How to use fonts
Learn how to install and use fonts on your computer, in design software, and on the web. This guide covers system installation, font managers, and web usage.
You found the perfect font. Maybe you purchased it from a marketplace like MyFonts or got it from here. You downloaded it. Now what? This is the part a lot of people get stuck on, mostly because it's never really explained — fonts just sort of assume you already know.
First thing: check what you actually got. Most downloads come as a .zip, and inside you'll find one or more files ending in .ttf or .otf (occasionally .woff if it's meant for the web). Unzip everything before you try to install anything — a zipped font file won't install, and you'll just get a confused error and no explanation why.
Installing is the easy part. On a Mac, double-click the font file and Font Book opens up with an "Install Font" button sitting right there. On Windows, double-clicking pops up a preview window with an "Install" button in the corner. Either way, one click and the font is registered with your system, ready to show up in Word, Photoshop, Canva, wherever.
Here's the part that trips people up: if you already had the app open, it probably won't see the new font. Fonts get loaded into an app's font list when the app starts, not while it's running. So if you install a font and it's not showing up in your dropdown, just quit and reopen whatever you're working in. Nine times out of ten that fixes it.
If you're someone who downloads a lot of fonts — for client work, or just because you like collecting them — installing every single one system-wide gets messy fast. Long dropdown lists, slower app load times, fonts you forgot you even had. This is where a font manager earns its keep: something like FontBase lets you keep your whole library on disk without installing it all, and you just activate fonts when you need them for a specific project. Read more about the risks of having many fonts here.
One last thing worth knowing: fonts for print and fonts for the web aren't used the same way. A .ttf or .otf you install on your computer works great in design software, but if you're putting text on a website, you'd typically load it through CSS with @font-face instead of installing it locally — the two systems don't talk to each other. Good to know before you're stuck wondering why your beautifully installed font isn't showing up on your live site.
FAQ
+What file format will my downloaded font be in?
Usually .ttf or .otf, sometimes bundled together with other files inside a .zip. If you try to install straight from the zip without extracting it first, most systems will just throw a confusing error. Always unzip everything first, then look for the actual font files inside before doing anything else.
+How do I install a font on Mac?
Double-click the font file and it'll open in Font Book with a preview of the typeface. From there, click "Install Font" in the corner and it's registered system-wide. It'll now show up in the font menu of any app, from Pages to Photoshop, without needing anything else.
+How do I install a font on Windows?
Double-click the .ttf or .otf file and Windows will open a preview window showing the typeface. Click the "Install" button in that window and the font gets added to your system fonts folder automatically. Once installed, it's available in every app's font dropdown, no restart of Windows required.
+Why isn't my newly installed font showing up in an app?
This almost always happens because the app was already open when you installed the font. Most apps only read the system's font list once, when they launch, so they don't notice fonts added afterward. Quit the app completely and reopen it, and the font should appear in the list right away. If it still doesn't show up, double-check the install actually completed successfully.
+What's the point of using a font manager instead of installing directly?
Installing every font you download directly to your system works fine at first, but it gets messy once you have hundreds of them — dropdowns get long and apps slow down. A font manager like FontBase keeps your whole collection on disk without installing it all at once. You only activate the specific fonts you need for a project, keeping everything else organized and out of the way. It's mainly useful for anyone who collects or works with a lot of fonts regularly.
+Can I use the same font file on a website?
Not in the same way — installing a font on your computer only makes it available to desktop apps, not to websites. For the web, you'd reference the font file through CSS using @font-face, pointing to a .woff or .woff2 version of it. This is a separate system from your operating system's font installation, so the two don't overlap. It's a common source of confusion when a font looks perfect in design software but doesn't show up on a live site.