We've all said it for years, to use system fonts in cricut, you have to install the fonts to your device.
And, that is sort of true, but also not true.
If I want to open Design Space, open a text box, and type the text - then I can only use the fonts I have installed.
BUT - if I upload my text as an svg, I don't have to install the font. And it's easy to make your text an svg, with a free little utility called FontLab Pad.
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There are a few reasons I do not install the vast majority of my fonts:
1. I don't have to.
2. The bulk of what I do on this laptop is word processing. I do not want to scroll through 1,000 installed craft fonts to find the fonts I want to use for word processing documents.
3. I have never liked the way Cricut handles fonts. Design Space does not read fonts like "normal" programs, so although their spacing looks much better than it did years ago, it's still not right. Design Space never displays ligatures [fun combinations that occur naturally in some fonts]
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So how do I do it?
First - I have my fonts sorted into folders by type. Stencil fonts, fonts that work with the pens in cricut, fonts with "easy glyphs" [no character map needed to get the swirls] and fonts with regular glyphs [character map needed.]. There are more categories, and sometimes I have one font copied into several folders.
Then, I import those folders into Maintype Logic. It's a FREE program. The folders show up as "Groups" in the program - allowing me to choose one folder, and then quickly compare all of the fonts in that folder, to make my choice. Once I've made my choice, if I want to add any of the glyphs, the character map is right there, making it easy. Fonts do not need to be installed to be viewed in Maintype Logic.
Next, I open FontLab Pad. This is a little FREE utility that a lot of us used for years when Design Space made a REAL mess out of system fonts spacing. Since they have improved how most system fonts look, many have forgotten about FLP - but it's still one of my favorite tools. FontLab Pad also does not need you to install the fonts to use them. So I can browse to the folder where my chosen font is stored, select that font, then type my text. OR - I can just copy and paste my sample text from Maintype logic, which is especially helpful if I have used glyphs.
Make certain you have the same exact font selected in Maintype as you choose in FLP, if you are trying to copy and paste text from one to the other.
Choose Save As, make sure it's set to SVG - and now I have an svg of my text.
Upload the svg just as I would any other svg.
Fonts I DO Install
That doesn't mean I don't install any fonts - I do! If it's a font I use very frequently, I will install it. I always keep a few "drawing fonts" [fonts that work in Design Space without bubbling] installed, because it's often much more efficient to type out a few lines in Design Space when using the pens.
READ MORE
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https://fieldsofhether.blogspot.com/2023/06/free-ligature-fonts-how-to-use-them.html
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