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claude-code - 💡(How to fix) Fix [Regression] Korean text broken in pptx/docx preview after recent update (macOS) [3 comments, 1 participants]

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anthropics/claude-code#55508•Fetched 2026-05-03 04:51:33
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Regression after recent Claude Desktop update (~2026-04-28).

Korean text renders as □ (tofu) in pptx/docx file previews on macOS (Apple Silicon MacBook). This previously worked correctly — Korean pptx/docx previews were fully functional before the update. After a Claude Desktop update popup appeared ~3-4 days ago and was installed, all Korean text in Office file previews started rendering as □.

PDF previews and direct PDF generation continue to work perfectly fine.

Affected user: Korean-speaking macOS user who regularly uses Cowork for document generation (pptx/docx).

Root Cause

Regression after recent Claude Desktop update (~2026-04-28).

Korean text renders as □ (tofu) in pptx/docx file previews on macOS (Apple Silicon MacBook). This previously worked correctly — Korean pptx/docx previews were fully functional before the update. After a Claude Desktop update popup appeared ~3-4 days ago and was installed, all Korean text in Office file previews started rendering as □.

PDF previews and direct PDF generation continue to work perfectly fine.

Affected user: Korean-speaking macOS user who regularly uses Cowork for document generation (pptx/docx).

RAW_BUFFERClick to expand / collapse

Summary

Regression after recent Claude Desktop update (~2026-04-28).

Korean text renders as □ (tofu) in pptx/docx file previews on macOS (Apple Silicon MacBook). This previously worked correctly — Korean pptx/docx previews were fully functional before the update. After a Claude Desktop update popup appeared ~3-4 days ago and was installed, all Korean text in Office file previews started rendering as □.

PDF previews and direct PDF generation continue to work perfectly fine.

Affected user: Korean-speaking macOS user who regularly uses Cowork for document generation (pptx/docx).

Reproduction

  1. Ask Claude (Cowork or Chat) to generate a pptx or docx containing Korean text
  2. View the file preview in Claude Desktop → Korean text shows as □
  3. Ask Claude to convert the same content to PDF → Korean renders correctly
  4. Ask Claude to generate a PDF directly → Korean renders correctly

What works vs. what doesn't

PathKorean text
Claude generates PDF directly✅ OK
Claude generates pptx → user asks Claude to convert to PDF → preview✅ OK
Claude generates pptx/docx → Claude Desktop auto file preview❌ Broken (regression)
pptx with embedded Korean fonts → Claude Desktop auto file preview✅ OK

Observations

  • The cached preview PDF (office-cache/*.pdf) shows it was generated by LibreOffice 26.2.2.2 (AARCH64)
  • Fonts in the broken PDF: DejaVuSans, DejaVuSans-Bold, DroidSansFallback (incomplete CJK — only a few Korean glyphs render)
  • Some Korean characters ("가", "짜") appear while most others show as □, suggesting partial font coverage
  • Embedding Korean fonts directly into the pptx file (via OOXML embeddedFontLst) fixes the preview — confirming the issue is in the preview conversion pipeline

Attempted fixes (all failed)

  1. Claude Desktop 완전 재설치 — 앱 삭제 + 캐시 파일 모두 삭제 후 재설치 → 동일 증상
  2. VM 내 폰트 설치 시도 — apt-get install fonts-noto-cjk, curl로 Google Fonts 다운로드 시도 → VM 네트워크 제한으로 외부 다운로드 차단됨
  3. 폰트 변경 — Pretendard → 맑은고딕, Arial 등 다양한 폰트 지정 → 어떤 폰트를 지정해도 동일하게 깨짐
  4. macOS 폰트 캐시 확인 — 호스트 macOS에는 한글 폰트 정상 설치 확인 (fc-list :lang=ko)
  5. UTF-8 인코딩 명시적 설정 — 파일 생성 시 charset을 UTF-8로 설정하고 한국어 폰트(Apple SD Gothic Neo 등)를 명시적으로 지정 → 동일하게 깨짐
  6. 맑은고딕(Malgun Gothic) 지정 — Windows 전용 폰트라 macOS에서 사용 불가 → 실패
  7. Apple SD Gothic Neo 지정 — macOS 기본 고딕체로 변경하여 재생성 → 동일하게 깨짐
  8. pandoc으로 마크다운→docx 변환 — docx-js 라이브러리 호환성 문제 가능성을 고려하여 pandoc으로 표준 docx 생성 → 동일하게 깨짐
  9. VM 내 사용자 디렉토리에 수동 폰트 설치 — root 권한 없이 Noto Sans KR을 사용자 디렉토리에 설치하고 문서에 적용 → 동일하게 깨짐
  10. VM 내 폰트 머지, 폰트 내장 — 가능한 모든 VM 내부 방법 시도 → 전부 실패
  11. Settings → Preview 토글 껐다 켜기 — 지원팀 제안대로 시도 → 동일하게 깨짐
  12. Persist preview sessions — 원래 비활성화 상태였음, 해당 없음

Cowork 자체도 "DOCX 미리보기 렌더러는 Cowork 앱 쪽에 있어서 사용자가 손댈 수 없다"고 확인함.

Screenshots

Preview showing broken Korean text - thumbnail

Preview showing broken Korean text - full

Environment

  • macOS Darwin 25.3.0 (Apple Silicon MacBook)
  • Korean user, Korean locale
  • Claude Desktop (latest as of 2026-05-02, updated ~2026-04-28 — regression started after this update)
  • claude-code-vm version: 2.1.121
  • Host macOS has Korean fonts installed (Apple SD Gothic Neo, Pretendard, Noto Sans KR, etc.)

This likely affects all CJK (Korean/Japanese/Chinese) users on macOS who use pptx/docx preview after the ~2026-04-28 update.

extent analysis

TL;DR

The issue can likely be fixed by ensuring the correct Korean fonts are installed and utilized in the LibreOffice version used by Claude Desktop for preview generation.

Guidance

  1. Verify font installation: Confirm that the necessary Korean fonts (e.g., Noto Sans KR, Apple SD Gothic Neo) are installed on the system and accessible to the Claude Desktop application.
  2. Check LibreOffice font configuration: Investigate how LibreOffice (version 26.2.2.2) is configured to handle Korean fonts within the Claude Desktop environment, as the issue seems related to font rendering in previews.
  3. Test with embedded fonts: Since embedding Korean fonts directly into the pptx file fixes the preview, explore options to ensure these fonts are always embedded or accessible during the preview generation process.
  4. Consider updating or configuring Claude Desktop: Given the regression occurred after a Claude Desktop update, look into whether there are any settings or updates that can be applied to resolve the font rendering issue.

Example

No specific code example is provided due to the nature of the issue, which appears to be related to font configuration and rendering within the Claude Desktop application and its use of LibreOffice for preview generation.

Notes

The solution may involve adjusting the font settings within LibreOffice or ensuring that the necessary Korean fonts are properly installed and accessible to the application. The issue seems specific to the interaction between Claude Desktop, LibreOffice, and font rendering on macOS, particularly after the update around 2026-04-28.

Recommendation

Apply a workaround by embedding the necessary Korean fonts into the pptx/docx files until a more permanent fix is available from the Claude Desktop developers, as this has been shown to resolve the preview issue.

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claude-code - 💡(How to fix) Fix [Regression] Korean text broken in pptx/docx preview after recent update (macOS) [3 comments, 1 participants]