Install fonts on a Mac

Every Mac comes pre­in­stalled with a selection of fonts. But sometimes the available choices don’t fit your project. You can download new fonts via websites like What The Font and use them in text-editing or image editing ap­pli­ca­tions within a few minutes after in­stal­la­tion. No IT expertise necessary to install fonts on your Mac! Learn how to quickly add the fonts you need with this tutorial.

How to install new fonts on a Mac with Font Book

The easiest way to install new fonts on your Mac is by using Font Book. Font Book is an ap­pli­ca­tion that comes pre-installed on every Mac to help manage fonts. It lets you install fonts on your Mac to be used by your account only, all accounts, or the entire network. Read on to find out the steps for each of the three scenarios.

Install font for in­di­vid­ual users

Step 1: Open the “Finder” on your Mac and find the folder with the down­loaded font. This is usually located in the “Downloads” folder.

Step 2: Open the folder and then click the file with “.ttf” or “.ttc”, or “.otf” extension.

Step 3: A pop-up for the re­spec­tive font will appear. Click on “Install Font”.

Step 4: Afterward, the font col­lec­tion will open and the new font will be displayed under “All Fonts”.

Install font for all users

Step 1: If you want to install Mac fonts ac­ces­si­ble to all users, click “Ap­pli­ca­tions” in Finder and select the “Font Book” ap­pli­ca­tion.

Step 2: Click “Font Book” and “Pref­er­ences…” at the top left of the Apple icon.

Step 3: Now select “Computer” from the “Default Install Location”.

Step 4: Open the folder with the down­loaded font and click on the file with the extension “.ttf” or “.ttc” or “.otf”.

Step 5: A pop-up window for the re­spec­tive font will appear. Click “Install” so that all users of your Mac can use the font.

Install font for the entire network

Step 1: If you’re a network ad­min­is­tra­tor and wish to install new Mac fonts that are ac­ces­si­ble to all network users, first make a copy of the font folder.

Step 2: In the Finder, click “Go” and “Go to Folder…” from the top nav­i­ga­tion panel on your desktop. If you prefer Mac shortcuts, enter the key com­bi­na­tion [Cmd] + [Shift] + [G].

Step 3: Once the pop-up window appears, type “Network/Library/Fonts” in the search box and then click “Go”.

Step 4: In the final step, simply paste the copied fonts into the folder.

Manually install fonts

You don’t have to use the Font Book to install a font on your Mac. Instead, you can proceed manually. To do this, follow the steps below:

Step 1: Open the Finder and click “Go” and “Go To Folder…” in the top nav­i­ga­tion bar on your desktop.

Step 2: Type “/Library/Fonts” in the pop-up window and click “Go”.

Step 3: Once the Fonts folder opens, add the unzipped font file (using the copy-paste function or drag-and-drop method).

Preview of installed fonts

As a font col­lec­tion grows, it can be chal­leng­ing to keep track of it. If you regularly install new fonts, it may be worth creating a Mac folder to group your fonts into different cat­e­gories. You can quickly preview installed fonts in the following manner.

Step 1: Launch “Font Book”.

Step 2: Click on the re­spec­tive font you want to preview.

Step 3: The preview appears in the right half of the window. To change it, click on one of the options at the top left.

Mac: Disable or remove font

Much like you can install new fonts, you can de­ac­ti­vate or remove them if you no longer need them. If you de­ac­ti­vate a font, it remains on your system, but is no longer displayed in ap­pli­ca­tions or the Font Book. With uninstall, you remove the font per­ma­nent­ly. Here’s how:

1. Open “Font Book”.
2. Select the fonts to disable or remove.
3. Right-click for a dropdown to appear.
4. Click on “Disable [font] Family” or “Remove [font] Family”.
5. If you selected the “Remove” option, a pop-up window appears to confirm your selection.