Forum Discussion
Issue with Custom Font Substitution During PDF/PPTX Export in Power BI Service
Dear Power BI Support Team,
I am experiencing an issue with Power BI Service when exporting reports. I have added a custom font, which displays correctly in Power BI Desktop and in the Power BI Service web view. However, when exporting the report to PDF or PPTX, the font is replaced with a different one.
Details of the issue:
Font used: Custom font (issue seems to occur with any custom font).
The font is installed on my computer and works correctly in Power BI Desktop.
The problem occurs only during export to PDF or PPTX in Power BI Service.
Tested with multiple reports, and the issue persists.
Could you please investigate this issue and provide guidance on possible solutions or causes? I am happy to provide additional details if needed.
Hi Anonymous ,
Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Fabric Community forum.There is currently a limitation where Power BI Desktop and the web view support custom fonts, but during export to PDF or PPTX in Power BI Service, custom fonts may not be embedded or preserved and can be replaced with default system fonts.
I’d recommend submitting this as a feature request in the official Power BI Ideas forum:
https://ideas.fabric.microsoft.com/The Product team actively reviews suggestions there, and if others in the community upvote it, it could be considered for future updates.
I trust this information proves useful. If it does, kindly “Accept as solution” and give it a 'Kudos' to help others locate it easily.
Thank you.
9 Replies
- Akash_Varuna
Super User
Hi Anonymous It is because Power BI Service operates in a cloud environment where custom fonts on your local machine may not be available during export to PDF or PPTX. Ensure the font allows embedding and try exporting locally via Power BI Desktop. Alternatively, use a web-safe font or check if third-party visuals support your custom font.
Thank you for your response!
Yes, locally through Power BI Desktop, everything works correctly—the fonts are applied without any issues. In the web version of Power BI Service, the fonts also display correctly, and I can see them. The problem occurs specifically during export to PDF or PPTX: the font is visible in the web view, but it gets replaced during export. Interestingly, when I added a table, the font was preserved in the table headers (the only place where it didn’t get substituted), so it seems Power BI Service can partially "see" the font.My question is: is there a way to upload the font to Power BI Service so it exports correctly? Or are there any other solutions to this issue?
v-lgarikapatCommunity Support
Hi Anonymous
Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Fabric Community Forum.
Akash_Varuna Thank you as well for your prompt responses.
In addition, please note the following web-supported fonts that are safe to use in Power BI exports:
Use Web-Safe or Supported Fonts
To ensure consistent rendering across Power BI Desktop, Power BI Service, and exports to PDF or PPTX, it’s best to stick to standard fonts known to be supported by Power BI:
- Arial
- Times New Roman
- Segoe UI
- Calibri
- Tahoma
Export reports to PDF - Power BI | Microsoft Learn
Using these fonts helps avoid issues with font substitution during export.
If you found this post helpful, please 'consider giving it Kudos' and marking it as the 'accepted solution' to assist other members in finding it more easily.
Thank You.- v-lgarikapat
Hi Anonymous ,
Thank you for your response
Use Paginated Reports + PDF Export (Preferred for Custom Fonts)- Paginated Report Builder (RDL format) does support font embedding for PDF exports when run locally or via Power BI Premium workspace.
- Fonts must:
- Be TrueType (TTF) or OpenType (OTF)
- Allow embedding (check font license)
- When exporting to PDF in Power BI Report Builder, the font is embedded into the PDF.
Limitation: Fonts may not render correctly when exporting from the Power BI Service, even with Premium, due to sandboxed font rendering.
Export a paginated report to a PDF file (Report Builder) - Microsoft Report Builder & Power BI Report Builder | Microsoft Learn
Solved: Export to pdf or power point from power bi service... - Microsoft Fabric Community
If this post helped resolve your issue, please consider giving it Kudos and marking it as the Accepted Solution. This not only acknowledges the support provided but also helps other community members find relevant solutions more easily.We appreciate your engagement and thank you for being an active part of the community.
Best Regards,
Lakshmi Narayana.
Thank you so much for your response and the information provided! I’ve carefully reviewed all the materials, including the forum threads and documentation, but it seems I couldn’t find a way to preserve my custom font when exporting from Power BI Service. As I understand, Power BI Service currently doesn’t support custom fonts during PDF or PPT export due to the limitations of the cloud environment, and there doesn’t appear to be a solution at the moment. Could you please confirm if this is correct, or perhaps suggest any workarounds? Also, are there any plans to add support for custom fonts in the future?
Thank you in advance for your help!
- v-lgarikapat
Hi Anonymous ,
Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Fabric Community forum.There is currently a limitation where Power BI Desktop and the web view support custom fonts, but during export to PDF or PPTX in Power BI Service, custom fonts may not be embedded or preserved and can be replaced with default system fonts.
I’d recommend submitting this as a feature request in the official Power BI Ideas forum:
https://ideas.fabric.microsoft.com/The Product team actively reviews suggestions there, and if others in the community upvote it, it could be considered for future updates.
I trust this information proves useful. If it does, kindly “Accept as solution” and give it a 'Kudos' to help others locate it easily.
Thank you.- v-lgarikapat
Hi Anonymous ,
As we haven't heard back from you, we are closing this thread. If you are still experiencing the same issue, we kindly request you to create a new thread we’ll be happy to assist you further.
Thank you for your patience and support.
If our response was helpful, please mark it as Accepted as Solution and consider giving a Kudos. Feel free to reach out if you need any further assistance.
Best regards,
LakshmiNarayana
Thanks for following up with the additional testing. The fact that the custom font is preserved in the table headers but not in other visuals is actually a useful clue. It suggests the export engine isn't handling every visual type the same way, rather than simply failing to recognize the font altogether.
One thing I'd be interested in testing is whether the behavior changes with a static OTF/TTF font versus a variable font, since several Microsoft Office export issues have turned out to be related to variable font handling. If both behave the same in Power BI Service, that would further confirm the limitation is in the cloud export pipeline rather than the font itself.
Hopefully this gets added to the Ideas backlog because consistent branding is a pretty common requirement, and it's unfortunate that reports can look correct in both Desktop and the Service, yet change only during PDF/PPTX export, 🙂
