Fonts play a crucial role in customizing your Linux Mint Cinnamon desktop and making it uniquely yours.
In this guide, we’ll walk you through the process of installing new fonts on Linux Mint so you can give your computer a fresh look and make your creative projects even more captivating.
Fonts that you install can be used by applications such as LibreOffice, GIMP and others. Also you can use these fonts to elevate your Cinnamon desktop themes.
Table of Contents
Install fonts in Linux Mint Cinnamon
Check for Installed Fonts
Before adding new fonts, it’s a good idea to check which fonts are already installed on your Linux Mint system. This step helps you avoid duplication and organize your font library effectively. Here’s how to do it:
- Open the terminal on your Linux Mint system by pressing
Ctrl + Alt + T. - Type the following command in the terminal and press
Enter. This command will display a list of all the installed fonts on your system.
fc-list
Download New Fonts
Now that you know your system’s current font selection, let’s move on to downloading new fonts. There are various websites offering a wide range of free and paid fonts. You can use the below websites to download free fonts.
Browse through the collection of fonts on the website and select the ones you like.
Once you find a font you want to install, click on the download button to save the file to your computer.
These websites typically provide a download link to a zip file containing font files with extensions such as ttf or otf. Make sure to extract the zip file before proceeding.
Install fonts on Mint Cinnamon desktop
Installing fonts in Linux Mint is a straightforward process, and there are two common methods: installing fonts system-wide and installing fonts for a specific user.
Installing Fonts System-Wide
Follow these steps to install fonts system-wide:
- Open the terminal.
- Create a new directory named “fonts” (if it doesn’t already exist) in the “/usr/share/fonts” directory. Administrative privileges are required to create directories in this location. Note that you can also create subfolders to logically group your fonts.
sudo mkdir /usr/share/fonts
- Copy the downloaded font files (with extensions
ttforotf) to the newly created “fonts” directory using the following command:
sudo cp ~/Downloads/*.ttf /usr/share/fonts
- To make the system aware of the new fonts, update the font cache by running the following command:
fc-cache -f -v
Installing Fonts for a Specific User
If you don’t have administrative privileges or prefer to install fonts for a specific user, follow these steps:
- Open the terminal.
- Create a new directory named “.fonts” (if it doesn’t already exist) in your home folder.
mkdir ~/.fonts
- Copy the downloaded font files to the “.fonts” directory using the following command:
cp ~/Downloads/*.ttf ~/.fonts
- Update the font cache for the user-specific fonts:
fc-cache -f -v
Verifying Installed Fonts
After completing the installation, you may want to verify whether the new fonts are successfully installed. Here’s how to do it:
- Open the terminal and list all the installed fonts again using the “fc-list” command.
- Look for the newly installed fonts in the list. You should see the names of the fonts you installed.
Using fonts in Cinnamon
After you install the new fonts, you can open LibreOffice Writer or GIMP or any other application. Then, you can see the new fonts in the font drop down. See below.
If you want to change the desktop or document fonts, you can click on the application menu and search for the “Font selection” application. You can now change the fonts of your Cinnamon desktop components.
Linux Mint Cinnamon also provides a Fonts application which can read the font folder and give you a nice display of the installed fonts. To launch this application, search for “Fonts” in the Linux Mint application menu.
Installing Nerd fonts and Microsoft fonts (popular fonts)
The nerd font collection is a specifically designed font which can immediately change the look of the Cinnamon desktop. You can download the compressed folder using this page.
In addition, the popular Microsoft fonts also can be downloaded using the following terminal command:
sudo apt install ttf-mscorefonts-installer
Closing Notes
Now, you’ve successfully installed new fonts on your Linux Mint system, giving your desktop and creative projects a fresh and unique appearance. Enjoy experimenting with different fonts to personalize your Linux Mint experience!
