How to transfer fonts from a PC to a Mac

Fonts, PowerPoint and multiple computers do not mix. I have begun to go down the font slide: beautiful results but increasing complexity. Once you’re on it, there is no way back:

First level, just use one popular font, let’s say Verdana (but it gets boring)
Second level, group items together and “paste as PNG” back (but it is so hard to edit)
Thid level, embed fonts with your PPT file

All was fine with level 3 untill I tried to use the PPT file on a Mac: disaster again. The “hardcore” solution:

For some reason, my Windows PC has far more fonts installed than my Mac. Font files are portable, they work on a PC and on a Mac. I simply copied all my PC font files and put them in a folder on my Mac desktop. If I need a font, I double click the relevant file, start PowerPoint over again and things are fixed.

Now where are these PC font files? Click “start”, “run”, type “%windir%\fonts” and they all show up. Select all, copy and paste them in a folder to be copied to the Mac. Done.

2 comments

Jon Thomas2009-05-04 03:29:00

I almost exclusively create my PowerPoint decks in Mac, but often have to present them on a PC. I deal with this problem ALL the time. To add more difficulty, I often buy original fonts online to add a bit of originality.

The biggest problem is when I create a presentation that will be loaded/delivered on another computer (like at a conference). Fonts can't be embedded into a PowerPoint for Mac presentation, and I work almost exclusively on a Mac. The only solution that I've found is your second solution, to ensure that there won't be any incompatibility.

Hopefully Microsoft will come up with some solution to make our lives easier and quit pretending that people don't use both Macs and PCs.

Tomas2009-05-03 23:11:00

Great idea! In the past, I've dipped into the Windows Font folder to grab any fonts I need but this means booting up my WinXP virtual machine every time. At least with your method, everything I need is on my MacBook's hard drive. :)