To be clear it is possible to get it working generally and I have got it working in a minimal document. However I just can't get it to work in my actual thesis. I did not succeed in creating a true minimal example of the issue, therefore I'm going to dump a short example with my entire preamble and essentially the whole document structure:
%% LyX 2.2.0 created this file. For more info, see http://www.lyx.org/.
%% Do not edit unless you really know what you are doing.
\documentclass[12pt,english,ngerman,openany]{book}
\usepackage{helvet}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[charter,expert]{mathdesign}
\usepackage[a4paper]{geometry}
\geometry{verbose,tmargin=2.5cm,lmargin=4.5cm,rmargin=3.5cm,headheight=15mm}
\usepackage{fancyhdr}
\pagestyle{fancy}
\usepackage{refstyle}
\usepackage{float}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{amsthm}
\usepackage[demo]{graphicx}
\usepackage{setspace}
\onehalfspacing
\makeatletter
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% LyX specific LaTeX commands.
\AtBeginDocument{\providecommand\figref[1]{\ref{fig:#1}}}
\AtBeginDocument{\providecommand\eqref[1]{\ref{eq:#1}}}
\AtBeginDocument{\providecommand\subsecref[1]{\ref{subsec:#1}}}
\AtBeginDocument{\providecommand\algref[1]{\ref{alg:#1}}}
\AtBeginDocument{\providecommand\secref[1]{\ref{sec:#1}}}
\AtBeginDocument{\providecommand\tabref[1]{\ref{tab:#1}}}
%% Because html converters don't know tabularnewline
\providecommand{\tabularnewline}{\\}
\floatstyle{ruled}
\newfloat{algorithm}{tbp}{loa}[chapter]
\providecommand{\algorithmname}{Algorithmus}
\floatname{algorithm}{\protect\algorithmname}
\RS@ifundefined{subsecref}
{\newref{subsec}{name = \RSsectxt}}
{}
\RS@ifundefined{thmref}
{\def\RSthmtxt{theorem~}\newref{thm}{name = \RSthmtxt}}
{}
\RS@ifundefined{lemref}
{\def\RSlemtxt{lemma~}\newref{lem}{name = \RSlemtxt}}
{}
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Textclass specific LaTeX commands.
\numberwithin{equation}{section}
\numberwithin{figure}{section}
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% User specified LaTeX commands.
\usepackage{XCharter}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\usepackage{babel}
\usepackage[tracking,kerning=true,letterspace=60,babel]{microtype}
\usepackage[dvipsnames]{xcolor}
\usepackage{pstricks}
\usepackage{siunitx}
\usepackage{placeins}
\usepackage{mdframed}
\usepackage{csquotes}
\usepackage[width=0.85\textwidth]{caption}
\usepackage{quoting}
\usepackage{varioref}
\usepackage[style=numeric,backend=biber,isbn=false,url=true,doi=true]{biblatex}
\usepackage[toc,page]{appendix}
\usepackage[calcwidth]{titlesec}
\usepackage[unicode=true,pdfusetitle,
bookmarks=true,bookmarksnumbered=false,bookmarksopen=false,
breaklinks=false,pdfborder={0 0 1},backref=false,colorlinks=false,hidelinks=true]
{hyperref}
%%%%%%%%%%%5
%Setup units
%%%%%%%%%%
\sisetup{copy-decimal-marker}
\DeclareSIUnit[number-unit-product=\,]\rpm{rpm}
\captionsetup[figure]{font=small,labelfont=bf,textfont=sl}
%%%%%%%%%%%
%Custom figures
%%%%%%%%%%%%
\let\figoldstart\figure
\let\figoldend\endfigure
\renewenvironment*{figure}[1][btph]{\figoldstart[#1]{}\begin{mdframed}[userdefinedwidth=0.9\textwidth{},align=center]\bgroup\centering}{\egroup\end{mdframed}\figoldend{}}
%%%%%%%%
%Bibliography
%%%%%%%%%%%%%5
\addbibresource{literatur.bib}
%%%%%%%
%Custom section formats
%%%%%%%%%%
%\newcommand{\chapterbreak}{\clearpage}
\titleformat{\chapter}[block]
{\filcenter\Large\scshape}
{\Huge\rmfamily\bfseries\color{Mahogany}\thechapter}
{0.5em}
{}
[{
\begingroup
\setlength{\titlewidth}{0.88\textwidth}
\titleline*[c]{\titlerule[.3pt]}
\endgroup
\addvspace{3pt}
\begingroup
\color{Mahogany}
\setlength{\titlewidth}{0.44\textwidth}
\titleline*[c]{\titlerule[0.5pt]}
\endgroup
\addvspace{2pt}
\begingroup
\setlength{\titlewidth}{0.66\textwidth}
\titleline*[c]{\titlerule[.3pt]}
\endgroup
}]
\titlespacing*{\chapter}{0pt}{-1\baselineskip}{\baselineskip}
\newcommand*{\spacedUpCase}[1]{\textls{\MakeUppercase{#1}}}
\titleformat{\section}{\sffamily\large}{{\fcolorbox{White}{Mahogany}{\color{White}\rmfamily\itshape\thesection}}}{0.5em}{\spacedUpCase}%\textls{\MakeUppercase{#1}}}
\titlespacing*{\section}{0pt}{1.5\baselineskip}{1ex}
\newcommand*{\dashafter}[1]{#1\ ---}
\titleformat{\subsection}[block]{\bfseries\centering}{\thesubsection}{0.5em}{}[]
\titlespacing*{\subsection}{0pt}{2ex}{0.5ex}
\titleformat{\subsubsection}[runin]{\itshape}{\thesubsubsection}{0pt}{}[\,{\color{Mahogany}\Large--}]
\titlespacing{\subsubsection}{0pt}{\baselineskip}{1.5ex}
%%%%%%%%%
%Custom references
%%%%%%%%%%%%
\newref{fig}{refcmd={\textsl{Abbildung~\textsf{\ref{#1}}}~\vpageref{#1}}}
\newref{sec}{refcmd={Abschnitt \textbf{\ref{#1}}}}
\newref{subsec}{refcmd={\textsl{Abschnitt~\textsf{\ref{#1}}}}}
\newref{alg}{refcmd={\textsl{Algorithmus~\textsf{\ref{#1}}}~\vpageref{#1}}}
\newref{eq}{refcmd={\textsl{Gleichung~\textsf{\ref{#1}}}}}
\setcounter{errorcontextlines}{9999}
%%%%%%%%%%%%%5
%Custom quotes
%%%%%%%%%%%%
\newcommand*{\boldopenquote}{{\color{Mahogany}\upshape\textbf{,,}}}
\newcommand*{\boldendquote}{{\color{Mahogany}\fontshape{n}\fontseries{b}\selectfont\textquotedblright}}
\quotingsetup{font=itshape,begintext=\boldopenquote,endtext=\boldendquote}
\renewenvironment*{quote}{\begin{quoting}}{\end{quoting}}
\renewenvironment*{quotation}{\begin{quoting}}{\end{quoting}}
%header spacing
\setlength{\headsep}{\baselineskip}
%appendix name
\renewcommand*{\appendixpagename}{Anhang}
\renewcommand*{\appendixtocname}{\appendixpagename}
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%Page header setup macro
%%%%%%%%%%%%
\newcommand*{\pghdrsetup}[0]{
\fancyhead[LE]{\includegraphics[width=15mm, height=8mm]{logo}\hspace{2mm} \textit{\small Max Mustermann}}
\fancyhead[RO]{ \textit{\small Max Mustermann }\hspace{2,25mm} \includegraphics[width=15mm, height=8mm]{logo}}
\fancyhead[RE,LO]{}
\chead{\scshape\small Title of \\my Thesis}
\fancyheadoffset[LR]{2cm}}
\fancypagestyle{plain}{\pghdrsetup}
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%prevent empty pages
%%%%%%%%
\let\cleardoublepage\clearpage
%%%%%%%%%%%%
%microtype extra settings
%%%%%%%%%%
\SetExtraKerning[inputenc=utf8]{encoding={*}, family={bch}}{„={,1000},\textquotedblright={1000,}}
\makeatother
\usepackage{babel}
\addto\captionsenglish{\renewcommand{\algorithmname}{Algorithm}}
\addto\captionsngerman{\renewcommand{\algorithmname}{Algorithmus}}
\begin{document}
\raggedbottom{}\newgeometry{left=3cm,right=3cm,top=2cm,bottom=2cm}\begin{titlepage}
\begin{center}
\includegraphics[width=4cm]{logo}\bigskip{}
\par\end{center}
\begin{center}
\linespread{1.2}\Huge Title of my thesis
\par\end{center}
\vspace*{1.5em}
\begin{singlespace}
\begin{center}
{\large{}Max Mustermann}
\par\end{center}{\large \par}
\begin{center}
\textsf{\large{}\today}
\par\end{center}{\large \par}
\end{singlespace}
\vfill{}
\begin{center}
\includegraphics[width=7.5cm]{something}
\par\end{center}
\medskip{}
\begin{singlespace}
{\centering\large\textls[250]{\textsc{Thesis}}\par}
\end{singlespace}
\medskip{}
{\centering Additional Stuff here (omitted)\par}
\vfill{}
\end{titlepage}\restoregeometry{}
\frontmatter\lipsum[1]
\newpage{}
\lipsum[1]\newpage{}
%\pagestyle{plain}
%\pagenumbering{Roman}
\tableofcontents{}
\pagebreak{}
\mainmatter
\pagestyle{fancy}
\pghdrsetup
\chapter{A frustraing excercise in Latex}
\section{Why won't this freaking work?}
\subsection{Lo and behold}
\lipsum[1]
\selectlanguage{english}%
\begin{quotation}
Some quotation goes here, not that short in size either\@. Not long enough to use lipsum however\@. Unfortunately kerning doesn't work\@.
\end{quotation}
\selectlanguage{ngerman}%
\lipsum[1]
\noindent %\backmatter
\printbibliography
\appendix
\pagebreak{}
%\rhead{Anhang}
\appendixpage
\end{document}
On the other hand in this minimal example it seems to work just fine
\documentclass[english,ngerman]{book}
\usepackage[charter]{mathdesign}
\usepackage{babel}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{XCharter}
\usepackage[kerning,babel]{microtype}
\usepackage[dvipsnames]{xcolor}
\usepackage{quoting}
\newcommand*{\boldopenquote}{{\color{Mahogany}\upshape\textbf{,,}}}
\newcommand*{\boldendquote}{{\color{Mahogany}\fontshape{n}\fontseries{b}\selectfont\textquotedblright}}
\quotingsetup{font=itshape,begintext=\boldopenquote,endtext=\boldendquote}
\SetExtraKerning[inputenc=utf8]{encoding={*}, font={bch}, series={b}}{„={,1000},\textquotedblright={1000,}}
\begin{document}
\selectlanguage{english}%
\begin{quoting}
lorem ipsum
\end{quoting}
\end{document}
I just can't figure out what the problem is in my actual document. I'm using the most up to date MikTex. I'd be very grateful for any pointes.
XCharter-TLF
and notbch
. – Ulrike Fischer Sep 16 '16 at 10:59inputenc
. But your microtype configuration suggests you are not using TeX. That leaves pdfTeX. But then you are loadingpstricks
(without doing anything special), which won't work properly with pdfTeX and will cause some other things to break. – cfr Sep 17 '16 at 1:27