Today, Google Docs is the de facto writing tool for the majority of internet publishers, and there are plenty of compelling reasons for that.
While the ease of real-time collaboration might appear as the biggest advantage Google Docs has over traditional word processing tools like Microsoft Word.
There are other reasons it’s the best tool for writing and putting together documents these days.
One such is the ability to add fonts in Google Docs. Google Docs comes with a wide variety of fonts and also allows you to add more fonts in case the specific fonts you need aren’t available in the default lists.
In this tutorial, we’ll look at how you can add custom fonts to Google Docs and other ways you can use to get access to more Google Docs fonts.
Can You Upload Your Own Fonts in Google Docs?
Google Docs, uses special web-based fonts, So It’s not possible to upload local or custom fonts to Docs.
The fonts you can use in Google Docs must either be included in the Google fonts repository or added by an add-on.
Thus, you can add fonts to Google docs by installing an extension. We’ll show you how in this guide.
Where is Add ons in Google Docs
To find add-ons in Google Docs, click on Extensions on the top toolbar and you’ll see add Add-ons from the menu that pops up.
Hover over it and you’ll see a list of all installed add-ons. To add a new one, click on the Get add-ons option.
This will take you to the Google Workspace Marketplace, where you can search for and install a new add-on.
What You’ll Need to Add custom fonts to Google Docs
- A Google Account: Like all other Google services, you can’t use Google Docs in the first place without a Google Account. And if you have a Gmail account, you already have a Google account. If not, you can quickly create a Google Email account following this simple guide.
- An Internet Connection: While It’s possible to use Google Docs in offline mode. You can’t add new fonts to Google Docs without connecting to the internet. Make sure you have a stable internet connection.
How to Add Custom Fonts to Google Docs
The default standard font is Arial which in most cases doesn’t complement user documents. Using the right font can be the winning factor for your business proposals, resume, or newsletter.
Before you add a new font in Google Docs, it helps to first preview them in Google Docs to see how it will make your document look.
There are 2 ways you can add fonts in Google Docs. One method is to use the default fonts repository which is a bit hidden but we’ll show you soon. The second method is to use third-party add-ons.
Once you add a new font in Google Docs, Google automatically syncs all your added fonts, added manually or by extensions to your Google account.
Thus, they are always available on all your devices, smartphones, laptops, and tablets you use. So far, you use the account on these devices.
Now let’s add fonts to Google Docs using the two methods
Method #1: Add Fonts to Google Docs without Extensions
These methods allow you to access additional fonts that are already installed in Google Docs but not available on the main font list. It’s a straightforward process. Follow these steps;
Once you have your Google Account, open a new tab in your browser and visit Google Docs. You’ll be required to sign in with your Google account details.
Next, click Blank to open a new document or click on the template gallery to select any of the prebuilt docs templates. We’ll select a blank document.
Once the document opens, put some text in it. Navigate to the top toolbar and click on the Font dropdown. It’s set as Arial by default.
By clicking on the dropdown arrow, you’ll see a list of available fonts as in the picture below. To add new, click on the More fonts option at the top of the list.
A new Fonts window will pop up. If you want to add a specific font, you can type the name of the font into the search box to quickly locate it.
You can also sort the list based on popularity, recency, trending, and alphabetical order.
To search for fonts in more specific categories, click on the Show: All fonts dropdown and choose a category.
This makes your search more convenient as browsing through the whole category can be tiring.
Once you find your desired font, click on it, and you’ll see a blue mark icon that indicates that it has been selected.
You can add more fonts by marking all the fonts you want. All your selected fonts will appear on the right side under the My fonts panel.
Once done, click the OK button at the bottom left. These fonts will now be added to your main list.
To start using your new fonts, go back to the Google Docs editing page.
Click on the Fonts dropdown arrow and locate your added fonts on the list. Click to select and start typing with it.
Set Added Fonts as Default in Google Docs
After adding a font to Google Docs using the method above, you may want to set your added font as the default in Google docs if you use them often. Here are the steps involved.
Open a new or existing document and type in a few lines of text. Highlight the text and click on the font dropdown. Select the font you want and apply it to the text.
Next, with the text still highlighted, go to Format in the top menu bar and choose the Paragraph styles that appear.
Next, Options at the bottom and click on Save as my default styles.
That’s all. You’ve set the added font as your default font. Now you can open a new document to see your new default font in action.
Method #2: Add Fonts to Google Docs with Extensions
While adding fonts using the built-in method is fairly straightforward, there are 2 common problems associated with it.
First, you need to repeat the steps above any time you want to use a new font. Second, not every Google font is available in Google Docs.
With the Extensis Fonts add-on, neither of the above will be your concern. This extension gives you access to hundreds of additional fonts on Google Docs.
Plus, It auto-updates the Google Fonts list whenever a new font is added to the Google Fonts library.
Using Extensis is quite simple. You first need to install the add-on. Let’s see.
Open a Google Docs as above, and click on Extension on the top toolbar. Select Add-ons then Get add-ons from the resulting menu.
Google Workspace Marketplace will open in a popup window. Search for Extensis Fonts using the search bar and click on it from the search result
Next, click on the Install Button.
Next, follow the on-screen prompts to grant Extensis the required permission and complete the installation.
After installing the add-on, simply navigate to Extensions>Add-ons. Select Extensis Fonts and
click start.
The Extensis Fonts menu will open on the right sidebar of Google Docs. From there, you can select any font you want to use.
By default, these fonts are sorted in alphabetical order. However, you can sort them by date, popularity, and trend.
The only downside of this method is that you can’t preselect a font to type with on Google Docs.
You first need to write your document with the default font then highlight your text and select a font from the Extensis menu.
More Helpful Design Tutorials:
- How To Find Out What Font A Website Is Using: Are you interested in finding out the font name, size, and style used on any website? This tutorial will show you how to easily identify the font used on a website.
- How To Upload A Font To Canva: Do you have cherished fonts you want to employ in your Canva project? You can upload them to Canva. Learn how to upload a font to Canva step by step here.
- How To Change Font In WordPress: Not Happy with the default WordPress fonts on your website? Worry not, you can change it. Follow this ultimate guide on how to change text typeface in WordPress.
Wrapping up
Regardless of the project you’re working on, using the appropriate font will help you improve its looks. Although Google Docs only provides a few dozen fonts by default, you have access to hundreds more fonts to pick from. The how is simple.
Open Google Docs, go to the fonts drop-down menu, click on More fonts, search for the desired fonts, and continue adding. Alternatively, install the Extensis Fonts add-on and never worry about adding new fonts to Google Docs again.
At the moment, Google Docs does not support custom fonts. So user can’t upload their one font to Google. Perhaps the feature will be available in the future. Before then, enjoy the available options.
We hope you find this guide helpful. If you have further questions, don’t hesitate to reach out in the comment section below.
