Using TrueType Fonts

Purpose Summary. What is this page about?

This page explains how to use TrueType fonts with Aspose.Words for Python via .NET, covering loading fonts from custom folders, handling missing fonts through substitution, embedding fonts in output files, setting a default font, and listing available fonts at runtime.

When working with documents, you often have to use different fonts, styles, and sizes. Documents can contain any number of fonts, which are not necessarily limited to the fonts that are installed in the operating system. The fonts can be completely different, such as fonts taken from other operating systems, purchased, or created by users themselves.

Sometimes, information about the fonts being used is embedded in the document, eliminating display problems during document transfer. In some other cases, only the font name is known, which does not guarantee that the document will look the same way on another computer. In this case, Aspose.Words can find the right font or its suitable replacement, if the required font cannot be found, for correct rendering.

FAQ

Q: How can I load TrueType fonts that are stored in a custom folder?
A: Use the FontSettings class to point Aspose.Words to the folder that contains your fonts. Set the folder with set_fonts_folder and assign the FontSettings object to the Document instance.

import aspose.words as aw

# Create a FontSettings object
font_settings = aw.fonts.FontSettings()
# Specify the folder that contains your TrueType fonts
font_settings.set_fonts_folder(r"C:\MyCustomFonts", False)

# Load a document and apply the font settings
doc = aw.Document(r"input.docx")
doc.font_settings = font_settings
doc.save(r"output.pdf")

Q: What does Aspose.Words do when a required font is missing on the system?
A: The library automatically substitutes the missing font with a similar one based on the font substitution table. You can customize this behavior by providing your own substitution rules through FontSettings.substitution_settings.table_substitution.
```
# Replace missing "MyFont" with "Arial"
font_settings.substitution_settings.table_substitution.add_substitutes("MyFont", ["Arial"])
```
Q: Can I embed the TrueType fonts used in a document into the generated PDF or DOCX?
A: Yes. For PDF, set the embed_full_fonts property of PdfSaveOptions to True. For DOCX, set doc.font_infos.embed_true_type_fonts = True. This forces the fonts to be embedded in the output file.
```
# Save as PDF with embedded fonts
pdf_options = aw.saving.PdfSaveOptions()
pdf_options.embed_full_fonts = True
doc.save(r"output.pdf", pdf_options)
```
Q: How do I change the default font that Aspose.Words uses when a document does not specify one?
A: Assign a default font name to FontSettings.substitution_settings.default_font_substitution.default_font_name. Aspose.Words uses it when no other suitable font is found.
```
font_settings.substitution_settings.default_font_substitution.default_font_name = "Times New Roman"
doc.font_settings = font_settings
```
Q: Is there a way to list all fonts that Aspose.Words can access at runtime?
A: Get the font sources via FontSettings.get_fonts_sources() and call get_available_fonts() on each source to see each font’s name and file path.
```
for source in font_settings.get_fonts_sources():
    for font_info in source.get_available_fonts():
        print(f"Font: {font_info.full_font_name}, File: {font_info.file_path}")
```

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