How to install new fonts in various versions of Windows

How to add more fonts to Windows

Fonts are a great way to enrich your documents and there is simply not enough of them. You can find many sites that offer great looking fonts, but some users have trouble with adding them to Windows so they can be used Word and other programs.

This article covers the basics about installing new fonts in Windows with a little bit of additional information about fonts in general.

Installing new fonts in Windows 10 and Windows 8

Windows context menuIn case you are experienced Windows user, nothing much has changed since Windows 7. You pretty much install fonts via the Install function when you right-click on them.

This requires Administrative Rights, so usually won't be useable on public computers.

Microsoft Windows natively supports OpenType (.otf), TrueType (.ttf, .ttc), Adobe Postscript (.pfm, .ofm) and also somewhat outdated .fon fonts. For other font files, you would need some 3rd party Font Manager.

Occasionally, Windows may not recognize the font file, but do not panic. This usually happens on fresh installations of Windows in which you have never opened the default Font Viewer or installed any new fonts.

If that happens for you, simply open the font in the Windows Font Viewer and use the Install option as you can see on the screenshot below.

Windows 10 Font Viewer

Windows 10 Font Viewer

And that's pretty much it, the font will be listed in the Fonts control panel and you can work with them like usual.

Useful function in Fonts control panel

Windows 7 introduced several useful functions in the Fonts control panel and nothing has changed much in Windows 8 and Windows 10. One of the most useful features is the ability to hide fonts for programs, such as Word.

This can be especially handy if you use just couple of fonts, and don't want to scroll through whole list every time you want to change a font.

If you want to hide some font, simply select it and click on the Hide button in the menu that appears above the list of the fonts. You can switch between visible or hidden option for fonts as you like.

Fonts control panel in Windows 10

Windows 10 Fonts Control panels

Installing new fonts in Windows 7 or Windows Vista

The fonts are installed the same way as described for Windows 10, the main difference is the look of the Windows. Nevertheless, the functionalities are the same.

It is likely that there is not much difference in Windows Vista, although some wording in the control panel may be different.

Installing new fonts in Windows XP

If you are for whatever reason still using Windows XP and need new fonts of it, you have to do it the "old fashioned" way, directly through the Fonts control panel.

To install fonts,  simply drag the font file to the opened Fonts control panel, or alternatively select File ► Install New Font... and browse to the location of the font file.

Microsoft Windows XP Fonts control panel screenshot

Microsoft Windows XP Fonts control panel

Related software and links:

Microsoft Windows icon

Microsoft Windows    Microsoft Windows platform
A series of operating systems developed by Microsoft

 

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Related file extensions

compositefont - Composite font file

fon - Microsoft Windows bitmap font

ofm - Adobe PostScript font description data

otf - OpenType font file format

pfb - Type 1 PostScript font

pfm - Printer outline metric font

ttc - TrueType Font collection

ttf - TrueType font

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