The Fonts Control Panel and Storing Fonts

The Windows operating system includes hundreds of fonts, some of which are required for Windows to run, and others that are used only for Windows language configurations or for use in creating documents.

Fonts Control Panel in Windows

The Windows operating system looks for fonts in its Fonts Control Panel and prohibits you from removing fonts that it requires to function properly. FontAgent® recognizes all fonts stored in the Control Panel automatically. In general, once you start using FontAgent, you should limit the number of fonts you store in the Control Panel to just those required by Windows.

Hiding and Displaying Required Fonts

Windows requires certain system fonts to be available at all times. So rather than allowing you to deactivate required fonts, Windows permits you to hide them. When you hide a required font, it remains active but no longer appears in applications you are running. Accordingly, when you deactivate a required font in FontAgent, it tells Windows to hide the font.

Storing Your Other Fonts

FontAgent automatically detects fonts in the Fonts Control Panel in Windows. You import other fonts into the FontAgent application, When you import fonts, FontAgent:

• Makes a copy of the font files and stores them in your FontAgent catalog
• Harvests all the font metadata and stores it for your use
• Makes the fonts available so you can view, search, activate and print them

To make a font available to software applications, Windows loads the font into your computer's memory. FontAgent lets you manage your fonts so you can activate and deactivate them to save system resources, simplify bloated font menus, and preserve system performance.

Subscription Font Services

Some font vendors license fonts via subscription services, the most well-known is Adobe Fonts. FontAgent lets you preview and manage these fonts after activating them in their associated subscription service.

Adobe Fonts

Adobe Fonts is a subscription font service that is also included in Adobe Creative Cloud subscriptions. Standard subscriptions allow you to access fonts, and to activate and de-activate fonts manually from the Adobe Fonts application. FontAgent automatically detects and displays fonts you have activated in Adobe Typekit as a Defined Set. You can preview Adobe Fonts, assign them to sets, and manage them just like other fonts in your FontAgent catalog—but Adobe requires you to control their activation from within the Typekit application.

Storing Fonts Locally Versus on a Server

Since Windows requires fonts to be stored locally on your computer, the following conditions are true:

• When you run the standard, standalone edition of FontAgent, all available fonts are stored on your system, even if you store their original copies on a networked file server.
• When you activate fonts using a web service like Adobe Fonts, FontAgent does not import the fonts, but makes them available so you can preview them.
• When you share fonts using the Connected or Sync Editions of FontAgent, you upload them to a cloud-based server provided by Insider where they are shared with others in your workgroup.
• When you connect to an on-premise or cloud-based FontAgent Server, your local FontAgent client downloads fonts that you are authorized to use and places them in your local FontAgent database until a font admin in your organization de-authorizes your use of the fonts.

Related Topics

• Windows Font Types
• Application-Specific Fonts
• User Interface Overview
• Using the Sets Sidebar
• Using Subscription Fonts