How to use a font without installing it

Fonts can be used without installing them through the font manager in Vectornation by Zaweba. Open Type > Font manager and activate a folder of fonts. The fonts in that folder become available in Vectornation while they are active, without being installed into Windows. When you need a font permanently, the manager can also install it per user.

This suits anyone who receives fonts with a job. A client sends their brand typefaces, a designer passes on a project folder, or you download a font to try. Installing every one clutters the system font list, and some licences only cover a particular project.

Why activate rather than install

Installed fonts appear in every program on your PC, and a long font list is slow to scroll and easy to get lost in. Fonts installed for one job tend to stay forever.

Activating a folder keeps project fonts with the project. Store the fonts in the job folder, activate that folder while you work on it, and they are there when needed. Your system font list stays as it was.

It is also handy for testing. Activate a folder of candidate typefaces, try them on your design, and only install the one you choose.

Activating a folder

Open Type > Font manager. Choose to activate a folder and point it at the folder that holds the fonts. The fonts appear in the manager and in Vectornation's font menus, ready to use.

The font manager reads TrueType and OpenType fonts, TTC and OTC collections, and WOFF web fonts, so most font files you're sent will work. It also lists fonts made in Font by Zaweba.

Finding your way in the font manager

The manager lists every system and per user font on the PC alongside activated ones, each drawn in its own typeface so you can see what it looks like. Search finds a font by name, classification groups them by style, and favourites and collections keep the ones you use often close at hand. A collection per client is a tidy way to keep each brand's fonts together.

Previews let you see sample text in a font before you apply it.

Installing per user

When a font earns a permanent place, the font manager can install it per user. That installs it for your Windows account only and leaves other accounts on the PC unchanged.

Things to keep in mind

Activated fonts are for working in Vectornation. If you send the file to someone else, they will need the fonts too, or you can convert the text to outlines with Create outlines before sending a final file that doesn't need to be edited.

Respect licences. Activating instead of installing doesn't change what a font's licence allows, so check that you're entitled to use fonts you receive, especially for commercial work.

Keep fonts with the project. If the job folder moves, activate it again from its new place.

If a file opens with a font missing, the font manager's missing font resolution helps find a replacement, or you can activate the folder where the right font lives.

Keeping fonts tidy is a small discipline that saves time on every job. With folder activation, the font manager in Vectornation by Zaweba makes it easy to use what you need without filling Windows with fonts.