Mac 101: Font Book

To preview a new font that you downloaded or have on a disc, double-click the font file. Font Book will display a sample of the font. You can change the typeface (if others are available) via the pop-up menu at the top of the preview window.

If you want to install the font so that it can be used in documents you create or view, click the "Install Font" button that appears below the preview of the font.

You can also use Font Book to install one or more fonts. Choose Add Fonts from the File menu, select the font or a folder containing multiple fonts, then click Open to install the font(s).

When Font Book installs a font, it will automatically validate the font and let you know if it detects any issue with the font file. This option can be toggled by choosing Font Book > Preferences, then selecting or deselecting "Validate fonts before installing". See the "Validating fonts" section in this article for more information.

By default, Font Book will install fonts in a location where the font will only be available to the current user account. If you'd prefer to install fonts in a location where they will be available to all users on the computer, choose Font Book > Preferences, then choose "Computer" from the "Default Install Location" pop-up menu.  

There are several different ways to view fonts in Font Book. These different options help you decide which font you'd like to use for the project you are working on.

The Preview menu contains three options that affect how the preview is displayed:

• Sample (default option) displays the font using letters and numbers, or symbols when previewing a symbol font.
• Repertoire displays all characters available in the font. You may need to use the scroll bar or zoom slider bar on the right side of the window to see all of the available characters.
• Custom allows you to type in a custom phrase or selection of characters, which will be used to display the preview each time you select a font.

Note: If you don't see a preview in the Font column, choose Show Preview and Hide Font Info from the Preview menu.  

When working with fonts, you may discover that you use certain fonts frequently, but rarely use others. To make it easier to find the font you are looking for, you can organize your fonts into collections.

1. From the Font Book File menu, choose New Collection.
2. Type in a name for the new collection.
3. Click "All Fonts" in the Collection column.
4. Drag the fonts that you want from the Font column onto the name of your new collection in the Collection column.

In this example, some fonts are being dragged to a new collection named "Favorites":

In applications that use the standard Mac OS X Fonts panel, such as Mail, Pages, and TextEdit, you click the name of a collection to see only the fonts in that collection:

In situations where you'd like to prevent a font from being available in applications, but you don't want to completely remove the font from your Mac, you can use Font Book to disable the font.

1. In Font Book, click "All Fonts" in the Collection column.
2. Click the name of the font in the Font column.
3. Choose Disable "Font Name" Family from the Edit menu.

Fonts that have been disabled have their names displayed in gray text with the word "Off" appearing next to the font's name.

If you'd like to enable a font that was previously disabled, click the name of the font from the Fonts column, then choose Enable "Font Name" Family from the Edit menu.

You can also disable or enable all fonts in a collection: Click the name of the collection in the Collection column, then choose Disable "Collection Name" or Enable "Collection Name" from the Edit menu.  

If there is an issue with one of your fonts, you can use Font Book to validate all fonts or a specific font. Validating checks for potential font issues.

To validate all fonts:

1. Log in as an administrator user if you want to use the "Remove Checked" button described below. Non-admin users can also validate fonts, but only remove ones in their home folder.
2. Open Font Book.
3. Click "All Fonts" in the Collection column.
4. Choose Validate Fonts from the File menu.
5. If Font Book identifies an issue with fonts, you can click the alert icon at the bottom of the window, then click the "Remove Checked" button to remove problematic font(s). You should then re-install the affected fonts from the original source. If the font still does not pass validation, contact the creator of the font or the company that you obtained the font from for assistance.

You can also use Font Book to validate font files that have not yet been installed. Choose Validate File from the File menu, select the location that contains the font files you want to validate, then click the Open button.

To find duplicate fonts:

1. Open Font Book.
2. Click "All Fonts" in the Collection column.
3. Choose Edit > Select Duplicated Fonts. Duplicate fonts are highlighted in the Fonts column