Trouble changing PDF font using fontfamily

[kjohnsen]

Hello, I'm using the default PDF engine and am trying to change the font using the fontfamily option, which supposedly takes a font package name as an argument. This works with fontfamily: libertinus but not with fontfamily: mathpazo. I can't figure out why. I've tried to mess with mainfont as well, but can't get the Palatino font I'm after.

[cderv]

Is there any error message that is thrown and give hints ?

From https://www.ctan.org/pkg/mathpazo,

The Pazo Math fonts are a family of PostScript fonts suitable for typesetting mathematics in combination with the Palatino family of text fonts.

So isn't it only for math rendering ? This one is also for Palatino https://www.ctan.org/pkg/domitian

Also not that fontfamily is only for pdflatex engine I think - https://quarto.org/docs/reference/formats/pdf.html#fonts
About fontfamily

Font package to use when compiling a PDf with the pdflatex pdf-engine.

Default engine is xelatex with Quarto, and you need to change it or use the correct font option (mainfont I think with xelatex).

Hope it helps.

[kjohnsen]

So I did notice that fontfamily was only for pdflatex, but then why did setting it to libertinus work on xelatex?

Looking at this StackExchange answer, I was able to use a hacky workaround, setting fonts in the LaTeX header rather than through pandoc's options. I have no understanding of why this works, but it did the trick without having to switch PDF engines:

\usepackage{fontspec}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{mathpazo}
\setsansfont{Open Sans}

\usepackage{mathpazo} actually sets the serif font to Palatino; it doesn't just add the math font.

[kjohnsen]

My rationale for doing this was to get both the Palatino and Pazo Math fonts, which work well together. I guess the less hacky way of doing this with xelatex would be to make sure I have the fonts installed on my system and use mainfont and mathfont options

[cderv]

\usepackage{mathpazo} actually sets the serif font to Palatino; it doesn't just add the math font.

good to know ! thanks !

[kjohnsen]

Update: yep, this worked fine with xelatex after installing these fonts on my system and refreshing the font cache.

format:
  pdf:
    mainfont: TeX Gyre Pagella
    mathfont: TeX Gyre Pagella Math
    sansfont: Open Sans

[cderv]

I think that is the correct way to do that with Pandoc, at least how the Pandoc's template expects it. Unless you switch fro xelatex to pdflatex

I think you can mark this as the answer

[kjohnsen]

Thanks!