Engine update: typed bullets, tent cards, Arabic and Hebrew, and files that would not open

A new batch of engine work went live on 13 October. As always, we put our output next to Publisher's own PDF and fix what differs. Each item says which formats it covers.

Files that would not open

  • Some InDesign, Word and ODG files would not open. A few .pub files hold hidden control characters in their text. We copied those characters into the file we made. InDesign, Word and LibreOffice do not accept them, so the file did not open. We now remove them. In our test set, 14 InDesign files, 6 Word files and 6 ODG files did not open before. All of them open now. If one of your files gave you this error, convert it again.

Typed bullets and numbers

  • Lines after a typed bullet line up. Many people type a bullet, a dash or a number like "1." by hand, instead of using list formatting. Publisher starts the second line of that paragraph at the left edge. We indented it, as if it were a list. Now the second line starts where Publisher starts it. In the PDF export.

Text and fonts

  • Arabic and Hebrew text gets the right font. Publisher keeps a separate font for right-to-left text. We read the wrong one, so Arabic and Hebrew text could come out in a different font. We now read the font Publisher uses, in every format. Letter spacing in right-to-left text is also fixed in the PDF export.
  • Bold italic in fonts without a bold italic style. Some fonts, such as Garamond and Goudy Old Style, have a bold style and an italic style, but no bold italic. For bold italic text in these fonts, Publisher takes the bold style and slants it. We took the italic style, so the text was too thin and lines could break in a different place. We now do what Publisher does, in the PDF and InDesign exports.
  • Slanted text when the font has no italic. Publisher slants the letters by a fixed amount. We slanted them less. We now use the same amount, in the PDF and InDesign exports.
  • Narrow and condensed styles in InDesign files. Fonts such as Arial Narrow now keep their narrow style.
  • Empty lines have the right height. An empty line now takes its size from its own paragraph style, as in Publisher. Text below it no longer moves up or down. In the PDF export.

Tent cards and print layouts

  • Tent cards. A folded tent card prints the same card twice, one copy upside down, so both sides read the right way up when folded. Word, InDesign and ODG files now do this too. In the PDF, some tent cards where Publisher prints only one card printed two. They now print one.
  • Labels and several copies on one sheet. Label sheets, A4 sheets with several copies and half-letter layouts now put each copy where Publisher puts it, in the PDF export.

Shapes, fills and WordArt

  • Rounded corners. Rounded rectangles, most of all in files made with Publisher 2000, now get Publisher's corner size, in the PDF, InDesign and ODG exports.
  • Gradients in older files. Gradients in files made with Publisher 2000 now run in the right direction and from the right center, in the PDF export.
  • WordArt. WordArt in shapes such as waves and arches now fills its shape as in Publisher, in the PDF, InDesign and ODG exports. WordArt with gradient letters now keeps the gradient in InDesign and ODG files.
  • Transparency in InDesign files. See-through fills and soft-edged gradients now look as in Publisher.
  • Page backgrounds in InDesign files. Page backgrounds and master-page backgrounds now sit behind everything else, as in Publisher.
  • Colour photos in ODG files. Photos saved for print, in CMYK colours, now keep their colours in LibreOffice Draw. Before, their colours could be off.

Tables

  • Bold words in table cells. When a cell starts in regular type and then turns bold, such as "Signed by:" on a form, we drew the whole line regular. The bold part is now bold, in the PDF, Word and InDesign exports.
  • Table rows in InDesign files. Rows now grow to fit their text, so text no longer gets cut off at the bottom of a cell.
  • Table borders in ODG files. Decorative borders around tables now show.

If one of your files came out wrong in any of these ways, run it again. You don't need to buy again. The preview is free, and conversions are a one-time $49, tax included, for as many conversion jobs as you like, up to 20 files and 2 GB each.