Where does Illustrator get its fonts from?

[PicaGrove]

Is there a way to change the directory where Illustrator gets its fonts?

Right now Illustrator shows all my Windows fonts from the font folder, CC loaded fonts and then a bunch of other garbage fonts that I never use (im assuming these are from the Windows Fonts folder)

I'd like to point Illustrator towards a pure graphics fonts folder without all the wierdo Windows fonts showing up in my selection within Illustrator - thank you!

[Monika Gause · Accepted solution]

It gets the fonts from the system. And since it's not wise to uninstall system fonts, unfortunately there is not a lot you can do.

Same issue on Mac OS with those completely unnecessary heaps of Noto fonts.

[Bobby Henderson · Accepted solution]

Adobe Illustrator has 20 font files (plus what appears to be an old T1 Multiple Master font file) bundled into an application folder located at:
Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Illustrator 2024\Support Files\Required\Fonts
Those font files should be left alone and not deleted.

Which version of Windows are you using? If you use a web search string such as "Windows System Fonts" you'll see links to Microsoft typography pages listing the system fonts that are bundled into different versions of Windows. For example, this page lists the system fonts included with Windows 11:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/typography/fonts/windows_11_font_list

Some of these system fonts can be removed but others cannot. Generally speaking, I would recommend leaving Windows system fonts alone.

If you have Microsoft Office applications such as Word and Excel installed it's likely quite a few more fonts bundled with those applications were installed. Microsoft has similar pages listing the fonts included with different versions of Microsoft Office.

Some rival graphics applications may auto-install various fonts when the application is installed. CorelDRAW is one example. In that specific case those fonts can be uninstalled; the fonts collection from that app can be downloaded and merely referenced by its font manager app rather than gumming up Windows' Fonts folder.

Certain font management apps work alright, but there are pros and cons with any of them. I really like the Adobe Fonts service since it feels sort of "sand-boxed" away from the rest of the computer's system fonts and other junk that gets installed. It's fairly easy to add or remove type families -although I really wish Adobe would improve how the fonts list works in the Creative Cloud Desktop App. I can't stand the behavior of the vertical scroll bar for scrolling through the fonts list.