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Fix PanWriter Chinese PDF Export Errors: Ultimate Unicode & Security Guide

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The Complete Guide to Fixing Chinese PDF Export Errors in PanWriter

You’ve just finished writing an important Chinese document in PanWriter, but when you click “Export PDF,” you’re met with frustrating error messages about “Unicode character 以 (U+4EE5)” and “security risk.” Don’t worry – this comprehensive guide will show you exactly how to resolve these issues permanently.

Understanding the Core Problem

When PanWriter exports PDFs containing Chinese characters, two primary errors typically occur:

  1. Unicode Character Error
    ! LaTeX Error: Unicode character 以 (U+4EE5) not set up for use with LaTeX.
    This appears because PanWriter’s default PDF engine (pdflatex) doesn’t support Chinese characters.

  2. Security Warning
    pdflatex: security risk: running with elevated privileges
    This occurs when exporting PDFs with administrator privileges.

Why These Errors Happen

Component Default Behavior Chinese Compatibility Issue
Pandoc Uses pdflatex engine Lacks native Chinese support
pdflatex ASCII-focused processing Cannot render Chinese characters
PanWriter No Chinese configuration Doesn’t activate UTF-8 solutions

Technical Insight: The “以” character (U+4EE5) is simply the first Chinese character the engine encounters – any Chinese character would trigger the same error.

Step-by-Step Solution: Permanent Fix

Step 1: Change the PDF Engine

  1. Open PanWriter’s Preferences (⚙️ icon)
  2. Navigate to Export → PDF Settings
  3. In Pandoc CLI arguments, add: 
    --pdf-engine=xelatex

    This switches to the XeLaTeX engine which supports UTF-8 encoding.

Step 2: Enable Chinese Support

Add this configuration in either:

  • LaTeX Header field, OR
  • Your document’s YAML metadata block
\usepackage{ctex}

Step 3: Specify Chinese Fonts

In your document’s header (first 3 lines), add:

---
mainfont: "SimSun"
CJKmainfont: "SimSun"
---

Note: Replace “SimSun” with any installed Chinese font like “Microsoft YaHei” or “STKaiti”

Step 4: Resolve Security Warnings

Solution: Always run PanWriter as a standard user, not administrator. This eliminates:

pdflatex: security risk: running with elevated privileges

Verification Method: Command Line Testing

Test your configuration directly using Pandoc:

pandoc your_document.md \
  --pdf-engine=xelatex \
  -V documentclass=article \
  -V CTeX:scheme=plain \
  -V mainfont="SimSun" \
  -o output.pdf

Complete Configuration Template

Add this to the top of your Markdown documents:

---
pdf-engine: xelatex
documentclass: article
mainfont: "SimSun"
CJKmainfont: "SimSun"
header-includes:
  - \usepackage{ctex}
---

# Your Chinese Title Here
正文将完美渲染所有中文内容 (The body will perfectly render all Chinese content)

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does switching to XeLaTeX fix Chinese rendering?

Answer: XeLaTeX natively supports UTF-8 encoding and system fonts, unlike pdflatex which requires complex Chinese font configurations.

Can I use LuaLaTeX instead?

Answer: Absolutely! Replace --pdf-engine=xelatex with --pdf-engine=lualatex – both support Chinese characters.

What if I get “ctex package not found”?

Solution: Install the full TeX Live distribution (https://www.tug.org/texlive/) and ensure the ctex package is included.

How do I find installed Chinese fonts?

  • Windows: Control Panel → Fonts
  • macOS: Open Font Book.app
  • Linux: Run fc-list :lang=zh

Why avoid administrator privileges?

Running as admin triggers security warnings in LaTeX compilers. Standard user accounts avoid this without compromising functionality.

Technical Deep Dive: PDF Engines Compared

Engine Encoding Support Chinese Handling Security Warnings
pdflatex Limited ASCII Manual configuration needed Triggers in admin mode
xelatex Full UTF-8 Direct system font access Avoided in user mode
lualatex Full UTF-8 Advanced typography Avoided in user mode

Real-World Applications

Once configured, this solution enables:

  • Academic paper writing with Chinese references
  • Technical documentation with Chinese code comments
  • E-book creation with mixed Chinese/English content
  • Business reports requiring Chinese financial terms

Final Recommendations

  1. Always use XeLaTeX/LuaLaTeX for Chinese documents
  2. Include \usepackage{ctex} in every export
  3. Specify Chinese fonts in YAML metadata
  4. Run as standard user to avoid security warnings

This configuration creates a permanent Chinese-friendly export environment in PanWriter. The same principles apply to other Pandoc-based tools facing similar Chinese PDF export challenges.

Pro Tip: Bookmark this page – you’ll need these settings for every Chinese document you export from PanWriter!

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