How to Install Fonts on Mac

No question Macs come with an array of great fonts for almost any project, be it a presentation or a research paper. In fact according to Apple, Mac OS X “includes over $10,000 worth of high quality Roman, Japanese and Chinese fonts”. This is great, but with just a tiny bit of effort, hundreds of high quality free fonts can also be at your disposal.

In just a couple easy steps you’ll have all sorts of fun new fonts to play around with, and you’ll have no more excuses to use Comic Sans or Papyrus.

Step 1:
You first have to find the fonts online to download. Dafont and Fonts 500 are two great resources for free fonts. Almost all the fonts you’ll find are in the TrueType (TTF) format, which Apple created in the ’80s and is used widely on both Macs and PCs to this day.

Step 2:
It’s a good thing I’m not paid by the word, because Apple has made this far too easy. Double click on the .ttf file and Font Book will pop open and ask you to install it. One more click and you’re done! The font will now appear in the fonts window in every program you use. On a PC you would need to restart programs like Photoshop to see the new fonts, but not in OS X, they should be instantly available.

Be Aware: Although these fonts are free to download and use for personal projects, the creators may have some restrictions on their commercial use. I put all the fonts I download a separate folder in Font Book so I’ll remember to check before I use in a way that is potentially against its terms of use.

I’ve spent a lot of time collecting fonts, and I’ve posted some of my favorites here, here, and here if you’re interested.