Fontik

How to install a font on Linux (Ubuntu and others)

On Linux a font is a file in a fonts folder that the system knows about. You can install it with a click in GNOME, or by copying the files and refreshing the font cache.

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Steps

  1. Download the font and unzip the archive.
  2. The easiest way in GNOME: double-click the .ttf or .otf file and click Install in Font Viewer.
  3. Or install it manually: if the folder ~/.local/share/fonts does not exist, create it with mkdir -p ~/.local/share/fonts and copy the font files into it.Older systems also read ~/.fonts. To install a font for all users, copy the files to /usr/local/share/fonts instead (this needs sudo).
  4. Refresh the font cache with fc-cache -f -v.
  5. Check that the system sees the font with fc-list | grep -i "font name", using the real name of the font.
  6. Restart the applications you want to use the font in.

Tips

  • KDE users can open System Settings, Fonts and choose Install from File.
  • To remove a font, delete its files and run fc-cache -f again.
  • If an application does not show the new font, restart it.

Questions

Where should I copy the fonts?

To ~/.local/share/fonts if only you need them, or to /usr/local/share/fonts if all users do (this needs sudo).

Why does my application not see the font?

Refresh the cache with fc-cache -f -v and restart the application. The fc-list command shows whether the system sees the font.

Does it work for Cyrillic or Kazakh letters?

Only if the font contains those letters. The font page in the catalogue shows which languages the font supports.

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