Bold and Italics with Unicode Fonts In PDF

Troubleshoot PDF templates where bold or italic text stops working after Unicode fonts are enabled.

Bold and italic text can stop rendering in PDF templates when Unicode fonts are enabled.

This usually happens when the template uses Arial Unicode MS for multibyte character support.

Why it happens

When Template contains international characters (Unicode fonts) is enabled in template settings, the full document body uses Arial Unicode MS.

That font supports multibyte characters in Salesforce PDF output.

It does not reliably support bold or italic styling in that same output.

Recommended workaround

Disable Template contains international characters (Unicode fonts) at the template level.

Then apply the multibyte font only to the content that needs it, such as:

• specific paragraphs
• individual merge fields
• short multilingual sections

This keeps the rest of the PDF on a standard supported font, where bold and italic styling can still render normally.

Examples

Apply the font only where multibyte characters appear.

Apply the font to one merge field

Wrap the merge field in a span tag:

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';">{{!Contact.MailingStreet}}</span>

Use this pattern when only one field needs multibyte character support.

Apply the font to part of a sentence

Wrap only the multilingual section:

Customer name: <span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';">{{!Contact.Name}}</span>

This keeps the label text on the document's standard font.

Apply the font to a full paragraph

Wrap the full paragraph in a span tag:

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';">
    {{!Account.Description}}
</span>

If you need block-level spacing, use a paragraph tag instead:

<p style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';">
    {{!Account.Description}}
</p>

Use the paragraph approach when the full line or block needs the Unicode font.

Important limitation

If text must use a multibyte font and also appear bold, PDF output cannot support both requirements together in this scenario.

Use one of these approaches:

• prioritize multilingual character support
• keep bold or italics only on text that does not require the multibyte font
• limit Arial Unicode MS to the smallest possible section

If a field or paragraph requires Arial Unicode MS, do not expect bold or italic formatting to render in the generated PDF.

Best practice

Use Unicode support only when the full document needs it.

If only part of the document contains multibyte characters, apply the Unicode-capable font only to that content.

Test with real sample data before rollout, especially when the template mixes English text with multilingual fields.

Related resources

• Review How to Handle International Characters for Unicode setup guidance.
• Review Supported Fonts in PDF Format for Salesforce PDF font limits.
• Review PDF Rendering Considerations for broader PDF rendering behavior.