All Collections
Making fonts
Install VS Save/Export fonts
Install VS Save/Export fonts

Stop wondering where your fonts are installed

Franz avatar
Written by Franz
Updated over a week ago

There are 2 different ways to install fonts within Fontself, each having its own advantages and drawbacks:

  • Automatically - via the Install button (Mac-only & Illustrator-only)

  • Manually - via the Save/Export button

Install button

👍 Preview & test your fonts in Illustrator & in real-time
👎 Fonts show up only in Illustrator, overwrites previous font versions

Sorry Windows and Photoshop users, this feature is not yet available to you...

When you want to quickly and repeatedly edit a font and test it in Illustrator, you can simply press Install: Fontself will generate your font file right into Adobe's Font folder, and it becomes instantaneously available from Illustrator's Character palette.

As you keep refining your font, pressing Install again will regenerate the font and overwrite the previous one, so the latest version of your design is automatically shown in Illustrator. This is possible because all fonts located in the Adobe Font folder are not cached by your system.

Wonder where your fonts are located? Simply press the Browse button or check: 

  • On macOS: Users/USERNAME/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Fonts 

Tip: on Mac, press Cmd + Shift + G from the Finder and paste this line
~/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Fonts

Save/Export button

👍 Decide where to store your fonts
👎 Manual installation process, potential font cache issues or duplicate fonts

Once you're happy with your design, it's time to save your font in a safe place (like your design project folder) or to install it across your system, so you can use it in other apps. 

Pressing Save/Export will prompt you to pick a filename and destination folder where you want to generate the font. 

⚠️ Changing the font file name DOES NOT change the actual name of your font (the Font Family name) which is used to list your font across apps. Instead, press the Font Infos button in Fontself to properly rename your font family name. 

Manual font installation procedure 

Whenever you press Install or Save/Export, there's an alert that links to both the font file and destination folder at the bottom left of Fontself Maker. Just click on a link to open them directly:

Whether you use Font Book or the Windows Font Manager, double click on your font file and press Install Font (or use your favorite font manager).

The file will now be copied and installed in your system font folder: 

  • On macOS: Users/USERNAME/Library/Fonts 

  • On Windows: C:\Windows\Fonts

Just load your favorite app and your font will show up ;)

⚠️ Installation issues

Font cache problems

All fonts that have been installed on your system will be cached by the operating system and some creative apps to ensure they show up quickly. One drawback is that even if you delete or replace a font file in your system font folder, you might still end up with the previous font version.

So if you don't notice any changes, just restart your apps or - in extreme cases - your computer. Worst case scenario, you might ask Google to help you clear your system's font cache.  

Duplicate fonts 

When you manually install fonts, it is recommended to delete any previous font that uses the exact same Font Family & Font Style names before installing a new one (remember that the actual font file name does not matter here).

Also look for duplicate font files on both your system font folder as well as the Adobe font folder (this could happen if you previously pressed Install to test a font and then manually installed it again via the Save/Export button).

Did this answer your question?