Installing Fonts in Your Own MacOS X Account

It is possible to install fonts in your MacOS X account. This means that the font will follow you from one computer to the next, but will not be available to anyone else.

This document explains how to do this and lists several caveats.

Note that each font that you install uses a small amount of resources. Therefore, using a lot of fonts will slow even the fastest computer.

Note that just because you can see the font, it doesn’t mean that anyone else can. So if you make a document that uses one or more fonts that you installed and then send it to someone else, the document will probably look wrong (i.e. ugly) when they open it.

Note that in order to preserve system stability, we reserve the right to remove fonts from your account without prior notice.

Note that new fonts may not be available in a program until after you quit and re-run that program or possibly until after you logout and login again.

• First, find the font that you wish to use. At this time, the web site 500 Fonts seems to be a decent collection of free and varied fonts that is easy to scan through.
• Next, locate the “.TTF”, “.ttf” or “.dfont” file. We recommend a TTF (True Type Font) whenever available.
• Drag the font file (.TTF, .ttf or .dfont) to the Desktop if it isn’t already there.
• Go to the Finder, if you are not already there. This can be done by clicking on its icon (a blue face) in the Dock.
• Select Go → Home from the menu bar.
• Open the Library folder.
• Open the Fonts folder.
• Place your font file (.TTF, .ttf or .dfont) in the Fonts folder.
• Close the Fonts folder.
• Restart any program that is running, if you wish to use the font in that program. Remember to save your work.