Add Fonts to Photoshop

Ever scrolled through all your fonts and just couldn’t find the right one for your job? When creating a visual project, finding the right font is key to what you want your design to convey. Nobody uses Comic Sans unless they don’t want to be taken seriously, for example. And you may remember how Times New Roman was the starting point for compositions and Arial was the standard for website creators.

But with an unlimited number of fonts available online, it’s only a matter of time before you find yourself wanting to add new options to your repertoire.

Add Fonts to Photoshop

There are two essential ways to add fonts to Photoshop: you can download and install fonts on your computer and use them in Photoshop, or you can use your Creative Cloud account and add them through Adobe Fonts. We’ll cover both methods here.

To download and install fonts:

This is probably the best method because you can do it without having to sign in to your Creative Cloud account, it’s free and you have the font at your disposal to use for all other programs that use fonts, not only for photoshop.

Step 1: Choose a font to download

I cannot emphasize this enough: always choose a reputable website to download files from. I’ve been using Dafont for over ten years now, but there are many more you can use, such as Envato, 1001Fonts, Google Fonts, Creative Market, and many more.

Step 2: Click Download

I choose “Someone else” to add to Photoshop. To view the font family, click its name on the left. Click Download on the right to download the font.

Step 3: Find the downloaded font

Your new font is in a compressed file in your Downloads folder. Once you find it, double click on it to open it and find the actual font files in it.

Fonts usually come in TTF or OTF file formats. Both can be installed in Windows or Mac after downloading. TTF or TrueType font files are an older format and are what you’ve probably seen more of if you’re used to working with fonts. OTF or OpenType font files are a newer format with more scalable options, but for the average user, both files are equally usable.

Step 4: Install Font

When you double-click the font file in your Downloads folder, a new window will appear where you can preview the font and then click the Install Font button.

After installation, your new font will be visible on your computer.

Step 5: Use your font

Once your font is installed, it’s ready to use right away. Just open Photoshop and find your new font using the text tool.

Since you downloaded and installed a font on your computer, you can now use it in Photoshop or wherever you can use fonts. This includes Pages, Word, Excel, etc.

To use Adobe fonts:

In addition to downloading and installing fonts, you can also add fonts directly in Photoshop using your Adobe Creative Cloud account. Here’s how:

Step 1: Go to Adobe Fonts

Using the text tool in Photoshop, go to the font drop-down menu and click the Creative Cloud icon to browse Adobe fonts.

Step 2: Choose Font

This will open the Adobe Fonts website, where you can search for fonts that match your criteria. I chose one called Hachura, which in purple reads “Everything solid melts in air”.

Step 3: Activate Font

Click the switch next to Activate Font to add it to Photoshop. This will instantly add it to Photoshop and it will be ready to use right away.

Just a helpful message from Adobe once you’ve activated your font.

Step 4: Font is ready to use

The added Adobe font is immediately available in Photoshop using the text tool and goes with you wherever you sign into your Creative Cloud account.

FAQ