Uninstalled Fonts and Windows 7

If you are working with either a 32-bit or 64-bit Windows 7 platform, by now you realize that you can no longer minimize a font to the bottom toolbar and then work with it as if it was an installed font.  That is a feature in all previous versions of Windows that, for some reason, is no longer available in Windows 7.  

But there is a workaround for it.   If you just want to view a font after downloading it, you can simply double click on the font name and it will open in its own window.  However, you cannot do very much with it other than view it.  

If you decide that it is a “maybe keeper” font, you should save it in a fonts folder.   Ob my computer I have set up a fonts folder called simply “fonts” and within that folder I keep all my uninstalled fonts in sub-folders such as script fonts, dingbats, sports fonts, seasonal fonts, etc., making it easier to find a style of font quickly from the sub-folders.   Since using Windows 7 I have also added a folder called “trial fonts”, where I will save the fonts that I am not sure I want to keep.   

Now, how do you work with these uninstalled fonts?  You have the option of installing them temporarily with the AMP Font Viewer.  This font viewer will allow you to install a font into the Windows Font folder temporarily as long as AMP Font Viewer is open.  And that is the trick, make sure you leave the font viewer open when working with uninstalled fonts and Windows will then think they are installed.   And you can temporarily install more than one font at a time.

After temporarily opening fonts with AMP Font Viewer open, if you are using Font Engine in either Studio or Editor, you should run a search for fonts each time you open Font Engine, so it will pick up any newly installed fonts into your trial fonts folder. 

Good luck with your non-installed fonts now that you have the secret to make working with these fonts easier!

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