You installed a font and now you want the actual file: to copy it to another machine, to check whether it is really installed, or to delete it properly. Font files do not live in one single place, and that is what makes them hard to find.
The short answer
| System | Folder | Applies to |
|---|---|---|
| Windows | C:\Windows\Fonts |
every user on the machine |
| Windows | %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Fonts |
your account only |
| macOS | ~/Library/Fonts |
your account only |
| macOS | /Library/Fonts |
every user on the machine |
| macOS | /System/Library/Fonts |
the system, leave it alone |
| Linux | ~/.local/share/fonts |
your account only |
| Linux | /usr/share/fonts |
every user on the machine |
The pattern is the same everywhere: one folder for the whole machine, one folder for you. Which one a font landed in depends on how it was installed.
Windows
C:\Windows\Fonts is the classic location, the one everybody knows. A font installed for all users lives there, and installing there requires administrator rights.
The one most people miss is the per-user folder. Since Windows 10, right-clicking a font and choosing Install (without "for all users") puts it in:
C:\Users\<your name>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\FontsAppData is hidden by default, which is exactly why the font seems to have vanished. If a font works for you but a colleague on the same PC cannot see it, this is why.
To open either folder in one step, press Win + R and paste:
shell:fontsfor the machine-wide folder%localappdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Fontsfor your personal one
You can also go to Settings > Personalization > Fonts, which lists everything and tells you which fonts are installed for you only.
macOS
macOS uses three folders, in order of how much you should touch them:
~/Library/Fonts, your own fonts. This is where a normal install lands./Library/Fonts, fonts for everyone on the Mac. Installing here asks for your password./System/Library/Fontsand/System/Library/Fonts/Supplemental, the system fonts. Do not delete anything here, macOS depends on them.
The catch is that your personal Library folder is hidden. To open it, in Finder press Shift + Command + G and paste ~/Library/Fonts. Alternatively, open the Go menu and hold the Option key: Library appears in the list while you hold it.
Font Book itself will tell you where any font lives: select it, then choose Show in Finder from the right-click menu.
Linux
Drop a .ttf or .otf into ~/.local/share/fonts for yourself, or /usr/share/fonts for everyone. The older ~/.fonts path still works on many distributions but is deprecated.
Then refresh the font cache so applications notice:
fc-cache -f -vGetting a font file back out
On Windows, open the Fonts folder and drag the font to your desktop or copy and paste it. It works even though the folder looks special.
On Mac, use Font Book and Show in Finder rather than digging manually, because a font family can be several files.
Worth saying plainly: copying is easy, but a font is licensed software. Fonts that shipped with Windows, macOS, or an application such as Office are usually not yours to move to another machine or hand to someone else. Fonts you made yourself, or that came with a licence allowing it, are a different matter.
Installed but the app cannot see it
This is the most common follow-up problem, and it is rarely about the folder.
- The app was already open. Most applications read the font list at launch. Quit it completely and reopen it.
- It was installed for you only while the app runs under another account, or as an administrator.
- Two versions are fighting. If a TTF and an OTF of the same family are both installed, remove one. See TTF vs OTF for why.
- The app keeps its own list. Office and Adobe applications cache fonts, and sometimes need a restart of the whole suite.
Where your own fonts go
A font you export yourself does not go into any of these folders automatically. It arrives in your downloads folder as an ordinary file, and only moves into a system folder when you install it.
So the full path for a font you make is: export the TTF or OTF, find it in Downloads, double-click it, install. From that point it lives in one of the folders above, exactly like any font you bought or downloaded. Our guides for Windows and Mac cover that last step in detail.
