Everyone remembers seeing these dreaded words on their latest essay assignment: Times New Roman, 12-pt font, 1-inch margins all around, double-spaced. Teachers and business owners alike consider Times New Roman the standard font for reports due to its long history in print.

However, sometimes, you need something with a bit more pizzazz. You need a font that will grab people’s attention while still remaining readable. Luckily, the internet has thousands of types of fonts available for use.

Downloading new fonts is simple. Installing new fonts, however, can be a tricky process if you don’t know where to look. Fortunately, our guide is here to show you the steps you need to follow.

Find Your Font

Obviously, the first step to installing new fonts is to find the font that you want to use. This process can be easier said than done, as there are many sites offering fonts, not all of which are reputable. Trust the wrong site to download new fonts, and you could end up infected with viruses or malware.

You can generally trust any fonts you get from Google Fonts or the Microsoft Store. Any third-party sites may require more scrutiny.

The risk of viruses aside, you also need to check how the font renders every character you could use while typing with it. Some fonts have gorgeous formatting on upper-case letters, but bug out on lower-case ones, often due to a bug during font creation. The font you want to use might have licensing restrictions as well, so make sure to do your research.

Download the File

Once you’ve found the font that you want to use, it’s time to download it. This is as simple as clicking the Download button next to the font on most reputable sites. However, on some older sites or in places where it’s difficult to find the right button to press, you might be better served right-clicking, then downloading the file from that drop-down menu.

Make sure you let your antivirus scan the file once you’ve downloaded it, as that will be your last chance to nip potential malware issues in the bud.

Unzip and Extract the File to Your Computer

Most types of fonts download in packages, like ZIP files. You’ll need an extractor like WinRAR, 7zip, or something similar to unpack and extract the file.

To extract the file, you need to select and right-click the file. This should bring up a drop-down menu where your extraction program of choice has options to view the files, open the program to extract them to a specific location, or extract them to a folder in the Downloads folder.

Pick the option that suits you best, then let the program run its task.

Install the Font

Once you’ve got the files extracted, it’s time to start installing new fonts. Depending on the type of font you downloaded, you might need to look for different extensions. The most common file extensions used for font creation are TTF/TTC, OTF, and PFB/PFM.

There are two ways you can handle this. You can right-click the file and then click Install from the drop-down menu, which should automatically run the process you need to install your new font characters. Alternatively, you can double-click the file, which will open a window displaying the font’s characters. At the bottom of the window, there should be an Install button you can click to run the installation from there.

Close and Reopen the Program to Ensure Installation Completion

Once you’ve installed your new font, make sure you close any programs you have open that have font selection as a function. This includes word processors, presentation makers, photo editors, and video editors. You want to ensure that the font is installed correctly.

Once you’ve closed and reopened your programs, your new font should be there, ready and waiting for you to use it. If it isn’t, try resetting the computer to get it working. If even that doesn’t work, then you may need to download a different font or retry the installation process, as something seems to have gone wrong along the way.

Installing New Fonts: Drag and Drop Simple on Windows 10

The above process is the old-fashioned way of installing new fonts onto your computer. However, with the advent of Windows 10, there is a somewhat simpler way to do it. The download and extraction steps are the same. What differs is the installation.

You’ll need two open file search windows. In one, have your new font file extracted and ready. In the other, you need to go to the search bar and search Control Panel. This should open your computer’s control panel. (You could also do this by navigating to your computer’s Settings menu.)

Once you have the control panel open, look for Appearance and Personalization. There should be a Fonts option in the main window. Click on that to open your computer’s font database, then go back to the window where you have your new font downloaded. Click on the file, then drag it into the Fonts database. This will start automatically installing the new font for you.

What If the Computer Is a Mac, Not a PC?

Our guide above covers the process of installing new fonts on a Windows PC. Installing a new font on a Mac requires a different process. If you’re wondering what the process is, or thinking, “where is font folder on mac?”, then our partners at SetApp will walk you through the process.

Looking for More Tech How-Tos?

Figuring out how to download new fonts and use them can be tricky, no matter how computer-literate you may be. Hopefully, our guide to installing new fonts on your computer has proven helpful.

Are you in the market for more handy tech how-tos to make your business life simpler? If so, then check out the Business section of our website. We update every day with more helpful and informative tech support articles like this one!