Saving Word document as PDF does not display the bullet list icon

Aspose.Words Product Family
1

I’m using Aspose.Words for Java version 25.11 (which I believe is the latest).

I’m loading a DOCX file which contains a bullet list, and saving it as a PDF. When I view the PDF (on the same PC), the bullet icon is displaying as a box and not a bullet.

My code is:

License asposeForWordLicense = new License();
ClassPathResource licenseResource = new ClassPathResource("license/Aspose.WordsProductFamily.lic");
try {
    asposeForWordLicense.setLicense(licenseResource.getInputStream());
} catch (Exception e) {
    throw new NucleusException("Error loading file license/Aspose.Words.Java.lic", e);
}

ClassPathResource levyNoticeTemplate = new ClassPathResource("templates/BulletTest.docx");
Document bulletTest = new Document(levyNoticeTemplate.getInputStream());

PdfSaveOptions saveOptions = new PdfSaveOptions();
bulletTest.save("BulletTest.pdf", saveOptions);

I don’t believe this is a font file/setting issue because I’m editing the Word document, running Aspose.Words, and viewing the PDF on the same machine which has access to all the fonts.

If I open the Word document, and save it as a PDF from there, the bullets display correctly in the PDF.

Attached is:

  • ButtletTest.docx (the input Word document)
  • BulletTest.pdf (the PDF file generated from Aspose.Words)
  • Screenshot.png (this is how the PDF looks on my Mac)

BulletTest.pdf (16.3 KB)
BulletTest.docx (14.3 KB)

2139×806 48.4 KB

Can you please provide some guidance on how to get this to work?

2

@picamark

Summary
When converting a DOCX that contains a bullet list to PDF with Aspose.Words for Java, the bullet characters can appear as square/box symbols. This usually indicates that the font that provides the bullet glyph cannot be found or embedded in the generated PDF.

Why it happens

  • Bullet symbols are often taken from special symbol fonts (e.g., Symbol, Wingdings) or from Unicode code points that are not present in the default fonts used by the conversion engine.
  • If Aspose.Words cannot locate the required font on the system, it falls back to a font that does not contain the glyph, and the PDF viewer shows a placeholder box.

What to do next

  1. Identify the font used for the bullet – Open the DOCX in Microsoft Word, place the cursor on a bullet, and note the font shown in the Font dropdown.
  2. Make sure the font is accessible to Aspose.Words – Ensure the font file is installed on the machine where the conversion runs or provide a custom font folder to the library (using the appropriate FontSettings API for your platform).
  3. Embed the font in the PDF – Configure the PDF save options to embed all used fonts so that the PDF contains the required glyphs.
  4. Check conversion logs – Enable Aspose.Words logging or run the conversion with a higher log level to see warnings such as “Font ‘XYZ’ not found”; these messages pinpoint missing fonts.
  5. Test with a common font – As a quick check, change the bullet style in the source DOCX to use a standard TrueType font like Arial and reconvert. If the bullets render correctly, the issue is confirmed to be font‑related.
  6. Gather additional information if the problem persists – Record the operating system, Java runtime version, exact bullet font name, and any warning messages from the library. This information will be useful for further troubleshooting with Aspose support.

Note: The steps above are based on typical Aspose.Words usage patterns for handling missing fonts. Adjust the exact API calls according to the version of the library you are using.

:warning: I could not fully verify this explanation against the retrieved sources. Please double-check the behaviour in your environment and confirm the exact SDK/version.

3

I’ve done some more testing and discovered:

Word for Mac Version 16.103.1 (25111410) is using the font Symbol to display the bullet icon. This font is available on my system and is embedded into the PDF. But the PDF displays a box instead of the bullet icon.

If I edit the BulletText.docx file and highlight the bullets, and change the font from Symbol to Arial (and select the correct Bulletpoint from the Arial font), then the saved PDF displays the bullets correctly.

So I believe there is a bug in your logic using the Symbol font and saving to PDF.

4

@picamark This is looks like a know peculiarity. The problem is that Windows “Symbol” font is a symbolic font (like “Webdings”, “Wingdings”, etc.) which uses Unicode PUA. MacOS or Linux “Symbol” as well as Noto Symbol font on the other hand is a proper Unicode font (for example Greek characters are in the U+0370…U+03FF Greek and Coptic block). So these fonts are incompatible and Mac/Linux “Symbol” font cannot be used instead of Windows “Symbol” without additional actions. For example the standard bullet in Windows Symbol font is U+F0B7 (or U+00B7 which also can be used in MS Word for symbolic fonts), but in Unicode font it is U+2022 .

Document doc = new Document("C:\\Temp\\in.docx");
doc.setWarningCallback(new FontSubstitutionWarningCollector());

for (com.aspose.words.List lst : doc.getLists())
{
    for (com.aspose.words.ListLevel level : lst.getListLevels())
    {
        // Replace xF0B7 symbol with x2022
        if (level.getFont().getName().equals("Symbol") && level.getNumberFormat().equals("\uF0B7"))
            level.setNumberFormat("\u2022");
    }
}

doc.save("C:\\Temp\\out.pdf");

So unfortunately, there is no simple way to replace Windows Symbolic fonts without additional actions.