Publisher 2.3.1.2217 Paragraph style with initial words style set does not display characters outside the base font

[BR22]

I have a paragraph text style that uses Garamond, and an initial words character text style in the same font that just changes color and sets the font to bold for the first few words before a colon. When I put characters in the initial words that are not handled in the Garamond font, they do not display in the initial words even if I set the font for that character to a font where the character is present. If I have the same character in the paragraph after the colon and override the font for that character, it displays correctly. Here is an example, where the X is displayed in Publisher as an empty rectangle when it should be the 𒄀 character:

X cuneiform test: Can we see the cuneiform 𒄀 if we change the character font for the symbol to Segue UI Historic in entry body text? Yes, but it doesn't display in the initial words.

I have attached a document that shows the error. I am working in Windows 11 Pro, and see the same behavior in Publisher 2.3.1.2217 and Beta  2.4.0.2240.

Publisher also becomes very sluggish when I have these characters in my documents. If I try to scroll through the font drop down menu with one of these characters highlighted, it can take seconds to switch between fonts. If I then go back to my document and just type regular text, I get pronounced typing lag.

 

InitialWordsTest.afpub

[MikeTO]

It would work if you edited FirstWordStyle and changed the font family to Segoe UI Historic. I tested that with your document and it worked fine.

The issue is you cannot override an attribute of the Initial Words (or Drop Caps) style if it's defined in that style. I believe this is by design and not a bug but Serif will know better. I will add a note to my Publisher manual about this.

For example, if Initial Words uses My Style and My Style is defined as Times, then you cannot override Times with Garamond or with a character style defined as Garamond. If you try, the font list will show that it's Garamond but it will still be rendered as Times.

Also, there's a known bug that makes testing confusing. If the style used by Initial Words is defined as Times and you change it to Garamond after applying Initial Words to a paragraph, the formatting on the screen will not update. You can even save the document and re-load it, the formatting will not change. You must reselect the style from the Style list in Initial Words even though it already shows as selected. This bug only happens when Initial Words is applied directly to a paragraph, not when it's defined as part of a paragraph style.