Whether you’re choosing the right font for a professional document or a personal blog, legibility, impact, and impact are important. Windows already comes with a variety of different fonts preinstalled, but what if you want something different?
In this guide, we’ll show you where to get some great free fonts, and then quickly install them, in Windows 10 and Windows 11.
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Font facts for fun
In computing, a font is typically a data file containing a collection of lines and curves, each of which defines a specific looking character (also known as a glyph) when rendered on a screen.
By using math to describe the shape instead of a fixed set of pixels, it makes it easier to scale the character’s size.
Such fonts come in two common types: TrueType, developed by Apple in the late 1980s (.tff file), and OpenType by Microsoft and Adobe (.oft). The latter builds on the foundations of the former and therefore offers more functionality, but both are fully supported by almost every operating system.
For general use it doesn’t matter what type you use, but OpenType is the best choice for designers because the data format uses superior mathematics to create the glyph (allowing for fancier looking fonts!).
Windows, like almost all operating systems, comes pre-packaged with dozens of fonts, and these are often enough for most people’s needs. However, if you want to use something different, or have a very specific look or style in mind, adding a new font is a snap.
Sourcing your new fonts
There are countless websites that offer fonts for download – some are completely free, while others come at a steep price. The reason for this depends on what license the font is distributed under.
For example, besides Helvetica/Arial, we use Roboto for most of the headlines and other UI elements you see on TechSpot. This font was developed by Google for their Android operating system. It is distributed under the Apache license – which means it can be used, modified and redistributed for any purpose without having to pay license fees.
Not all fonts are created this way. So if there is a charge to download a set, you should check the license details if you intend to use them for commercially published documents.
One of the best resources for royalty free fonts is Google Fonts. Here you can browse over 1,400 different font families and easily find something that suits your needs.
If you know the name of the font you want, just type it in the search box. However, if you’re not sure what to use, you can try them all in the Set box next to the search area. Type a few words of text and you’ll instantly see how it looks in all the fonts the site has to offer.
Once you have made your choice, click on the font and on the next page click the Download Family button. This is in the top right area of ​​the page.
The Windows Store also offers free and paid fonts, but the selection is relatively small and there’s no way to try them before you download them.
Other good sources are Fontspace for a huge selection, or Adobe Fonts if you’re looking for something specific. If you simply search the internet for “free fonts” you will get dozens of good results.
Adding a new font in Windows
Now that you have the font of your choice at hand after downloading it, locate where it was saved on your computer.
Almost all fonts are sent as a collection, compressed into a .zip file, so they need to be unzipped before you can install them.
The following images are for Windows 11, but the same option will be present in Windows 10.
Right-click on the ZIP file, select Extract All option and let the process run to completion.
You should now have a new folder in Downloads containing all of your new fonts. Enter this folder and then right click on the folder you want to install. You should then see an option to install.
Click on it and a few moments later you’re in business! You should now see the new font in other programs, such as Microsoft Office. If it isn’t already there, close the program and reopen it so that it loads the newly installed font.
This method works for all versions of Windows 7 to 11 and is perhaps the easiest installation process.
Alternatively, if you want a longer procedure, go to Windows Settings (Win key + I). Then choose Personalization > Fonts.
The best way to install fonts in Windows 10 is to go to Control Panel (start menu > Windows System > Control Panel) and look for appearance and personalization. There is the Fonts section.
Not only can you add new ones here, but you can click on them in the list that appears to see more details, such as: B. where it is installed and for which languages ​​it was developed.
And just like the Google Fonts website, you can even put the font to a quick practice test by typing in sample text.
The metadata is particularly useful when you want to ensure that all documents created using the font are subject to license restrictions.
In Windows 10 and 11, you can also delete a specific font here – just click the Uninstall button to remove it, but don’t forget that each font variant (bold, narrow, italic, etc.) must be uninstalled individually.
Find a font you like
We’ll end this article with a quick tip if you know the font you want but have no idea what it’s called or where to find it. Font matching services offer a nice way of suggesting ones to try based on a sample image you upload to the site.
For example, Font Squirrel and Font Finder use this technique, but you can also do this by providing a URL for an image. So when you saw an image with the font you want, right click on it and select “copy image address” or similar.
It’s important to make sure the image is mostly just text – if it’s small or not very clear, systems will have a hard time recognizing it. It’s also a good idea to make sure the text is as upright as possible.
Of course, such services prefer paid fonts to free ones, but the two sites we suggest always show at least one suitable font that is free.
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So there you have it – the easy way to install a new font in Windows. There are a variety of them to try, with classics like Lato and Montserrat being very popular.
But if you want something different to spice up your documents, how about Silkscreen for a touch of 1980s computer nostalgia, or Sacramento for an Italic look?
Imprint: Raphael Schaller