Google Docs comes with several Fonts to choose from by default and allows users to add more Google fonts. Unfortunately, you can’t use local or custom fonts that aren’t included in the Google Fonts repository or from a browser extension.
In this article, we’ll show you how to use the Google Fonts repository in your Google Docs document ando install them to a Windows 10 machine for local use. So, without wasting any more time, let’s get started.
Add New Custom Google Fonts to Google Docs
Before you install any new fonts on Windows, preview them in a Google Docs document first. This will help you make sure you like the way they look.
- Visit Google Docs and click Blank to open a new document.
- Click the Font dropdown menu (it probably says “Arial” on your document, as that’s the default for Google Docs) on the Google Docs toolbar.
- Then click on More fonts to open a pop-up window.
- From there, you can selectan entirel collection of Google fonts to add to the Docs Font dropdown menu.
- Click the Show dropdown menu at the top for a list of categories. Then you can search for fonts in more specific categories. This is much more convenient as trying to browse through all of them in one giant category would get more than a little overwhelming.
- Select any font you like to add to the document and press the OK button. Enter some text and format the font to preview it in the word processor.
How to Add Google Fonts to Google Docs Using Extensis Fonts
Google’s built-in additional fonts arehandyl, but they come with two problems: first, not every Google font makes it into the Google Fonts system, and second, you have to go into Google Fonts every time you want to use a different font.
Fortunately, there’s a solution to these issues. The Extensis Fonts add-on for Docs fixes both problems by putting all your fonts in an easy-to-access menu and auto-updating whenever a new font hits the Google Fonts library.
Installing Extensis Fonts is very easy.
- In an open Google Docs document, select Extensions > Add-ons > Get add-ons in the upper left-hand corner, type “Extensis” into the search bar, and hit return.
- Click on the add-on and select the Install button, and it will automatically install after asking you which Google account to install it on and asking for permission to install it.
- After you install Extensis Fonts, activating it is simple. To do so, click the Add-ons menu and select Extensis Fonts > Start.
- Extensis Fonts will open in the sidebar with a preview of all your fonts.
This extension also gives you the ability to sort and select them effortlessly.
How to Add Google Fonts to Windows from the Google Fonts Website
What if you want to use Google Fonts locally on your Windows machine?
Fortunately, using the Google Fonts repository in Google Docs is simple. You use the fonts as outlined above. However, if you want more control over customizing the document as a whole, you may prefer a desktop word processor such as Microsoft Word. In that case, you’ll need to download the fonts you want to use to your local machine.
- Just navigate to Google Fonts andbrowseh the vast number of fonts available.
- To find fonts quicker, search for them or use the Categories dropdown menu and select the options you don’t want.
- Click on your desired font and then the Select this style + buttons to choose the fonts you want to download.
- Next, you can click the minimized Families Selected window at the bottom of the page to open your selection of fonts, as shown in the screenshot below.
- Click the Download all button to save the selected fonts to your hard drive. The fonts will be storedaved within a compressed ZIP file.
- Open the folder you downloaded them to in File Explorer and click the new font ZIP file. Extract the compressed ZIP folder by pressing the Extract all button. Doing this will open the window shown directly below. Click the Browse button to select a folder to extract the ZIP to and press the Extract button.
- Open the extracted font folder, right-click one of the Google font files, and select the Install option on the context menu. To select multiple fonts, hold and press the Ctrl button.
- Alternatively, you can drag and drop Google fonts from the extracted folder into the Windows fonts folder instead. The path for the Fonts folder is C:\WindowsFonts.
- Next, open your word processor in Windows and click its Font dropdown menu to select the new Google font. You can also select the fonts in image editors and other office software.
That’s all there is to it. Just follow the steps outlined above, and you can quickly use Google Fonts on your Windows computer.
Add Google Fonts to Windows With SkyFonts
You can also add the Google fonts to Windows with extra third-party software. SkyFonts is a free font management software that you can use to install and maintain your fonts. Using SkyFonts is recommended because if a font family changes, SkyFonts will automatically keep you up to date with the new or corrected fonts.
That’s one less thing to worry about forgetting.
- Just visit the SkyFonts site and click Download SkyFonts to add the software to Windows. You’ll also need to set up an account on the SkyFonts website by clicking Sign in.
- After downloading the software, press the Browse Google Fonts button on the SkyFonts site to open the window below.
- To add one of the listed fonts to Windows, click its SkyFonts button. Then, press the Add button to install that font on Windows.
The Google Fonts directory is a great collection of web fonts anyone can use for their own purposes. You can include those fonts in your documents and add them to your images using Windows word processors and image editors.
Other Cool Font and Text Effects in Google Docs
You probably aren’t aware of many other cool things you can do with fonts in Google Docs. To take your documents to the next level, look at these cool and unique font and text effects.
DocTools
DocTools is a free add-on for Docs that adds more than a dozen helpful text features to your documents. DocTools lets you change the case, adjust font sizes, change numbers to the equivalent words and vice-versa, add and remove highlighting, and more with just a single click.
Download the add-on and play around with its features to see the amazing things you can do with this free tool.
Magic Rainbow Unicorns
Magic Rainbow Unicorns (really) lets you turn your boring text into a literal rainbow of color. Select the text area to enhance and pick your starting and ending color range. Once you do this, Magic Rainbow Unicorns (again, really) will automatically convert the text color into a beautiful rainbow.
Of course, you could do this yourself with text highlighting, but it would be very time-consuming. This add-on makes it much easier and quicker.
Fun Text
Fun Text is an add-on that lets you add all kinds of neat visual effects to your text, including rainbows, random colors, fades, and much more. You can make your letters grow, turn upside down…it’s quite, well, fun.
Auto LaTeX
OK, this add-on isn’t particularly fun (no rainbows), but it is powerful and useful for folks doing scientific, mathematical, or engineering work in Google Docs.
LaTeX is one of the dominant word processing programs for academic work, and its main claim to fame is that it handles formulas and equations well. Wouldn’t it be great if you could do that in Google Docs?
Well, you can with Auto LaTeX. This add-on takes any LaTeX equation string in your document and turns it into an image you can work with transparently.
Insert Icons for Docs
People want custom fonts because many have special characters that can be used in documents. This add-on bypasses that kind of clumsy solution. Instead, it lets you directly import all the special characters you want. Icons for Docs lets you import over 900 icons from Font Awesome and 900 icons from Google Material Design, change their color, and resize them directly in the document.
Signature
Google Docs is an excellent, cloud-based document service. The entire Google suite offers sheets (similar to Microsoft Excel) and even Google Forms. With so many customization options, understanding all of the capabilities are going to improve your productivity.
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