Installing and uninstalling fonts on a Mac

Just like the article about installing and removing fonts on Windows, this is a little note about how to install or uninstall fonts on Macs. Not only that, but I'll also talk about some problems that might appear while installing fonts on a mac. (Psst... if you don't know where you can find some fonts for your Mac and PC try the Excellent sites for free Windows and Mac fonts post!)

First, the easy part:

Installing fonts on a mac

1. Find some fonts (if you don't have any try this post)
2. Double click on the font file
3. Click on the install button

Viola, you're done! That's all there is to installing fonts on a mac. Pretty simple huh? Well, truth be told uninstalling is just as easy.

Uninstalling or Disabling fonts on a Mac

1. First open Font Book (This is usually in your Applications folder so go to Applications and click on FontBook, you can also press Cmd + SpaceBar and search for FontBook in spotlight..)
2. Select the font you want to uninstall, right click and click on either Disable the font, to just disable the font (i.e. unload the font from the system but still retain the files) or remove the font completely (i.e. send the font files to the trash).
   
3. I'd recommend that you simply disable the font because I often find my self searching for a font that I removed completely. But if you're absolutely certain that you won't require the font in the future, then go ahead and delete the font.
   
4. If you do choose to 'Remove the font' then you'll have to say 'Remove' when your Mac asks you if you REALLY want to trash the font files.
   

Then, Empty Trash if necessary to completely remove the font files from your system.

Now for some font installation problems on a Mac.

Help, the font preview doesn't look right and when I install the font it doesn't work!

Well, when the font preview doesn't look right, and it font refuses to install properly, then the font you are trying to install is most likely a Windows font. I've had this happen to me a couple of times and I've realizes that Windows and Mac fonts aren't exactly the same thing... apparently. So first, right click on the font file and click 'Get Info'.

Then verify if the details of the file says Windows font. If it does say 'Windows' font like shown below, then it won't work on your mac.

So if it says Windows TrueType font, it won't work correctly on your mac. That's all there is to it.

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Got a question, tip or comment? Send them to beyondteck+question@gmail.com and we'll try to answer it in a blog post!