If your report looks ok in OnePager, but is missing one or two letters from each line after exporting to PowerPoint, it is usually due to a font mismatch, especially if that PowerPoint presentation is being sent from one computer to another.
For example, assume you have a OnePager chart with all of the text using "Font X" that you create on Machine A:
You can export this OnePager chart to PowerPoint, and it will look fine on your own computer. However, if you e-mail that PowerPoint presentation to a colleague to open on Machine B, it's possible that "Font X" isn't available. Because your original font wasn't available, when your colleague opens the PowerPoint presentation, Machine B will substitute "Font Y" instead of "Font X". The fonts look similar, but they're slightly different, which can use the last character to get cut off, like this:
Sometimes, you'll experience this issue even if you are using the same font, but are creating a PowerPoint on a Windows 10 computer and trying to open it on a Windows 7 computer. This is due to a difference in how Windows 10 and Windows 7 draw fonts on the screen--even the same font and the same font size.
If your PowerPoint export looks good on one computer, but is missing the last letter on another computer, then you are either experiencing:
- An issue of font substitution because a given font is not installed on one of the computers; OR
- Inconsistent rendering of the same font between different versions of Windows. Windows 10 and Windows 7 are known to suffer from this incompatibility, even when the font face and font size are the same.
There are three ways to address this:
Use a More Common Font
For any text that is subject to the issue, we recommend switching to a very common, wide font like Arial in your OnePager prior to sending anything to PowerPoint, to ensure fonts display consistently on all computers. The more common and more wide the font, the more reliable the output will be from computer to computer.
This is good guidance for PowerPoint in general, not just OnePager. Again, font rendering does vary from one version of Windows to another, so if you think that you have the same font installed on both computers and are still experiencing issues, switching the font may not resolve things completely for you.
Embed Fonts in PowerPoint
A more robust option is to tell PowerPoint to embed fonts in the PPT file while you are still on Machine A and have access to "Font X". You can do this in PowerPoint by:- Copy and Pasting your OnePager chart into PowerPoint as you normally do
- Right-clicking on the OnePager chart in PowerPoint and choosing Ungroup. This will make the text easier for PowerPoint to identify.
- Going to File > Save As
- Clicking on Tools > Save Options:
- Ensuring that the Embed fonts in the file box is checked before saving your PowerPoint file:
PowerPoint will make a copy of the font file from Machine A, and will include it as a part of the PPT file so that any other computer can access that font as a part of viewing the PPT presentation, even if that font isn't otherwise available. The best part about this approach is that you don't have to change any of your settings in OnePager.
If you try embedding fonts in PowerPoint, and are still experiencing truncation, then your issue probably has more to do with inconsistent font rendering between different versions of Windows, not the availability of fonts themselves. Scroll down to the next section for a third option that is guaranteed to make your fonts look the same on any computer.
Copy to PowerPoint as an Image instead of Clip Art
By default, when you copy a OnePager chart to the clipboard and paste it into PowerPoint, you are doing so in a clip art (vector) format. Vectors are great because they are infinitely scalable and never get grainy, but they can suffer from issues rendering fonts and shapes from one computer to another. OnePager does give you the ability to copy your chart to the clipboard as an image, which will then freeze all font rendering when you paste it into PowerPoint. To do this:
- Go to Home > Chart Properties > Advanced
- Change the Clipboard Format setting from "Vector" to "Image" and click OK
- Go to Home > Copy, which will copy your OnePager chart to the clipboard as a fixed image instead of clipart.
- Paste into PowerPoint as you normally would.
The only drawback to this method is that images do tend to get less crisp as you zoom in, but that's not usually an issue for normal day-to-day use. The advantage of the image format is that your font rendering is 100% locked and will never vary from what you see the first time you copy and paste.
Last Updated: August 12, 2020