why Microsoft 365 is not supported？only supported libreoffice？

[Discover Hawk]

The xls, xlsm, and xlsx generated by Microsoft 365 cannot be imported into publisher use for data merge  ,but libreoffice  will work，why？

libreoffice test.xlsx 365 test.xlsx

[MikeTO]

Publisher supports Microsoft Office 365 xlsx, not the older xls.

There's something wrong with the first row of data in Sheet1. If I simply re-type those four cell's values, typing test1, test2... over the identical values it will load correctly into Publisher. But I have to type into all four of those cells.

365 test.xlsx

[Discover Hawk]

Thank you for your reply. The file you posted is indeed available, you  just re-type it? Why?

[Dan C]

Hi @DicownedHawk,

As Mike has mentioned, there appears to be an issue with the specific 365.xlsx file you have provided and not with Publisher directly - as I'm able to import this into Google Sheets and without making any changes, simply re-export it as an .xlsx file, which is read correctly by Publisher.

The most obvious difference in the files you have provided is the font in use, as the 365 file uses Calibri and the libreoffice file uses Arial. Again this shouldn't be an issue for Publisher as I'm able to use other .xlsx files correctly that are using Calibri, but may be due to how 365 is writing this file & font.

If you create a new sheet in 365 and use Arial, then save this as a new .xlsx file, does this import into Publisher correctly?

[Discover Hawk]

1 hour ago, Dan C said:

你好@DicownedHawk,

正如 Mike 所提到的，您提供的特定 365.xlsx 文件似乎存在问题，而不是直接使用 Publisher - 因为我能够将其导入 Google 表格并且无需进行任何更改，只需将其重新导出为.xlsx文件，由发布者正确读取。

您提供的文件中最明显的区别是使用的字体，因为 365 文件使用 Calibri 和 libreoffice 文件使用 Arial。同样，这对 Publisher 来说应该不是问题，因为我能够正确使用使用 Calibri 的其他.xlsx文件，但可能是由于 365 如何编写此文件和字体。

如果您在 365 中创建新工作表并使用 Arial，然后将其另存为新的.xlsx文件，这会正确导入到 Publisher 中吗？

Changing the font doesn't work.However, if I use libreoffice to open the file and save it can be work, it seems  the software Office 365 is not supported.

[PaulEC]

37 minutes ago, DicownedHawk said:

Changing the font doesn't work.However, if I use libreoffice to open the file and save it can be work, it seems  the software Office 365 is not supported.

Works for me! - The problem seems to be the font used, rather than a problem with Publisher not supporting Office 365!

[kenmcd]

10 hours ago, DicownedHawk said:

The xls, xlsm, and xlsx generated by Microsoft 365 cannot be imported into publisher use for data merge  ,but libreoffice  will work，why？

Your M365 .xlsx file has the font names in Chinese.
Your LibreOffice .xlsx file has Arial and one of the same Chinese names.
The .xlsx file that @MikeTO re-saved has Calibri as the font names.

Your M365 .xlsx file:

	<fonts count="2" x14ac:knownFonts="1">
		<font>
			<sz val="11"/>
			<color theme="1"/>
			<name val="等线"/>
			<family val="2"/>
			<charset val="134"/>
			<scheme val="minor"/>
		</font>
		<font>
			<sz val="9"/>
			<name val="等线"/>
			<family val="2"/>
			<charset val="134"/>
			<scheme val="minor"/>
		</font>
	</fonts>

Your LibreOffice .xlsx file:

	<fonts count="4">
		<font>
			<sz val="11"/>
			<color rgb="FF000000"/>
			<name val="等线"/>
			<family val="2"/>
			<charset val="134"/>
		</font>
		<font>
			<sz val="10"/>
			<name val="Arial"/>
			<family val="0"/>
			<charset val="134"/>
		</font>
		<font>
			<sz val="10"/>
			<name val="Arial"/>
			<family val="0"/>
			<charset val="134"/>
		</font>
		<font>
			<sz val="10"/>
			<name val="Arial"/>
			<family val="0"/>
			<charset val="134"/>
		</font>
	</fonts>

And @MikeTO's .xlsx file:

	<fonts count="2" x14ac:knownFonts="1">
		<font>
			<sz val="11"/>
			<color theme="1"/>
			<name val="Calibri"/>
			<family val="2"/>
			<charset val="134"/>
			<scheme val="minor"/>
		</font>
		<font>
			<sz val="9"/>
			<name val="Calibri"/>
			<family val="2"/>
			<charset val="134"/>
			<scheme val="minor"/>
		</font>
	</fonts>

 

So my guess is the Chinese font names are the issue.

I did not check the other XML files but there also could be more Chinese text in other places causing the issue.

[Discover Hawk]

Unfortunately, even if the font is changed, it won't work unless I force the computer word processing to UTF-8, but so many other software won't work. It seems that the software has a significant compatibility issue with Asian fonts.

[PaulEC]

43 minutes ago, DicownedHawk said:

Unfortunately, even if the font is changed, it won't work unless I force the computer word processing to UTF-8, but so many other software won't work. It seems that the software has a significant compatibility issue with Asian fonts.

That's quite possible, but the original post said "The xls, xlsm, and xlsx generated by Microsoft 365 cannot be imported into publisher use for data merge  ,but libreoffice  will work，why?" If it's due to the way Affinity handles certain fonts, assuming the same font was used in both Office 365 and LibreOffice, it doesn't really explain why one file works in APub and the other doesn't! If different fonts were used in the two files, (which seems to be the case) that is probably why one works and the other doesn't! In other words the problem is not that APub can't import files from Office 365 per se, it is a problem with the font being used.

[kenmcd]

5 hours ago, DicownedHawk said:

Unfortunately, even if the font is changed, it won't work unless I force the computer word processing to UTF-8, but so many other software won't work. It seems that the software has a significant compatibility issue with Asian fonts.

Affinity applications only use UTF-8. So if you are using a font with another encoding that could be the issue. 

What is the "等线" font?

Can you provide the font?

 

[Dan C]

6 hours ago, DicownedHawk said:

it won't work unless I force the computer word processing to UTF-8, but so many other software won't work. It seems that the software has a significant compatibility issue with Asian fonts

Thanks for confirming that, as kenmcd has mentioned above the Affinity apps only support UTF-8 at this time, my apologies.

I will be logging this with the development team to see if we can better handle this in the future, though I'm unsure currently if this is possible due to our UTF-8 requirements.

47 minutes ago, kenmcd said:

What is the "等线" font?

Can you provide the font?

As far as I understand, I believe this is the Arial font provided by Windows but hopefully OP can confirm

[kenmcd]

3 hours ago, Dan C said:

 

4 hours ago, kenmcd said:

What is the "等线" font?

Can you provide the font?

As far as I understand, I believe this is the Arial font provided by Windows but hopefully OP can confirm

No. Arial does not have any font name languages other than English (same with Calibri).
When you open his original file (365 test.xlsx) in LibreOffice it says the font is missing, and on export to PDF substitutes Dotum (a Windows font).
When you open his original file in Excel it substitutes Calibri.

The 等线 font appears to be DengXian - from a Microsoft Chinese font pack.
Names inside the font
 - English - United States: DengXian
 - Chinese - People's Republic of China: 等线

And it is a Unicode font.

So the issue may be that APub does not connect the Chinese font name used in the XLSX file to the installed font.
 

Update: looking at my notes on these fonts...
"In Office 2016, the new default font for the Simplified Chinese version of Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote is Dengxian. If you’re using Office 2010 or Office 2013, you can install the Dengxian font pack from the Microsoft Download Center."

So you are definitely going to be dealing with these fonts in the future.

[Discover Hawk]

9 hours ago, kenmcd said:

Affinity applications only use UTF-8. So if you are using a font with another encoding that could be the issue. 

What is the "等线" font?

Can you provide the font?

 

I uploaded the 等线 font

DENGL.TTF

[Discover Hawk]

9 hours ago, Dan C said:

Thanks for confirming that, as kenmcd has mentioned above the Affinity apps only support UTF-8 at this time, my apologies.

I will be logging this with the development team to see if we can better handle this in the future, though I'm unsure currently if this is possible due to our UTF-8 requirements.

As far as I understand, I believe this is the Arial font provided by Windows but hopefully OP can confirm

so many files are based on Microsoft Office macro or VB. If switch to other software, they cannot effectively support it. In this case, only choose is not to use the data merge😭.

[walt.farrell]

Can't you tell Microsoft 365 to save it with UTF-8 encoding?

[Discover Hawk]

23 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

Can't you tell Microsoft 365 to save it with UTF-8 encoding?

I have tried. 365 has made local optimizations for Chinese fonts, even saved as utf-8, the problem still exists. I need use LibreOffice to open it and save it, but this will cause VB fail.

[Dan C]

Many thanks for providing this font file for me @DicownedHawk and for the further information @kenmcd -

I can verify I have logged this issue with our developers and have now attached a copy of this font, as well as confirmation that this is the default font in use for Microsoft Office apps when using Simplified Chinese.

I have therefore requested for Publisher to be resolved to use these .XLSX files in the future, without the need for saving/converting in other apps and I will be sure to update this thread with any further details from our development team.

I hope this helps

[Discover Hawk]

On 3/27/2023 at 10:52 PM, Dan C said:

Many thanks for providing this font file for me @DicownedHawk and for the further information @kenmcd -

I can verify I have logged this issue with our developers and have now attached a copy of this font, as well as confirmation that this is the default font in use for Microsoft Office apps when using Simplified Chinese.

I have therefore requested for Publisher to be resolved to use these .XLSX files in the future, without the need for saving/converting in other apps and I will be sure to update this thread with any further details from our development team.

I hope this helps

My upload may not be complete, here is the official font installation package from Microsoft.

https://www.microsoft.com/zh-cn/download/details.aspx?id=49115

 

eadengfontpack.exe

[Dan C]

Thank you for providing this also - I will be sure to include this with the development report to help our team in resolving this issue in a future update

[Discover Hawk]

On 3/30/2023 at 11:35 PM, Dan C said:

Thank you for providing this also - I will be sure to include this with the development report to help our team in resolving this issue in a future update

did 2.1 fix it?

[kenmcd]

7 hours ago, DicownedHawk said:

did 2.1 fix it?

The beta 1781 bugs-fixed list mentions this. So it should be fixed in the 2.1 release. Give it a try.

[Discover Hawk]

On 5/20/2023 at 8:25 PM, kenmcd said:

The beta 1781 bugs-fixed list mentions this. So it should be fixed in the 2.1 release. Give it a try.

Thanks, I tested it and it seems to be working properly now. great!