Weddingbee Blog

Given that Miss Hyena and Miss Pony have recently tackled the font issue, I figured I’d toss my hat into the ring, too. However, rather than giving you some serious font inspiration, I’ve decided to help out my fellow DIY/tech-challenged brides with a step-by-step tutorial for how to download and install new fonts.

(Note: I am using Windows Vista and Microsoft Office 2007. I don’t know if this is the only or proper way to get fonts into Office, but it works for me!)

(Another note: If I can successfully install new fonts, anyone can. True story: freshman year of college, I managed to delete Windows from my laptop. Not a file or two…the entire operating system. I’m technologically challenged to say the least, and even I can handle this little font extravaganza.)

Step 1: Go to Google and type in “download free font” and you’ll get a bunch of different sites. My personal favorites are 1001FreeFonts and DaFont.

Step 2: Browse around the websites, looking for fonts that appeal to you. Most sites have their fonts split into helpful categories, such as script, handwritten, famous, modern, etc.

Step 3: Once you find a font you like, click the “download” button for that specific font. When the download window comes up, I click “Open with Windows Explorer (default).” From there, you will receive a zipped file that contains a couple different files.

Step 4: Open the new folder you’ve created with the zipped files. Anywhere in the folder box, right-click and select “Extract All”—pay attention to where the extracted files are saved. I then usually go to the location of the extracted files and cut and paste them into an easier-to-find file location such as my “Downloads” folder.

Step 5: Go to your control panel (Start Button –> Control Panel). Click on “Appearance and Personalization.” From there, click on the “Install or Remove Font” link under the “Font” heading.

Step 6: You’ll get a window with all of your fonts. Right-click on the window (not on a specific font), and select “Install New Font…” You’ll then see a window like this:

Remember in Step 4 how I commented that I typically cut and paste the newly extracted files into an easy-to-find file? This is why. In this window, when you click on the folder that contains your new font files, you will see a sub-folder titled the name of your new font, like my “Scriptina” folder.

Step 7: Double-click the “Scriptina” sub-folder, and you’ll see this:

Click the “Install” button on the right. Installing a font takes about 10 seconds on my computer, tops.

Step 8: Go to a Microsoft Office program and your newly downloaded and installed font should be there, ready for use!!

Here’s a look at my new font:

Did you choose to jazz up your font choices through downloading new fonts? Any favorite fonts out there?

(all images are personal screenshots)