understanding font installation

Intro

Font formats

Mac OS X font installation

Managing fonts

Licensing fonts

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Mac OS X font installation

Managing fonts in OS X is supposed to be easier than with older versions of the Mac OS, but people still get confused about where to put fonts to get them working properly. There are, as most people know, a number of key folders for fonts in OS X; three usable ones to be precise, plus another if network font serving has been set up.

The most important folder for fonts is the one inside the user-level Library folder; ~/Library/Fonts in OS X path terms (the tilde character is shorthand for the current user's Home folder). Fonts placed here are used in preference to any in other places if there's any kind of clash. However, if your Mac has different users logging in then your fonts are only available to you alone.

Next there's the Fonts folder within the top-level Library folder, /Library/Fonts. These are available to anyone who logs into this Mac, but fonts here will not take precedence over those in a user's own fonts folder if there are duplicates.

Finally there's the fonts folder within the Classic System Folder, /System Folder/Fonts. Fonts placed here are available to all applications whether they are OS X-native or old-school Classic. However, this is the lowest priority level in case of conflicts.

There is actually another local Fonts folder, the one inside OS X's own System folder, at /System/Library/Fonts. However, this isn't editable without a bit of admin-level fiddling with folder permissions, and generally shouldn't be used for anything other than the items put there by the OS installer itself.

To install fonts in any of these normal locations just drag the font files in. You may have to quit running applications and relaunch them before they will see the new fonts, but some software will pick up added fonts without having to do this. If your Classic software doesn't see fonts added to /System Folder/Fonts then use the Classic pane in System Preferences to stop and relaunch Classic.

As a rule pick one location for your fonts and stick to it. Going with the font folder within your Home folder's Library is generally the safest bet, particularly if you are the sole user of the Mac.

Key font locations

There are four principle locations for storing fonts under Mac OS X. Below is a quick refence to OS X's font repositories. (The tilde character is shorthand for an individual's Home folder.)

~/Library/Fonts
For user-specific fonts; the default place for normal font installation.

/Library/Fonts
For fonts meant to be accessible to all users logging in to the Mac.

System/Library/Fonts
For system-owned fonts only, not to be altered in normal circumstances.

/System Folder/Fonts
For fonts meant for use by Classic as well as native OS X applications.