About a month ago, we discussed installing new fonts in Windows 10. When you install a new font by following the standard procedure, the font is installed in the Fonts directory present in your system drive (the drive where Windows 10 is installed).
If you have installed Windows 10 on a relatively small partition and running low on disk space, you can install new fonts in Windows 10 using shortcuts instead of actual font files. That is, when you install a font using a shortcut, Windows creates only a shortcut of the file in Fonts directory and doesn’t move the original font file to the Fonts directory. This will help users who are low on disk space.
For instance, if you have installed Windows 10 on the “C” drive and have a font in the “J” drive, the font file will not be moved to the “C” drive when you install a font using its shortcut. Instead, Windows will only create a shortcut of the file in the Fonts directory. A font installed using a shortcut can be used like any other font installed directly in the Fonts directory.
Install fonts as shortcuts in Windows 10
Although install fonts using shortcuts is a neat feature, the feature is turned off by default, and you need to turn on the same to be able to install a font using a shortcut. Follow the given below directions to enable install fonts using shortcuts feature and install fonts using shortcuts in Windows 10.
Note: Although the below-mentioned procedure is for Windows 10, the same method can be used on Windows 8.1 as well as Windows 7 to install fonts as shortcuts.
Tip: If you have installed hundreds of third-party fonts in Windows, you can use this method to free up some space on your system drive. Copy all fonts from the original Fonts directory to another drive, uninstall original fonts that are not being used by the system, and then install all fonts as shortcuts.
Configure Windows 10 to allow fonts to be installed using a shortcut
Step 1: Open Control Panel. To do so, type Control Panel in the Start menu search box and press Enter key.
Step 2: Once Control Panel is opened, change the View by to Small icons, and then click Fonts.
Step 3: In the left pane, click Font settings.
Step 4: Under Installation settings section, check the option labeled Allow fonts to be installed using a shortcut (advanced), and then click OK button.
To install a font as a shortcut
We request you move fonts downloaded from the web to a drive other than the system drive. Also, don’t save font files in the Desktop or Downloads folders as these folders are actually located in your system drive only.
Step 1: Navigate to the folder where the new font that you want to install is located.
Step 2: Right-click on the file and then click Install as shortcut option. Click Yes button if you see the User Account Control dialog. That’s it! Your newly installed font is ready to use.
Important: Don’t move the original font file from its location as moving or deleting the font file might make the installed for unusable. If you move the font file ever, please follow the above-given instructions again to install it as a shortcut.
Botlhe Kabelo Pule says
Good day. Unfortunately on the PC I’m using there is no appearing option for ‘install as shortcut’ instead it reads ‘istall for all user’ Any suggestions?
coffee-turtle says
This is great to know! Thank you. Do you have a procedure for moving all of the pre-installed fonts to another partition and then making them all as shortcuts?
Thank you!