how to add fonts to illustrator

Many artists and graphic designers love using Adobe Illustrator to create their designs like logos, illustrations, icons. To beautify their designs, there comes a time when new fonts need to be added.

So how to add fonts to Illustrator? Is it as easy as adding fonts to InDesign? (link to How to add fonts to InDesign)

Actually, adding fonts to Illustrator is not difficult at all. No specialized knowledge or much time is required.

Following are detailed instructions on how to add fonts to Illustrator.

Add Fonts to Illustrator on Windows

1. Close Adobe Illustrator

In order to successfully add new fonts, firstly Illustrator must be closed if it's still running.

2. Download new font to your computer

Find the font you want to use on a reliable website. In this post, Reading This provided for free this week on MakiPlace will be used (1 free font provided weekly).

Download and save the font. It would be the easiest to save it on your desktop. However, the font can be saved anywhere you want.

3. Extract and view the font file

Right click on the downloaded zip folder, click "Extract". Then, in the extracted folder, find the font by navigating the file with the extensions: .otf, .ttf, .pbf, .pfm

4. Install the new font

Right click on the font file in the extracted zip folder and choose "Install". You can click and select to install more than one file at a time.

In case there is no option Install when right-clicking on the font file, you can access Control Panel to add the font to Illustrator. However, the way to access Control Panel varies slightly between Windows versions.

Windows Vista: Go to Start Menu, click on "Control Panel". Select "Appearance and Personalization". Select "Fonts". In the Fonts window, right click on the list of fonts and choose "Install New Font".

Windows XP: Double-click on "My Computer". Then double-click on the Control Panel icon, and then the Fonts icon. In the Fonts window, select the File menu, and choose "Install New Font".

After that, follow the below steps:

Navigate to the folder that contains the fonts you want to install.
Select the fonts you want to install. Click to select one font or control-click to select several fonts.
Click the "OK" button to install the fonts.
Close the Fonts control panel when you finish.

Add Fonts to Illustrator on Mac OS X

1. Close all active applications

Close all active applications, especially text or image editor like Adobe Illustrator and Microsoft Office applications. You can begin working with them after finishing the installation.

2. Download the new font to your computer

Search on the Internet to find a suitable font for Mac, paid or free, or you can take a look here – a good collection of fonts.

Then click to download and save the font on your desktop or anywhere at your convenience.

3. View the font file in Font Book

Double click to open the downloaded zip folder, then double click on the font file which ends in .otf or .ttf to open the font in Font Book.

4. Install the new font

When the font file appears in Font Book, simply click "Install Font" to install. That's all and you don't have to worry about the rest.

You can also manually place the font by going to your font libraries in Finder. There are 2 places that you can put the font in.

<Volume>/Library/Fonts/ (You must be logged on as an Administrator to place fonts in this location. Fonts in this location can be used by any user.)
<Volume>/Users/<username>/Library/Fonts/ (Fonts in this location can be used only by the specified user.)
After finding the location, just click and drag the font file into the folder.

Now you can reopen Adobe Illustrator to view and use the newly installed font. Hope the step-by-step guide above helps you easily add fonts to Illustrator and create more and more beautiful designs. Also if you want to download fonts you can click on the button below:

Download Premium Fonts