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Troubleshooting OMGF: Common Issues and Solutions for Local Google Fonts

49 threads Sep 10, 2025

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OMGF | GDPR/DSGVO Compliant, Faster Google Fonts. Easy. is a popular plugin for hosting Google Fonts locally, but users can sometimes run into issues during setup or after updates. This guide compiles common problems and their solutions based on community reports.

1. Fonts Not Detected or List Appears Empty

Why it happens: This is one of the most frequent issues. It often occurs because the fonts are not being loaded in a way OMGF can detect. Themes or plugins might load fonts asynchronously, from a script, or via an @import statement inside another stylesheet.

Solutions:

  • Check for conflicts: Ensure any Google Font optimization features in your caching plugin (e.g., WP Rocket, WP Fastest Cache) or theme (e.g., Divi's 'Improve Google Fonts Loading', Avada's font system) are completely disabled. These can interfere with OMGF's detection.
  • Verify the request: Fonts must be properly enqueued as a link tag in the page's source to be detected. If they are loaded from a script or via unconventional methods, the free version of OMGF may not find them.
  • Clear all caches: After configuring OMGF, clear your page cache, browser cache, and any other relevant caches (e.g., Cloudflare, theme cache) to see the changes.

2. Fonts Only Visible for Logged-in Users

Why it happens: This is almost always a caching issue. Caching plugins often serve a cached version of the site to visitors, which may not include the newly generated local fonts stylesheet.

Solutions:

  • Bust the cache: Manually clear all caching layers on your site. This includes your WordPress caching plugin, server-level cache, and CDN cache (e.g., Cloudflare).
  • Re-save settings: After clearing the cache, go to OMGF's settings and click 'Save & Optimize' again to regenerate the stylesheet.

3. Broken or Missing Characters (e.g., 'A', Cyrillic letters)

Why it happens: This typically occurs when the correct character subsets (e.g., latin-ext, cyrillic) are not being loaded. The issue was also linked to a known bug in older versions of OMGF that affected font rendering on macOS.

Solutions:

  • Check Used Subsets: In OMGF's Advanced Settings, ensure the necessary subsets (e.g., 'latin', 'latin-ext', 'cyrillic') are selected. Do not rely on 'Auto' configuration if you are experiencing issues; manually select the subsets your site requires.
  • Update the plugin: A bug causing broken capital A's was identified and fixed in OMGF version 5.3.0. Ensure you are running at least this version.

4. Font Files Download as 0 Bytes or Are Not Downloaded

Why it happens: A server or connection issue can sometimes interrupt the download process from Google's servers.

Solutions:

  • Retry the download: Use the 'Empty Download Folder' option in OMGF and then try to 'Save & Optimize' again. The plugin has built-in fallbacks to try different download methods if one fails.
  • Check for errors: Open your browser's console (F12) before downloading fonts to see if any errors are reported during the process.

5. Specific Fonts or Icons Not Supported

Why it happens: OMGF is designed specifically for Google Fonts. It does not handle other services like FontAwesome or Google Material Icons, as they are not part of the Google Fonts library.

Solutions:

  • You will need to manage these assets separately. The 'OMGF | GDPR/DSGVO Compliant, Faster Google Fonts. Easy.' team has noted that adding support for Material Icons is a requested feature, but it is not available in the free version.

6. Cloudflare or Other CDN Issues

Why it happens: CDNs aggressively cache resources. If the CSS file generated by OMGF is cached before it is fully updated, visitors may see old stylesheets or missing fonts.

Solutions:

  • Purge CDN cache: Any time you update OMGF's settings, you must purge your CDN's cache.
  • Check for bypass rules: Ensure your CDN is not caching the /wp-content/cache/omgf-webfonts/ directory. You may need to create a custom rule to bypass the cache for this path.

When troubleshooting, a good first step is always to temporarily disable other plugins and switch to a default theme to rule out conflicts. Remember to clear all caches between each test.

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