Bug 476436 - German umlaute are not shown in textfields in this PDF document
Summary: German umlaute are not shown in textfields in this PDF document
Status: REOPENED
Alias: None
Product: okular
Classification: Applications
Component: PDF backend (show other bugs)
Version: 24.12.1
Platform: Arch Linux Linux
: NOR normal
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Okular developers
URL:
Keywords: testcase, usability
: 498792 (view as bug list)
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2023-11-01 20:46 UTC by Steffen W.
Modified: 2025-04-22 22:52 UTC (History)
5 users (show)

See Also:
Latest Commit:
Version Fixed In:
Sentry Crash Report:


Attachments
PDF that contains form fields (142.18 KB, application/pdf)
2023-11-01 20:46 UTC, Steffen W.
Details
Text shown after clicking show forms again (16.34 KB, image/png)
2023-11-01 20:50 UTC, Steffen W.
Details
Actual Text that was entered into the field (11.73 KB, image/png)
2023-11-01 20:51 UTC, Steffen W.
Details
Textfield renders a weird looking cross instead of ø (6.82 KB, image/png)
2025-04-22 22:52 UTC, Steffen W.
Details

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Description Steffen W. 2023-11-01 20:46:25 UTC
Created attachment 162801 [details]
PDF that  contains form fields

SUMMARY
I've attached a PDF that contains text fields that can be filled out. When doing this using Okular I can enter German umlaute like äöü and the special character ß, but once I switch back to the default view those characters are no longer visible and something like "Straße"  becomes "Strae".

If I open the same PDF in Gnome's Evince the characters are shown as expected.


STEPS TO REPRODUCE
1. Open PDF
2. Click "Show Forms"
3. Enter "Straße äöü"  in any of the fields
4. Press "Show Forms" again

OBSERVED RESULT
The text "Straße äöü" becomes "Strae "

EXPECTED RESULT
The text should be "Straße äöü"

SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS
Linux: 6.5.9-arch2-1
(available in About System)
KDE Plasma Version: 5.27.9
KDE Frameworks Version: 5.111.0
Qt Version: 5.15.11

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Comment 1 Steffen W. 2023-11-01 20:50:48 UTC
Created attachment 162803 [details]
Text shown after clicking show forms again
Comment 2 Steffen W. 2023-11-01 20:51:48 UTC
Created attachment 162804 [details]
Actual Text that was entered into the field
Comment 3 Steffen W. 2023-11-01 20:56:41 UTC
While creating the screenshots I did observe something curious: If I write the text in Okular, click the show form button, close Okular and confirm that I want to save the changes to the file, then open the file in evince the text is rendered incorrectly again, if I go into the text field to edit it the text is shown correctly but regardless of what I do, change the text, remove the text and enter the same text again or leave it as it is, the characters will not be rendered anymore.
Comment 4 Steffen W. 2023-11-04 23:36:25 UTC
After updating today - Okular is now 23.08.2 - it is working as expected now.
Comment 5 Jens Müller 2024-04-29 21:28:56 UTC
I noticed this behavior in this document: https://www.segeberg.de/PDF/Eingliederungshilfe_Folgeantrag_.PDF?ObjSvrID=3466&ObjID=485&ObjLa=1&Ext=PDF&WTR=1&_ts=1634808034 with Okular 23.08.5 on current Ubuntu.
Comment 6 Steffen W. 2024-04-29 23:41:45 UTC
As the original bug creator, I checked and I can confirm this bug with the linked document on Okular 24.02.2. I can also confirm that the bug exists (again?) when using my attached document.
Comment 7 Steffen W. 2024-04-29 23:46:12 UTC
My current system information

Operating System: Arch Linux 
KDE Plasma Version: 6.0.4
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.1.0
Qt Version: 6.7.0
Kernel Version: 6.8.7-arch1-1 (64-bit)
Graphics Platform: X11
Comment 8 Steffen W. 2025-01-17 17:09:02 UTC
Hi, just would like to note that this bug is still occuring. Okular version is 24.12.1.

Operating System: Arch Linux 
KDE Plasma Version: 6.2.5
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.10.0
Qt Version: 6.8.1
Kernel Version: 6.12.9-arch1-1 (64-bit)
Graphics Platform: Wayland
Comment 9 Sune Vuorela 2025-01-20 09:10:41 UTC
*** Bug 498792 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 10 Steffen W. 2025-03-05 13:12:59 UTC
Hi, just would like to note that this bug is still occuring. Okular version is 24.12.2.

When retesting this, I did find something interesting: If I enter any of the offending characters (äöüß) in the attached file "PDF that contains form fields" in the "Name, Vorname" field they are being correctly displayed.

Same goes for any field in the box that is titled "Halter/in". When entering any of these characters into any other field in the PDF file they disappear, including the "Anschrift" field at the top of the page under the name field. I think that is what I observed when I closed this bug report originally in November 2023.

Operating System: Arch Linux 
KDE Plasma Version: 6.3.2
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.11.0
Qt Version: 6.8.2
Kernel Version: 6.13.5-arch1-1 (64-bit)
Graphics Platform: Wayland
Comment 11 Sune Vuorela 2025-03-05 13:26:10 UTC
(In reply to Steffen W. from comment #10)
> Hi, just would like to note that this bug is still occuring. Okular version
> is 24.12.2.

Are you able to build a local, patched poppler?

if so, can you add https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/poppler/poppler/-/merge_requests/1761 for a local test ?

/Sune
Comment 12 Steffen W. 2025-03-06 17:20:33 UTC
(In reply to Sune Vuorela from comment #11)
> (In reply to Steffen W. from comment #10)
> > Hi, just would like to note that this bug is still occuring. Okular version
> > is 24.12.2.
> 
> Are you able to build a local, patched poppler?
> 
> if so, can you add
> https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/poppler/poppler/-/merge_requests/1761 for a
> local test ?
> 
> /Sune

Yes, tried but it didn't change anything - or I did something wrong along the way. This is what I did:
git clone https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/svuorela/poppler.git
cd poppler/
mkdir build && cd ./build
cmake ..
make -j6
PATH=$(pwd):$PATH
export PATH
LD_PRELOAD ./libpoppler.so okular

and in a second terminal
lsof ./libpoppler.so

to verify it was being loaded and used.

Then opened the PDF file and did the previous steps with the same result as before.
Comment 13 Steffen W. 2025-03-06 17:27:39 UTC
(In reply to Steffen W. from comment #12)
> (In reply to Sune Vuorela from comment #11)
> > (In reply to Steffen W. from comment #10)
> > > Hi, just would like to note that this bug is still occuring. Okular version
> > > is 24.12.2.
> > 
> > Are you able to build a local, patched poppler?
> > 
> > if so, can you add
> > https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/poppler/poppler/-/merge_requests/1761 for a
> > local test ?
> > 
> > /Sune
> 
> Yes, tried but it didn't change anything - or I did something wrong along
> the way. This is what I did:
> git clone https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/svuorela/poppler.git
> cd poppler/
> mkdir build && cd ./build
> cmake ..
> make -j6
> PATH=$(pwd):$PATH
> export PATH
> LD_PRELOAD ./libpoppler.so okular
> 
> and in a second terminal
> lsof ./libpoppler.so
> 
> to verify it was being loaded and used.
> 
> Then opened the PDF file and did the previous steps with the same result as
> before.

ah, just realized that I forgot to switch to the correct branch. Tried again after deleting everything in the build folder by switching to the branch change-font-on-form-field-when-embedding, sadly with the same result as before.
Comment 14 Steffen W. 2025-04-22 18:08:53 UTC
Still a problem in Okular 25.04.0

Operating System: Arch Linux 
KDE Plasma Version: 6.3.4
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.13.0
Qt Version: 6.9.0
Kernel Version: 6.14.2-arch1-1 (64-bit)
Graphics Platform: Wayland
Comment 15 Steffen W. 2025-04-22 22:52:43 UTC
Created attachment 180546 [details]
Textfield renders a weird looking cross instead of ø

Additional information: If you input a norwegian special character, the ø, into the "Anschrift" field you get a weird looking, angled, cross. I attached an image showcasing what I mean