PDF with HTML5 and CSS - Build fails with cross reference and accessibility or archiving mode
Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2026 12:32 pm
Using Oxygen 28 and Windows 11 (same happens also with Oxygen 27):
If a DITA topic contains cross references and the pdf.accessibility or pdf.archiving.mode parameters are used, the build fails with the error message: [CH] Error com.oxygenxml.chemistry.d.fb "FOP stage failed: For PDF/UA-1, all fonts, even the base 14 fonts, have to be embedded! Offending font: /Helvetica-Oblique"
Setting the args.css.param.show-onpage-lbl parameter to no makes the build run OK, so I suppose the problem is that the build is trying to use and embed Helvetica Oblique for the "on page" part of the output. And since that font is not shipped with Windows (don't know about Macs), the build fails as designed. Of course there are easy CSS workarounds, but I suppose the build should work out of the box?
If a DITA topic contains cross references and the pdf.accessibility or pdf.archiving.mode parameters are used, the build fails with the error message: [CH] Error com.oxygenxml.chemistry.d.fb "FOP stage failed: For PDF/UA-1, all fonts, even the base 14 fonts, have to be embedded! Offending font: /Helvetica-Oblique"
Setting the args.css.param.show-onpage-lbl parameter to no makes the build run OK, so I suppose the problem is that the build is trying to use and embed Helvetica Oblique for the "on page" part of the output. And since that font is not shipped with Windows (don't know about Macs), the build fails as designed. Of course there are easy CSS workarounds, but I suppose the build should work out of the box?