How to Install New Fonts in Ubuntu Linux

If you've ever used Ubuntu before, you knew that installing fonts wasn't that difficult. Just open Nautilus (the default file browser), and type the following into the address bar:

fonts://

After that, all you needed to do was drop your fonts into that folder, and you were all set.

Unfortunately, as of Ubuntu 8.04 - Hardy Heron - that no longer works. Now that Ubuntu is using gvfs, locations such as "fonts://" no longer work (as Nautilus will tell you if you try to navigate there!).

So, what to do?

If you were using Mac OSX, you could simply double-click a font package. The Mac OSX font prevew application would open and if you liked the font, there was a handy "install" button available. Click that, and the font is installed! Sadly, although Ubuntu does allow you to view fonts in the same manner, there is no "install" option to be found.

There are, however, a couple ways to install fonts, depending on how comfortable you are with the Terminal and/or whether or not you want the fonts to be available for all users, or just for yourself. This actually is a consideration, since many commercial font licenses may only allow a single user, while free fonts can typically be shared with anyone.

Let's assume, for the first instance (and for whatever reason), that you want to install the fonts and have them just be for you, and for you alone.

Open a Nautilus window and in the address bar type the following:

/home/username/.fonts/

If the fonts folder is inside your home directory (note the leading "." before fonts... that's what makes the directory invisible), it will now open and all you need to do is drag your new fonts into that folder and they'll instantly be available... but only for you.