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JoeTheBurger
Participant
August 30, 2018
Answered

Adding font to illustrator from fontbook.

  • August 30, 2018
  • 5 replies
  • 15510 views

I was wondering if someone knew how to add a font from the fontbook on mac to illustrator. Ive been watching videos and still nothing on how to do it. If someone can help me out with this question that would be great.

    5 replies

    Participant
    April 15, 2025

    Apparently, sometimes fonts get classified as non-english, even when they are. I could see several new fonts in Font Book and Text Edit, but I couldn't find them in illustrator because I had somehow turned on english fonts only. I cleared the filter in the character panel and then they showed up for me. 

     

    Jeff_Extensis
    Participating Frequently
    September 4, 2018

    Adding fonts to FontBook essentially adds them to your system fonts. Once added in Fontbook they should be active by default. You can simply check this by opening FontBook and see if the font is shown in Black or Gray. Black means the font is active. Gray means the font is not active. If the font is Gray, you can simply select the font and then check the box at the top of the column to activate the font.

    To simply check to see if the font is active and working, open TextEdit and see if the font appears in the menu. If yes, then it should appear in your Adobe application. If it appears in other applications and not your Adobe application, you may need to clear your font cache.

    KShinabery212
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    August 31, 2018

    This one reason I like PCs better than Macs. 

    When I was using Macs, I found it better to use a Font Manager application versus using Fontbook.  Fontbook is the worst.

    Suitcase Fusion

    I was using the old version of Suitecase and it was great.  I could turn fonts on and fonts off easily.  Also it can handle thousands and thousands of fonts.  I think on my Mac I had 7000 fonts or so.

    The version I had allowed me to set up folders and organize fonts however I wanted.  So I could set up a folder for Old West Style fonts, Asian style fonts, thin line fonts, etc.  What ever I wanted.  Then I could easily find the fonts I wanted to 'activate'.  And if I did not want them activated I simply could deactivate them.

    Totally recommend trying out a Font Manager.  I am not sure what the best one is now.... but it is worth looking into.  Fontbook might have gotten better, but I think you will find a Font Manager application better to work with!  And there are some good free ones out there.

    Let's connect on LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/in/kshinabery/
    Ton Frederiks
    Community Expert
    Ton FrederiksCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    August 30, 2018
    Monika Gause
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    August 30, 2018

    If you activate it in Fontbook it should be available in Illustrator automatically. If it isn't that is a sign that the font is not working.

    Which font is it?

    JoeTheBurger
    Participant
    August 30, 2018

    Its the manzipen sc font.

    and it dosent not pop up in illustrator even thought its in my fontbook.

    Monika Gause
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    August 30, 2018

    Is that a freefont?

    Illustrator will only work with quality fonts. Not saying that a freefont isn't a quality font, but many of them just have issues.