If you've run up against font limitations in Windows, or you just want to reduce your font collection to a reasonable number, this is the safest way to trim your font collection in Windows. You may find it helpful to have a printout of all your fonts before doing this. There are several font viewers available on the Internet that will do this (see related resources to the right).
- From Windows Explorer, first create a new folder anywhere on your hard disk. Give it a name something like MyFonts or TTF (the shorter the folder name, the better; due to registry limitations).
- Next, point to the C:/Windows/Fonts folder.
- Select all the fonts in this folder and copy them to your new folder. This creates a backup of all your fonts. Never, ever start deleting fonts without first making backup copies. In the event that you need to restore one of the deleted fonts, you will have it readily available.
- After copying your fonts, go back to C:/Windows/Fonts and start deleting any of your less used fonts until you get them down to at least 500 or less.
Once you have your fonts trimmed down to a more manageable number, you'll need to maintain this. Using font management software is the best way to ease the routine of installing and uninstalling fonts when you need them, and they also allow you to browse your collection of fonts whether or not they are installed. Many of them have features such as font grouping that allow you to sort your fonts into similar groups, which makes finding the perfect font a little easier. For years, my personal preference for a font manager was Bitstream Font Navigator, which comes bundled with the CorelDRAW Graphics Suite. More recently I have come to rely more on the freeware AMP Font Viewer. See the sidebar links for listings of more font managers.
What if you choose not use font management software? You can still keep your FONTS folder clean, but it will take some extra steps when you want to use fonts that aren't installed. Without a font manager, you will have to manually install and uninstall extra fonts when you want to use them. The easiest way to do this that I have found is -- rather than installing a font and then having to remember which one it was to go back and delete it later -- instead, you can put a shortcut to the font in your FONTS folder. The shortcut will make the font available in your programs, but in the FONTS folder, the icon will appear with the tiny shortcut arrow on it so it is easier to identify and remove later, when you have finished working with that font.
Another little known tip about fonts is that if you double-click on a font file in Windows and leave the FontView window open, as long as the window remains open, this font will behave as if it is installed. This is very handy if you are only opening a project to have a quick look, or to print it, and you don't want to install the font for such a short, simple task.
Could your fonts be corrupted? Go to the C:\Windows\fonts folder and view details. Sort the view by file size and check for any fonts with a zero byte size. If you find any, delete them; the fonts are corrupted. You can also test for corrupt fonts in Mac or Windows by using FontAgent from Insider Software.
Additionally, something should be mentioned about those free fonts you find on the Web. There are a lot of fun and unique fonts out there, but you should be aware that you open yourself up to the chance of getting a font file that is corrupted. It's difficult to identify a corrupted font file, and when you do encounter one, your system could completely lock up, and you run the risk of losing what you were working on. The problem usually does not occur immediately after using or viewing the corrupted fonts, which makes them more difficult to identify. So use caution when using free fonts downloaded off the Web. It's a good idea to try them out in a test file before using them in an important project.
Whether you use a font manager or not, it's up to you to keep the Windows Fonts folder free from extra fonts that get added when you install software. Remember to regularly check the FONTS folder and move out any fonts that aren't necessary, especially after installing any new software. To ease this task, you might find it helpful to create one separate folder for your own "core fonts." Put any fonts that you always want to have installed in this folder. Periodically, you can completely empty the Windows FONTS folder, and only replace the fonts that you keep in your core fonts folder. A free software program that can do this for you is Font Frenzy.
Font management is admittedly one of the more mundane chores for graphics software and font fanatics, but if regularly attended to, it is something that will pay off in improved system performance, and fewer font-related problems.
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