Microsoft Windows 7 & fonts

This page provides a comprehensive overview of the way fonts are handled by Windows 7. It covers the following topics:

  • What is new?
  • Font types that Windows 7 supports
  • Typefaces that are included in Windows 7
  • How to install fonts?
  • Other sources of information

What is new in Windows 7 when it comes to fonts?

  • The thumbnails in the fonts folder show 3 characters of the font’s alphabet on the icon. This makes it easier to identify fonts. Stacked icons indicate that different font styles are available. Such a group of fonts is called a ‘collection’. The use of collections reduces the clutter in the font folder.
Verdana font collection
Font collection
  • Windows 7 can hide certain fonts automatically when needed. Fonts that are hidden are not available to applications although they are still installed in the operation system. One way in which this mechanism is used is for hiding fonts deemed useless based on the regional settings: if you indicate that Windows 7 should use western regional settings, japanese fonts will be hidden. This font hiding mechanism frees up memory and simplifies font selection.
  • The ‘Install New Font’ menu option that hadn’t changed since Windows 3.1 or so is no longer available in Windows 7. You install fonts by copying them  into the fonts folder.
  • Gabriola is a new font that is included with the operating system. It is a script font with support for a wide variety of advanced OpenType features.
The Gabriola typeface
Gabriola
  • Font rendering has improved: the ClearType technology that is used to anti-alias type on LCD displays has been optimised and now displays sharper fonts. Programmers also get easier access to advanced OpenType functionalities.

Font types that are supported by Windows7

I haven’t found a good list yet and assume that Windows 7 supports the same font types as Vista does.

  • Type 1 (as with other versions of Windows, you need .PFM and .PFB files)
  • Multiple Master (see the workaround below on how to get them working)
  • TrueType (.TTF/.TTC/.OTF)
  • OpenType (using CFF outlines, .OTF)
  • bitmap fonts (.FON)
  • Old vector font format fonts (typically .FON as well).
  • A new composite font file format that is used to describe international font linking and fallback logic (.CompositeFont).

Fonts that are included in Windows 7

Windows 7 ships with 235 fonts, versus 191 in Vista and 133 in Windows XP. The list of typefaces that ship with Windows 7 can be found here. Microsoft publish them on this page and list all the new fonts here.

To view a list of all the fonts on your system, go to the Fonts control panel or simply type ‘font’ at the Start menu. This will take you into the same control panel.

How to install fonts

There are a number of ways in which you can install fonts:

  • Copy fonts to the Fonts folder (usually C:\Windows\Fonts). You can do this by drag & drop or by using Copy and Paste.
  • Right-click a font file and select ‘Install’ from the context menu. (There is a settings in the Fonts control panel which allows you to install a shortcut of fonts. That allows you to keep font files on another disk. I haven’t tried this on a production machine and don’t know how well it works in situations where the original file becomes unavailable).

If you run into issues with installing fonts, the first thing to investigate is whether you are actually allowed to do this. You need to have write access to the Fonts folders to be able to install fonts. Without this an error message will appear that states that the file you are trying to install ‘is currently being used and cannot be replaced’ or that it ‘does not appear to be a valid font’. Solutions and work-arounds can be found in this thread.

How many fonts can you install? All Windows versions that have been released in the last 10 years or so are designed to cope with large font lists. The system only loads the fonts that it is using. To keep your font list manageable, you may still want to invest in a font manager, such as SuitCase.

Fonts that should never be deleted in Windows 7

I have not yet found a list of the mandatory system fonts. At the very least the following fonts should not be deleted:

  • Marlette – This is the font used for the minimize, maximize and close buttons on your window borders.
  • Arial (TrueType)
  • Times New Roman (TrueType)
  • Courier New (TrueType)
  • Any .FON files. These are fixed size fonts used for MS-DOS windows and some dialog boxes.

Add a comment if you are aware of  a more complete overview.

Other sources of information

I haven’t run across Windows 7-related prepress stuff yet. Here is an interesting article on ClearType.

85 thoughts on “Microsoft Windows 7 & fonts

  1. How do I open a font vs preview? In previous OS’s, it was possible to use a font by opening it, then opening a program – no font installation required. This is no longer possible in 7, presumable because the preview does not function in the same way open did.

  2. we are writing an email in our system running windows7 what type of font are we using:truetype or outline?do you think we kerning in this case?
    ans as soon as possible…

    1. “we are writing an email in our system running windows7 what type of font are we using:truetype or outline?do you think we kerning in this case?”

      You are using a truetype font. An outline font is not actually a font, it is a vector shape created in a program such as Adobe Illustrator or InDesign. This allows the text to be used as an image, such as in a website image or in a .pdf. The viewer does not have to have the specific font used on their system to properly view the text. It also allows the text to be printed without requiring the printer to have any specific fonts, as well as preventing a specific font from being changed.

      You are not using kerning, except what is designed into the font itself for character spacing. Kerning is manually changing the spacing between characters to improve the visual appearance of text. Most email programs do not allow this.

  3. I have just moved up from XP to 7, and find that in Fonts I have whole lot of duplicates, all called *_0 with attributes AI. The probable originals have just A as attribute and are named without any _0. Am I safe in deleting all the A and no _0 cases?

  4. I hide some files by dos*(cmmnt:attrib +s +h F:\documents)when i m using windows xp but after installing windows7 i could not able to find it….every time i use the comment(cmmnt:attrib -s -h F:\documents) to unhide it but when i hit the enter button all the time access denied appeared on the screen…Plz help me to find it…..

    1. Hi
      see if you are hiding data or documents in windows 7 its easy just click on >Start Button
      >type cmd in search or run
      >right click on cmd and run as Adminstrator then click ok it will display pop-up no problem

      press ok button then try what ever you want to try

  5. I hide some files by dos*(cmmnt:attrib +s +h F:\documents)when i m using windows xp but after installing windows7 i could not able to find it….every time i use the comment(cmmnt:attrib -s -h F:\documents) to unhide it but when i hit the enter button all the time access denied appeared on the screen…Plz help me to find it…..

  6. To get the fonts to show up in the fonts list to use in word pad, office, movie maker etc..
    click fonts folder
    right click the font you want
    under general go down to attributes
    check the box that says ‘read only’
    apply.
    Now all fonts you install will show up in the programs you want to use them in!
    Hope this helped, it worked for me!

  7. the incomplete office 7! why is not there the advantage of seeing the font list according to my own taste? nonsense!!!

  8. Here is a list of WINDOWS & SYSTEM FONTS that should not ever be deleted.

    A list of mandatorywindows 7 system fonts
    DO NOT DELETE THESE SYSTEM FONTS

    Arial (TrueType)
    Arial Bold (TrueType)
    Arial Bold Italic (TrueType)
    Arial Italic (TrueType)
    Courier 10,12,15 (VGA res)
    Courier New (TrueType)
    Courier New Bold (TrueType)
    Courier New Bold Italic (TrueType)
    Courier New Italic (TrueType)
    Marlett (Windows 95/98) *
    Modern (Plotter)
    MS Sans Serif 8,10,12,14,18,24 (VGA res)
    MS Serif 8,10,12,14,18,24 (VGA res)
    Roman (Plotter)
    Script (Plotter)
    Small fonts (VGA res)
    Symbol (TrueType)
    Symbol 8,10,12,14,18,24 (VGA res)
    Times New Roman (TrueType) –
    Times New Roman Bold (TrueType)
    Times New Roman Bold Italic (TrueType)
    Times New Roman Italic (TrueType)

  9. Has anyone had trouble with using the new intelligent mail bar code font USPSIMBStandard in Windows 7?
    It loads OK but will not show the bar code in any program. Characters are displayed as characters and not lines. However, the font works fine in XP.

  10. Spent a couple weeks. Going to my dealer and have
    them install the fonts I want via remote. Am thinking
    of Apple more and more….

  11. why does some of my fonts show a different thumbail… some of them shows japanese letters and some it use mathematical signs sign.

  12. yeah this font shit in windows 7 is a fucking night mare !!!!, what kind of rational idea was it to create this fucking font mess, why can I not delete fucking garbage fonts that I have within the folder ??
    Talking about a more stable and advanced system ….,
    its maybe stable but the font management is a FUCKING COCKSUCKING JOKE !!!!!

  13. Windows Fucking 7 is inclined towards Open Type Fucking Fonts, and they are Fucking Blinding, Fucking Blurry, Fucking Fizzy, Fucking Ugly.

    What is wrong with good old TTF. Fuck you M$. You should not blind us or try impair our sights without permission!!

  14. I am trying to install new fonts (true type). They install fine but when I check the “copy to fonts folder” I get an error message saying “the font is currently being used and cannot be replaced. Wait until windows is finished using the file and try again”.

    So every time I open my computer I have to reinstall the fonts. Help!

    Thanks

  15. Possible Solution to “Windows 7 Does not Display All Installed Fonts.”

    > Go C:\Windows

    > Right-click on “Fonts” folder

    > Select “Properties”

    > Select “Advanced…” under “General”

    > Un-select “Allow files in this folder to have contents indexed in addition to file properties”

    > Click “OK”

    > A small window should pop up, running through all your fonts.

    > Check to see, if all files now appear in Fonts folder.

    > Please let me know if it worked. (It worked for me)

  16. Hi All. Does anyone know if it is possible to give Microsoft back there useless copy of Windows 7? I’m now going back to XP. The last Windows that sort of worked…

  17. how to install the teletext language font scripts character table sets from your windows 7

  18. From the other side…I have some Powerpoint presentations made under Windows Xp, and critical elements show up as gibberish. Window 7 thinks they are “jazztext” (thye ARE related to music, but only letters, like C, F, etc with a few sharps (#) and flats thrown in. I have NO IDEA of what font I am now missing–so I don’t even know what to look for. Anyone have a notion of what WAS in Xp, and is no longer in Windows 7?

  19. People who want their screen fonts sharp (and use CRT monitors for that) need to disable ClearType in W7. Otherwise the screen fonts are blurred.

  20. I tried all the workarounds mentioned, can’t manage to install my Postscript fonts for use in Windows 7 (from XCP SP3) – are these fonts system specific kto 32 bit OSes? Like everyone else, I receive msg Not a Valjid Font or requirtes FM install prior to font install…

  21. I’m so frustrated. I installed a pfm font and it shows up just fine in MS Word but it will NOT show up in Photoshop! I even put a copy of the font in the Adobie/Font folder in my program folder, but no dice. How can it read it in Word, but not in Photoshop?

    1. Victor, your .pfm font is in C:\Windows\Fonts. You are right, then it works fine in MS Word but not in PS. The solution is very simple. You need both .pfm and .pfb files. Copy them to C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\Fonts. That’s it. Enjoy!

  22. i also have similar prob which cant delete font in c:windows/font. when i try to dlete some files…its say “in use”..i tried more thn 10ways how to rmove..but all didnt work…evn im using “unlocker” which kill program..but still nothg happn..my computer n certain program like microsoft offce..adobe..also going slow..TOO SLOW..so any1 here can tell me wat im suppose to do?
    i had factory backup…but i scare all my work in partition D and E will get effct..

  23. This discussion is not giving me much hope! All I want to do is copy one font, with its four faces, out of the Windows Font folder. As with everyone else, I only see 10 or so fonts when I actually go to the folder; but my font management program clearly lists the font, and its faces, that I want to copy and the properties clearly indicate that they are in the Windows Font folder. But as I said, I can’t see them when I go to the folder, so of course, I can’t copy them. Trying to get to typefaces that I know are installed, and not being able to, is ridiculous. Anyone have any ideas? I am logged in as admin (which is the only way I could get into the fonts folder at all) but still, nothing shows up except that one handful of gratuitous fonts.

  24. I am a ADMIN on my computer and I am no longer able to install new fonts. Back when I use to have a password set to install anything I could install fonts just fine. But after I got tired of using a password I removed it and now I’m not able to install new fonts.

  25. Running Win7 64 bit in a graphics workflow. At present we are simply installing (right click) the fonts. All Office and Adobe programs are currently reading the approximately 1,200 fonts installed. Win7 is very pesky with ‘rights’. Even as an administrator there are folders that are hard to get to, some have told me I’m just not used to the system yet. I can get into the Windows/Fonts folder and all fonts display their full names. Even the TT fonts that are named with numbers.

    I was thinking of getting Suitcase to manage the fonts but after reading about some of the headaches here, I’m not so sure now.

    1. Sabrina, go with Suitcase Fusion 3. You won’t be sorry. It works flawlessly on Windows 7 and will allow you to deactivate any system fonts you don’t want (i.e. cleanup your font menus in CS).

  26. I sent a message way back at the beginning of the year.
    ‘Fonts’ has never worked in Windows 7 Pro.
    All I see are 10 of them listed.
    I know they are all there. They existed in XP.
    They show up in Microsoft Office and all other apps.
    Microsoft, how about a coherent answer to this. The web is full of the same problem, so don’t suggest a re-install or anything else please.
    Just tell me when the fix is coming

  27. For removing all non-Latin fonts, see the reply to the post above dated 13 January 2010. HOWEVER, if you plan to install Office 2010, it will take issue if the non-Latin font family “Meiryo” has been removed. So I removed it from that script to leave it in.

  28. Hi everyone,
    I just installed some fonts while evaluating a product we might buy later, and now I want to delete them.
    I am an admin on my machine, and use Window 7.
    When I try to delete the fonts, my delete drop down option has a little shield next to it, and the delete simply fails to do anything without any explanation.
    Any thoughts how to go about this?

  29. Okay… Windows 7 here…

    1st: I could NOT install Fonts by just dragging them into the fonts folder !!! I actually had to use the “Install” Button it offers when double clicking the fonts.

    2nd: It did NOT put them into the Windows/Fonts folder as in the previous windows versions – WHERE DID IT PUT THEM???

    3rd: Since my Fonts Folder is completely EMPTY !!! I can not delete unwanted ones…

    4th: Font Management vs the Control Panel doesn’t work: It points me conitinuously to my empty Fonts folder – when I ask it for the Fonts folder properties, it keeps telling me “0 Files” …

    I am super frustrated 🙁 Any help on that please? Where did my fonts end up after all?
    Doing a search brought me to the winsxs folder, but once I click to go there, it shows as empty, too or only shows .inf files… *at a loss*

    1. Could it be that your access rights don’t allow you to install fonts or view the installed ones in the Fonts folder? On corporate computers or even systems used at home which are shared by a number of people this may well be the case. My daughter, for instance, has no administrator level access to our home computer.

  30. Fuck ALL the MS bastards! I want the old “Install new font” command and panel back! I want to select a folder to scan for fonts, I want their full names to be displayed and I want to install the selected ones. Fuck you, microsoft! :((

    1. YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

      3 words to you Microsoft! and I totally agree with this entire thread. All i want is a simple frickin calligraphy font that will install. That’s all. Keep upgrading Microsoft! You have the corner of the market just like the post office. Like come on really, who else we gonna go to? They can’t or won’t solve this problem? We have laptop computers for crying out loud. Not in a whole room like the 70’s – 80’s. Hello?

    2. I agree 100% !!
      why did they get rid of such a basic, yet important feature ??
      It defies logic. I am running autocad 2010LT, and I cannot load the TTF’s that I need.
      what a joke…

    3. Not being able to see full font names is just so F—ing ridiculous. How can this be? I cannot find any google search or MS help on this – WTF?????????????

  31. Hello. Sorry to crash in on this discussion. Can anyone help me, please? I’m using Windows 7 and Office 2007. Suddenly, several fonts have gone missing, including Gil Sans (that I use a great deal) and Helvetica. I have re-installed W7 and Office but the issue remains. Can anyone help? There doesn’t seem to be any specific advise on this on the Microsoft Answers site.
    I’ve lost so much work time trying to fix this – I’m so frustrated!
    Many thanks

    1. Both of these fonts are not included in Windows 7, so reinstalling that won’t help. As far as I know they also aren’t part of Office 2007. You’ll have to find your original copies from when you bought these fonts and reinstall them again.

  32. I know one example where a .FON type font does NOT work in Win7, but AOK in Vista and earlier, making a program entirely unusable. It’s a font that’s included with a product called “DBS Master Collection”, which is a collection of classical Jewish texts, all in Hebrew.

    This one font is called DbsSys.FON, and I am pretty sure it’s used for window title bars and for the hierarchical menus used to navigate the directory of content. (The name suggests “DBS’s System Font”.)

    Double clicking this font file in XP or Vista comes up fine (all jagged of course at huge sizes, but that’s normal for bitmapped), whereas in Win7 you get just a big, empty window on that double click.

    The program also includes a bunch of .TTF fonts, which work fine in Win7, as they do in XP and Vista, all scaling as expected.

    For the program, I tried all the usual compatibility options in Win7, none worked.

    I did not try the more involved option of running XP as a virtual machine, which is really not a solution, but a brute force workaround, and one that would hardly be free, since I would first have to Anytime Upgrade to at least Pro edition, then add more memory all of which would get used up, etc.

    This could be an isolated, rare case, but all I can say is if both XP and Vista can understand the font, why can’t Win7?

    If it needs to put it into some different format, then it should include some kind of automatic font file converter.

    I seem to recall MacOS Classic (before it became Mach-based) was well ahead of Windows back then, too. How many billions of dollars does MS need to spend to get this right?

    Now I see why anyone making almost any money doing design work considers it worth paying extra for a Mac.

  33. I’m running Windows 7 and cannot run any Open Type OTF fonts. I’ve tried:
    -drag and drop
    -right click and Install
    -“take ownership”
    -registry edit
    1. Open the registry editor (type “regedit” in Start Menu\Run)
    2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management
    3. Add a new REG_DWORD entry (right click in the right frame, choose New\DWORD Value). Called it “SessionImageSize” and double click on it and give a value (decimal) of 20

    and I STILL get the “…font not valid” error. I’m going to lose this job if I can’t install the fonts – any suggestions?

  34. So to find the font you want to install that has a cryptic or library name, like G_ALT__, you have to right click every font in the folder to find the name??? This is an incredibly useless system. There’s not even a Font Name column that can be added to Explorer that displays the font name. And no preview for Type 1 fonts. How lame. How long will we have to wait for someone to develop a plug in that gives us the Install Font dialog back so we can see the names of the fonts we can choose from?

    1. In Details view, right click any column and you can enable more columns. Just enable the “Font file names” column and you can now see them in Details view. You can also use the search box to find fonts using this syntax: filename:arialuni.ttf just for example. You can also install the Font Properties extension to get lots more information in the Fonts properties: http://www.microsoft.com/typography/truetypeproperty21.mspx

  35. Oh my god, the win 7 font management system for advanced users is rubbish, well, it doesnt exist
    i cant believe that they did that. I use suitcase to manage lots of type, and i have been searching for the same problem in other win 7 users. I activate the fonts in suitecase for use in Adobe CS5 Suite, and none of the programs runs the Postscript type. I had to actually install the fonts inside the win7 folder system. And then i realized that i cant see the font list or eliminate fonts. REAL SMART MICROSOFT!

    1. Hi Pankaj,

      If you gret answer of Indian language fonts in Win 7 then pls let me know.

      Thanks,
      Sushil Suri

  36. What on earth is going on.
    First I find that Windows 7 will not allow me to ‘Align Icons to Grid’ in folders (Only on the desktop), (Vista Ultimate lets me do this)
    Now I find that only 10 fonts are showing up in the fonts control panel. If I go to the fonts folder, I still see only 10 fonts, although the folder size is 598Mb.
    My programs show the fonts OK, it’s just that I have no ability to change or remove fonts.
    Microsoft, you are beyond my comprehension.

  37. Hello

    I used windows xp for a long time because in every version I tried after that something is crap. I tried vista (crap). Then I tried windows 7 ultimate. That is better but when I look at the fonts on a CRT monitor (yes I keep this because my eyes can not stand an LCD monitor) the fonts look like crap. The fonts under windows xp are sharper, more dark than on windows 7. I tried to fix this but still the fonts have some gray look. My guess is that this is done for lcd screens or so.

    but for me it is not working, so I will leave again the new windows 7 version (or give it away)

  38. Hellow! I thought that I was the one, but this is a caos, I need other fonts that did install it, and I can¨t see them, please need your help.Thank you.

  39. How Windows 7 handles fonts: like crap, just like every other version of windows. Here’s a hint for the idiots at Microsoft. Put essential system fonts in a SEPARATE FOLDER. Stop forcing everyone to drop all 150,000 fonts into one folder and then delete them back out without damaging the essential ones strewn about.

    Problems I’ve had:
    Windows 7 will sometimes not show you the fonts you have installed into the fonts folder. It says the folder has 700-150,000 files in it but it only shows and lets you edit 10-12 fonts. The solution seems to be to reinstall windows or go to a previous backup.

    No one makes a font management system for Windows that comes anywhere close to what a Mac can do.

    Some font management systems will delete or “deactivate” essential system fonts, causing system and programs to stop working correctly.

    1. Gorky, you’re a man who speaks the truth. Windows font handling is as useful as a three legged donkey. Real smart move giving us all those fonts. Shame they’re nearly all crap and totally unsuitable for anything apart from marking out the user as a typographical philistine.
      I particularly like the way you can’t delete the real monsters from the font folder and the long lists of asian fonts really help when all I generally use are 1-5 fonts in a document. I really enjoy wading through lists of crap all the time.
      Suitcase is the only way to go, although it won’t show anything already in the system font folder and won’t eliminate all the crap it’s still the only game in town.

  40. I have same problem as Maxine:

    I have tried to intall some type 1 fonts onto Windows 7. I have both the .PFB and .PFM files. When I drag them into the font folder I get a message saying that ‘this is a ‘PBF’ file for a Type 1 font and cannot be installed directly. Please install the associated ‘PFM’ file.

    I have installed the ‘PFM’ file but the fonts don’t show up in any of my applications ie: photoshop, indesign, illustrator.

    Can anyone help me, am I doing something wrong?

  41. hi i am using windows7 in that there is a problem for installing astrology software(Josiam Pakrathu and HoroExProEng)while installing language packs . it gives a error as UNABLE to install C:windows\font\DAWN_279$$A please help me send reply through my mail also

  42. I also got the ‘Font not Valid’ message when trying install a couple of fonts on a new installation of Win 7.

    The workaround I found is to open the folder of the font you wish to install, select all and drag to the Win 7 fonts folder. It seems to be the folder that is the problem.

  43. I have an expensive CD-ROM with 25 TrueType fonts in non-Romanized double-byte characters. They have been used in Windows 3.1/95/98/NT. There are setup98.exe and setupNT.exe inside. But none of them works in (English) Windows 7 Professional, WIndows 7 Virtual PC and Windows 7 XP Mode. I also tried using Windows 7’s XP SP2/SP3 Compatibility Modes. Hopeless there.

    Any insight?

    1. I worked around this problem by first copying the font into the hard drive, then dragging it over to the font folder. An annoying extra step, but it does the job.

  44. Just installed Windows 7 and am using Suitcase fusion 2 – now Windows will only show postscirpt fonts as active – none of the truetype fonts wehn activated will work, they immeditaley get deactivated – is there a solution to this problem?

  45. I have tried to install some type 1 fonts onto Windows 7. I have both the .PFB and .PFM files. When I drag them into the font folder I get a message saying that ‘this is a ‘PBF’ file for a Type 1 font and cannot be installed directly. Please install the associated ‘PFM’ file.

    I have installed the ‘PFM’ file but the fonts don’t show up in any of my applications ie: photoshop, indesign, illustrator.

    Can anyone help me, am I doing something wrong?

    1. Did you ever resolve your font problems! I have hundreds of fonts too and i cannot install them either! Can you tell me please how you resolved this i am in such a rut with alot of work! Love this windows 7 stuff! LOL
      Thanks

    2. I have seen this problem where certain fonts appear in say Word, but not InDesign or maybe Photoshop. After installing your fonts you must:

      1: (for InDesign) Copy all installed Fonts from to C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe InDesign CS2\Fonts
      2: (for Photoshop) Copy all installed Fonts from C:\Fonts to C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\Fonts

  46. I use Paint Shop Pro 7, 9 and X2 and now with Windows 7, I have a major font issue. With all other operating systems, any of my 8200 fonts (in folders) could be opened and minimized and they would then appear in PSP’s font list to be used in graphics projects. Windows 7 doesn’t support this and it’s a major hit for us.I was told that W7 will hold 750 fonts. I need access to more than that! Looks like I’ll be constantly installing and uninstalling fonts.

    1. Paula I use Paint Shop X2 and X3. All you have to do is have a font viewer like AMP Font Viewer which is free, and there are others. With it you can add your favorite fonts or folders, have them open in the Font Manager and when you open your Paint Shop Program those fonts will show up in the drop down menu.

  47. Hiding fonts is just wonderful if it just worked! I have hide all the junk fonts that i don’t want Indesign and Illustrator to see. Nothing happens! The font lists are still crowded with junk. This is rubbish!

    1. I’m having exactly the same problem! This is sooooooooo frustrating! Totally rubbish!!!!

  48. Fonts that should never be deleted in Windows 7:

    Marlette – This is the font used for the minimize, maximize and close buttons on your window borders. Don’t remove this!
    Arial (TrueType)
    Times New Roman (TrueType)
    Courier New (TrueType)
    Any .FON files. These are fixed size fonts used for MS-DOS windows and some dialog boxes.

  49. When I try to install or Copy/Paste Fonts in Windows 7, I get the message that it “Does not appear to be a valid Font”.
    The fonts (.ttf) I am trying to install worked well with WinXP. This is for our Native American Language Department.
    Please advise.

    Thank you,
    Larry Murner
    Cape Flattery School Dist.

    1. Hi Larry

      I had this problem also, when trying to copy over fonts from a WinXP partition. I found by right-clicking the font file and “Taking Ownership”, then right-click again & choose “Install” worked.
      Hope it works for you too!

      Cheers

  50. Windows 7 font issue. I have a bunch of Alberta fonts of different varieties. When I open the font group there are only 3 displayed. If I delete those 3, 3 new ones appear. If I add new fonts of the same type to the group, it says they are already installed even though they do not show in the folder, and when I say reinstall they show for a few seconds and then go away??? I’m not sure they are there or not, I can’t use them in any applications, but they are already installed?

    1. Hi Gary, could you solve your issue? The same thing is happening to me but with a different font. I dont know what to do!!!!!! Please, help!

  51. I just keep getting messages…… “does not appear to be a valid font” … I drag the pfm and the pfb at the same time…. no dice.

    1. Any one getting the “Does Not Appear to be a valid font” message make sure you are an ADMIN. and it should work just fine.

  52. Hello.

    I have windows2k professional linked to a new windows7 box. How do I get multiple master fonts from win2kPro to windows7 ? They won’t show up when I drag and drop them. This is a disaster…

    1. Multiple master technology is dead as of Vista. Go to Adobe website to get more info.

  53. Actually, for those of you that are missing the old ‘Install new font’ dialog, there are a number of ways to install fonts in Windows 7:

    – Through the ‘Install’ button in font viewer.
    – Right-click -> install in explorer.
    – Drag and drop.
    – Copy and paste.

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