in the PDF, and only the characters actually used are included. The PDF looks identical on every computer and printer, and stays small. Text is drawn as vector outlines, so it is smooth (anti-aliased) at any zoom and prints sharply at any resolution.
Bundled fonts
27 font families come with the product and are always available. You don't need to install anything.
Replacements for common Windows and Mac fonts
These are metric-compatible: every character has exactly the same width as in the original font, so text written for Arial fits exactly the same way in Arimo. Type the original name in a template and the replacement is used automatically.
| If you want… | Use | Also accepted as |
|---|---|---|
| Arial, Helvetica | Arimo | Arial, Helvetica, Liberation Sans, sans-serif |
| Times New Roman | Tinos | Times New Roman, Times, Liberation Serif, serif |
| Courier New | Cousine | Courier New, Courier, Liberation Mono, monospace |
| Calibri | Carlito | Calibri |
Arimo is the default font. It is used whenever an element doesn't set a font and the report's default text style doesn't either.
Other Latin, Greek and Cyrillic families
| Sans-serif | Serif | Monospace |
|---|---|---|
| Roboto, Open Sans, Lato, Montserrat, Noto Sans, Source Sans 3, Inter, Poppins, PT Sans, Oswald (no italic), IBM Plex Sans, Raleway, Nunito, Work Sans, Fira Sans | Noto Serif, Merriweather, Playfair Display | Roboto Mono, Cousine |
All of them have Bold, Italic and Bold Italic (except Oswald, which has no italic).
Chinese, Japanese and Korean
| Family | Language | Also accepted as |
|---|---|---|
| Noto Sans SC | Simplified Chinese | Microsoft YaHei, SimHei, PingFang SC, Source Han Sans SC |
| Noto Sans TC | Traditional Chinese | Microsoft JhengHei, PingFang TC, Source Han Sans TC |
| Noto Sans JP | Japanese | Meiryo, Yu Gothic, Hiragino Sans, MS Gothic, Source Han Sans JP |
| Noto Sans KR | Korean | Malgun Gothic, Apple SD Gothic Neo, Gulim, Source Han Sans KR |
They come in Regular and Bold. You rarely need to pick them yourself. When a text contains Chinese, Japanese or Korean characters that the chosen font lacks, the right one is used automatically (see International documents).
Choosing fonts for business documents
| Purpose | Recommendation |
|---|---|
| Forms (BOL, invoices, packing slips) | Arimo (Arial) 7–10 pt. Labels 6–7 pt in uppercase, values 9–10 pt |
| Reports with many columns | Roboto, Inter or Source Sans 3 7–8 pt. They are narrower and very readable at small sizes |
| Numbers that must line up | A monospaced font (Cousine, Roboto Mono) or right alignment |
| Labels read from a distance | Arimo Bold or Oswald 14–28 pt |
| SSCC and other human-readable barcode text | Cousine or Roboto Mono 10–12 pt |
Tip: Use at most two font families in one document, one for text and optionally a monospaced one for codes.
Custom fonts
To use your corporate font:
- On the Report tab, under Custom fonts, click Upload TTF/OTF… and choose a
.ttfor.otffile. - Optional: type a Family name (taken from the file if empty).
- Upload the bold, italic and bold italic files as well if you need them, using the same family name.
- The family appears under Template fonts in every font picker.
The font file is stored inside the template, so it works wherever the template is rendered. The list shows each font's size, for example 182 KB.
Warning: Check your font's license before embedding it. Most commercial fonts allow embedding in PDFs, but some restrict it. All bundled fonts are licensed under the SIL Open Font License, which allows embedding.
Note: Your administrator can also install fonts on the render service for all templates. Ask before uploading a font to every template.
Named styles
A named style is a reusable set of style settings, such as "Box label" (6.5 pt, bold, uppercase, gray) or "Value" (10 pt, black). Change the style once, and every element that uses it changes.
- On the Report tab, under Named styles, type a New style name and click Add.
- Edit the style's font, size, color and other settings in the card that appears.
- Select one or more elements and choose the style in Properties → Style → Named style.
Which setting wins? An element's own settings come first, then its named style, then the report's Default text style, then the built-in defaults (Arimo, 10 pt, black). Leave a setting empty on the element if you want the named style to control it.
Text layout details
Wrapping. Text wraps at spaces. A word longer than the whole line breaks between characters. Press Enter in the Text box for a forced line break. Chinese and Japanese text can break between any two characters (see chapter 11).
Line height. The Line setting is a multiple of the font size. 1.2 is normal, 1.0 is tight (good for dense forms), and 1.4 is airy.
Justify. Justify spreads words so every line except the last of each paragraph reaches both edges. Good for terms and conditions. Avoid it in narrow columns, where it leaves big gaps.
Letter spacing. Spacing adds space between characters, which suits uppercase headings (0.5–1.5 pt).
Overflow. See Text settings for Wrap, Clip (single line), Ellipsis (…) and Shrink to fit.
Missing characters. If a character isn't in the chosen font or any fallback font (for example an emoji), it prints as an empty box and the preview lists the warning "Font '…' has no glyph for '…'".
Worked example: a dense BOL box label
A typical BOL box has a small gray caption and a larger value:
- Create a named style Box label: Arimo, 6.5 pt, Bold, UPPERCASE, color
#4b5563, Spacing0.3. - Create a named style Box value: Arimo, 9.5 pt, line height
1.1. - For each box, add a text with border T R B L at 0.75 pt, holding the caption ("SHIP FROM"), and below it a text with Stretch to fit content for the address.
- Apply the named styles. To change the look of every box later, edit the two styles.