Other languages and fonts
Scissor LaTeX typesets text in any language: type the text in UTF-8 and Scissor LaTeX picks a font that has the script. Fonts can only be switched between serif and sans serif; babel, polyglossia and fontspec settings are ignored, and hyphenation and names such as "Figure" stay English.
Type the text as it is
Scissor LaTeX reads your source as UTF-8, so you can type ä, ß, é, ñ or ł directly. The classic LaTeX accent commands such as \"a or \c{c} work too, and inputenc and fontenc are not needed (they are accepted and ignored).
German text with umlauts and quotation marks
Die Größe der Straße wurde am Montag gemessen: 44~m.
Man sagt „gut gemacht“ oder \"Ubung macht den Meister.
Français: déjà vu, garçon. Español: ¿Dónde está la niña?
Other scripts
Greek, Cyrillic, Arabic, Hebrew, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Devanagari and many other scripts typeset without any setup. When the text uses a script that Latin Modern lacks, the editor loads a matching Noto font the first time it is needed (after that it is stored for offline use).
Several scripts in one document
Ελληνικά: Καλημέρα. Русский: Доброе утро.
中文：早上好。日本語：おはようございます。한국어: 좋은 아침.
हिन्दी: सुप्रभात।
Right-to-left text
Arabic and Hebrew words are shaped and ordered right to left within a line. The paragraph itself stays left to right: lines start at the left margin, and punctuation at the end of a paragraph goes to the right end of the line. That reads well for words and phrases inside English text; for whole documents in Arabic or Hebrew the layout is not what a reader expects.
Arabic and Hebrew inside an English paragraph
The word for peace is \foreignlanguage{arabic}{سلام} in Arabic
and שלום in Hebrew.
العربية: مرحبا بالعالم.
babel and polyglossia
\usepackage[ngerman]{babel}, \usepackage{polyglossia} with \setdefaultlanguage, \selectlanguage and \foreignlanguage are accepted, but the language settings are not applied:
| Feature | In Scissor LaTeX |
|---|---|
| Text in the language | Works (type it in UTF-8). |
| Hyphenation | Always English rules. |
| Names: "Figure", "Table", "References", "Proof", "Chapter" | Always English. |
Date from \today | Prints nothing; write the date yourself. |
\foreignlanguage{lang}{text} | The text is kept. |
Shorthands such as "a (ngerman) or \og (french) | Not read. |
babel ngerman: the caption name stays English
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[ngerman]{babel}
\usepackage{booktabs}
\begin{document}
\begin{table}[h]
\centering
\caption{Messwerte}
\begin{tabular}{lr}
\toprule
Ort & Wert \\
\midrule
Berlin & 44 \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\end{table}
\end{document}Fonts
Body text is set in Latin Modern, the look of LaTeX's default Computer Modern, at the size of the class options. Formulas use New Computer Modern Math, and \texttt and code use Latin Modern Mono. Within that, you can switch the whole document to sans serif:
| Setting | In Scissor LaTeX |
|---|---|
\renewcommand{\familydefault}{\sfdefault} | Works: the body text is set in Latin Modern Sans. |
\usepackage{helvet} (or tgheros) with the line above | Works: the sans-serif face is TeX Gyre Heros, a Helvetica look-alike. |
\usepackage{cmbright}, \usepackage{arev} | Partly: text and formulas in sans serif, shown with Latin Modern Sans. |
\usepackage{sfmath} | Works: formulas in sans serif. |
| KOMA-Script classes | Headings and title in sans serif. |
\textsf{...}, \sffamily inside the text | Left out: the text stays serif. |
fontspec: \setmainfont, \setsansfont | Ignored. |
Font packages: mathptmx, times, palatino, libertine, charter ... | Ignored: the text stays Latin Modern. |
Size commands: \small, \large, \Huge ... | Works, in the current font. |
The whole document in sans serif with helvet
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{helvet}
\renewcommand{\familydefault}{\sfdefault}
\begin{document}
\section{A sans-serif document}
The body text uses a Helvetica look-alike, while the formula
$a^2 + b^2 = c^2$ keeps the math font.
\end{document}
What differs from a TeX installation
In a TeX installation, documents with Arabic, Hebrew or CJK text need XeLaTeX or LuaLaTeX with suitable fonts, or packages such as CJKutf8; the same source then compiles there with those additions. See babel and polyglossia and fonts and fontspec. The manuals are on CTAN: babel, polyglossia, fontspec.
Questions and answers
How do I write umlauts in LaTeX?
Type them directly: Scissor LaTeX reads UTF-8, so ä, ö, ü and ß work as they are. The commands \"a and \ss work too.
Can I write Chinese or Arabic in Scissor LaTeX?
Yes. Type the text, and a font with the script is loaded automatically. Arabic and Hebrew are shaped right to left inside each line, while the paragraph stays left to right.
How do I change the font of my document?
You can switch to sans serif with \renewcommand{\familydefault}{\sfdefault}, optionally with \usepackage{helvet}. Other fonts, including fontspec settings, are not available.
Every example on this page is typeset by Scissor LaTeX when the site is built. Last updated 2026-11-07.