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Installing fonts into your computer is very easy. It is very easy to download any font you may like and add them to your system. Also, the fact that most of the fonts are available for free, makes it an even more lucrative prospect for the creative thinkers. Texts are a great way to express your thoughts to the world. A mix and match of font to create the most attractive style is always high in demand. So when we download free fonts, we may like more than one. There are new fonts added almost every day. So what if we feel like downloading multiple fonts all at once? Can we use multiple fonts on windows/Mac at one go?

Most Often Faced Problems With Fonts?

Although downloading and installing fonts are very easy, sometimes we face issues with some files. These are compressed files such as .ttf, .zip and .otf ones which may be little tricky to install. In this article, we will tell you everything you need to know about installing fonts into your windows and Mac computers.

Installing Fonts Into Windows:

There are two ways in which we can install fonts into our Windows computer systems. There is the “one-click” way, and also the copy and paste method. We will discuss both the ways in detail.

The One-click method, Step-by-Step guidance:

  1. Step One : Open your font folder where you have all your newly downloaded fonts. These files are normally extracted from zip files.
  2. Step Two: If you have not extracted the font files in to one folder and files are spread across many folders. Search for your font files by using windows search option using CTRL and F. Type in .ttf or .otf (font file extensions) and just select the font you would want to install. You can also mark them all at once by using the CTRL and A shortcut.
  3. Step Three: After you have selected your .ttf and .otf files, simply select them and install using the right click of the mouse.

The copy and paste method, step-by-step guidance:

  1. Step One: The first step would be to open the designated folder where your downloaded fonts are located. These are files extracted from zip files.
  2. Step Two: If you have not extracted the font files in to one folder and files are spread across many folders. Search for your font files by using windows search option using CTRL and F. Type in .ttf or .otf (font file extensions) and just select the font you would want to install. You can also mark them all at once by using the CTRL and A shortcut.
  3. Step Three: Copy all of the font files. You can use the CTRL and C shortcut to copy or use the right button of the mouse and select copy.
  4. Step Four: After you have copied the font files, paste them directly into the Control Panel font folder.

Installation Details:

To install a font onto Windows, it needs to be downloaded in the right format. Some popular formats are the PostScript Type (extension -.pfb or .pfm), the TrueType (extension – .ttf), the OpenType (extension – .otf) and the TrueType Collection type (extension – .ttc) among the formats. To install any of the font type, one need to right-click on the downloaded file and then select the “Install” option. The files which are archived and compressed needs to be extracted first before installing.

To check all your installed folder, you can find the list in your Fonts folder. Start by opening the “Control Panel”. Once in control panel, you can select the “Appearance and Personalization” option. Select the “Fonts” button to access all the fonts in it. Another way of accessing the font folder is by the windows button option in your keyboard. It would normally carry the Windows logo on it. Press the button and in the search bar option of the “Start Menu”, type in “font”. The result will take you to the font folder of control panel.

You can preview all the installed fonts in your system from the font folder. To delete any font, simply delete the files from here. In order to install any new font file, simply drag the font files into the folder to install.

A few Noteworthy details:

  • In case you have a font already installed, but you don’t remember having installed it, Windows pops up a message as a reminder. You need not worry about any such pop-ups. The pop-up is a simple reminder of whether you would want to overwrite on the already present font file or is it a new one. You can opt for your choice and click the box which says “Do this for all current items” which ensure the same choice for all such reminders in the future.
  • If you install a new font when the Microsoft Office program is running, it fails to recognize the new font. So you cannot use it immediately. You need to restart Microsoft Office again to be able to access the new installed fonts.
  • Sometimes your system may not recognize the font format. At such instances, it may fail to recognize the new font even after restarting the system. There are OTF and TTF as the two major font formats. OTF is the new version and may not be recognized by older systems. Try searching for your font in TTF if you have issues installing.
  • If you still come across issues inspite of following all the above, write to your windows network assistance for help.

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Installing Multiple Font Onto Mac:

The step-by-step guide to installing a font onto a Mac is as follows:

  • Step One: Start by first unpacking your zipped folder which contains the font.
  • Step Two: After you unpack the zip file, go to the font folder which contain the font. You should double click onto the OTF or the TTF font file format available. The OTF is the most current format and therefore it is recommended for your Mac system.
  • Step Three: Once you locate your font file, you can double click on to the file. A separate window will pop up which will have a preview of the font about to be installed. There will be a small button at the bottom of the window which says install. After you double click a window will open with a preview of the font and a small button at the bottom saying “Install”.
  • Step Four: After you like the preview and confirm the font file, you can select the install button in order to install the font file onto your Mac.
  • Step Five: Once your installation is complete, you should restart the application to access your font file. In case you are not able to access the new font file, try to restart the system.

Installing Multiple Fonts Onto your Mac system:

  1. Step One: Start by opening the “Font Book” in your Mac.
  2. Step two: In the “Font Book”, you must select the “Add Fonts” button from the “File Menu”. This will help in locating the folder where you have installed the fonts.
  3. Step Three: The next step is to select the fonts you would want to install. You can use the “Search” button for it. The functional “Search” is located towards the upper right-hand side corner of your window. You can use the search terms .otf and .ttf to search for font files if they are installed across several folders.

Installation Details

If you intend to install your font onto a Mac OS X, the file format to download would be the the Datafork TrueType Suitcase (extension-dfont), the TrueType (extension-ttf) and the OpenType format (extension-otf). There is another more older version of font files which the Mac system supports, such as the PostScript Type 1. You can preview the font type by double clicking the file which opens up a preview window. The preview window has an install button at the bottom from where you can install the files.

You can also find the Font Book application, which contain a list of the installed fonts. To open the font book application you must open the Finder in you Mac. In the finder, select Applications which can be located in the sidebar. There locate the Font Book and double-click on it.

Another way would be to open the LaunchPAd in you Mac. There you will find shortcut to all your application. Simply locate Font Book and click on it.

Another method to directly open font book from your keyboard would be to use the shortcut command and space. It opens up the spotlight search engine and you can type in Font Book there and press enter.

Fonts, as mentioned above, can be previewed by clicking on them. To remove a particular font, simply right click and choose the remove font option. The same font can also be disabled by right clicking and choosing the disable option. If you want to install multiple font at the same time, it can be done by dragging multiple font files onto the “Font Book”.