Times New Roman Ligatures are not working in Overleaf

Question

I was trying to get ligatures for Times New Roman to work in Overleaf. I have to use XeLatex for this.

Through research, I have tried using [Mapping=tex-text,Ligatures=TeX], [Ligatures=TeX], [Ligatures=Rare], [Ligatures=Discretionary] and all kinds of similar combinations as options for \setmainfont{Times New Roman}.

They still look like this (no ligatures):

While I am expecting this (with ligatures):

Also, as a note that that I am not sure whether it is relevant, according to this post, I need a .tec file which I do not know how to compile given I am using overleaf.

Additionally, with the [Ligatures=Rare] options, I got an error message stating it does not exist:

Package fontspec Warning: OpenType feature 'Ligatures=Rare' (dlig) not available for font 'Times New Roman' with script 'CustomDefault' and language 'Default'.

[Ligatures=TeX] does not have an error message is to no use.

Truncated (no titles etc.) source if needed:

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{fontspec}
\setmainfont[Ligatures=TeX]{Times New Roman}
\setsansfont{Arial}

\begin{document}

ff ffi

\end{document}

How do I get it to work for Overleaf, XeLatex, Times New Roman?

Answer 1

The freely distributable font as on Overleaf doesn't have the ligatures as you can see by using the pre-composed characters U+FB00 U+FB03 ff ffi directly

better to use a free Times Roman clone such as TeX Gyre Termes