Frequently Asked Questions

Font is from the Silhouette Design Store

Click here for steps to ensure all of your purchased content from the Silhouette Design Store is downloaded to your Silhouette Studio Library.

If continued concerns are encountered:

1. Close Silhouette Studio
2. Install the latest version of Silhouette Studio
3. Restart Silhouette Studio
4. Go to the Library tab
5. Make sure you are signed into your Silhouette account where the font or other content was purchased
6. Click on the Sync button in the lower left-hand corner
7. Click on the Fonts folder
8. Attempt to locate your font

* Also see notes below if you cannot locate your installed font.

Font is from Another Source

If the font was purchased or downloaded from a 3rd party source (not from the Silhouette Design Store), please note that only fonts from the Design Store will be found in your Library. All other fonts will simply be listed in the Text Style tool, or as an option in the font style drop-down list as you are using the font tool.

You will need to ensure the font is fully installed on the computer. Silhouette Studio can only find and display True Type (.ttf) or Open Type (.otf) fonts that are installed on your computer.

To manually install a font to your computer for use with Silhouette Studio and other software programs, please do the following:

Windows/PC:

1. Close Silhouette Studio
2. Locate your font file
   NOTE: If downloaded from another source, it is usually found in your computer's default download location, unless you specifically saved it somewhere else
3. Extract the font file (if zipped) or open the folder (if the font file is in a folder)
4. Double-click on the font file
5. A font management window will open
6. Select the Install option in the upper-left of the window
7. The Install button will turn grey, indicating that the font has been installed

MAC:

1. Close Silhouette Studio
2. Locate your font file
   NOTE: If downloaded from another source, it is usually found in your computer's default download location, unless you specifically saved it somewhere else
3. Open the downloaded folder (if the font file is in a folder)
4. Double-click on the font file
5. A font management window will open
6. Select the Install option in the lower-right of the window
7. The font management window will close, indicating that the font has been installed

Alternately, the following may be performed on a Mac:

1. Close Silhouette Studio
2. Open the Applications folder
3. Open the Font Book app
4. Go to the File menu
5. Select Add Fonts
6. Select a font or a folder containing multiple fonts
7. Click Open to install the font(s)

* Also see notes below if you cannot locate your installed font.

* NOTE: When looking for fonts, please note that fonts names listed in your Library or under the Text Style list may differ from the name displayed than in the Design Store. For example, the initials of the artist may be at the front of the font name causing the font to be listed differently than expected (i.e. Jersey Font, by Lori Whitlock, appears in the Text Style font list as LW Jersey).

Also, please keep in mind that some fonts may be contained within a font family. This means that they will be listed as a style option once the main font name is selected within the Text Style panel. If the font is from a font family (where there are variations of the same font family name), please locate the main parent font name in the Text Style font list. Once you have selected the main font name, you can then locate alternate font options. These will be available by clicking on the drop-down arrow next to the B I U options.

If the font is found in the Library BUT: a) the thumbnail is blank OR b) the font is not found under the Text Style options, please perform the following steps:

1. Open Silhouette Studio
2. Go to the Library
3. Go to the My Fonts section
4. Right-click on the font name
5. Select the Install option
6. Close Silhouette Studio
7. Click OK if prompted to Install Fonts
8. Re-open Silhouette Studio

Please note that these steps will only work for fonts downloaded from the Silhouette Design Store.

If the font was purchased or downloaded from a 3rd party source (not from the Silhouette Design Store), please note that only fonts from the Design Store will be found in your Library. All other fonts will simply be listed in the Text Style tool, or as an option in the font style drop-down list as you are using the font tool.

Additional Troubleshooting - PC

If the above troubleshooting fails on a PC, then the issue may be related to your computer now allowing proper permissions to Silhouette Studio. If this is the case, please do the following:

1. Close Silhouette Studio
2. Press the Windows key and R key simultaneously
3. Type in %programfiles(x86)%
4. Press Enter
5. Right-click on the Silhouette America folder
   • If a Silhouette America folder is not present, right click on Silhouette Studio folder
6. Select the Properties option
7. Select the Security tab
8. Select the Advanced Button
9. (If Present) Select the Change Permissions button and provide authorization
10. Check the box entitled "Replace all child object permission entries with inheritable permission entries from this object"
11. Select Yes on the Windows Security pop-up
12. Select Okay
13. Open Silhouette Studio
14. Locate your font

Additional Troubleshooting - Mac

If the font is showing in the library, please first follow these steps to force the font installation:

1. Open Silhouette Studio
2. Go to the Library
3. Go to the Fonts folder
4. Right-click on the font name
5. Select the Install option
6. Close Silhouette Studio
7. Click OK on the prompt to Install Fonts
8. Re-open Silhouette Studio

Please note that these steps will only work for fonts downloaded from the Silhouette Design Store. If the font was purchased or downloaded from a 3rd party source (not from the Silhouette Design Store), please note that only fonts from the Design Store will be found in your Library. All other fonts will simply be listed in the Text Style tool, or as an option in the font style drop-down list as you are using the font tool.

If the above troubleshooting fails on a Mac, then the issue may be related to your computer now allowing proper permissions to Silhouette Studio. If this is the case, please do the following:

1. Close Silhouette Studio
2. Open the Finder
3. Press CMD+SHIFT+G
4. Type in /library
5. Press GO
6. Right-click (CTRL+Click) on the FONTS folder
7. Select GET INFO from the drop-down menu
8. Scroll to the bottom of the Get Info window
9. Select the LOCK at the bottom of the Get Info window
10. If requested, enter the computer administrative user name and password
11. Select the + near bottom of the Sharing & Permissions section
12. Select your User Name
13. Click on the SELECT button
14. Change the permissions associated with your newly added user to READ AND WRITE
15. Select the LOCK at the bottom of the Get Info window
16. Re-open Silhouette Studio

In order to make access to special characters and glyphs easier, the Designer Edition software upgrade provides a special Glyphs feature. Click here for more information on this feature.

If you are using the Basic version of Silhouette Studio, or if the font glyphs cannot be seen in your glyphs panel*, you can access these characters using the standard operating system Character Map on your computer.

*At present, Silhouette Studio does not support all available glyph libraries utilized by font creators, however the above steps will allow access to all available glyph libraries.

To access glyphs manually using the Character Map on your computer:
 
PC/Windows

1. Press the Windows key and R key simultaneously
2. Type in charmap and press Enter
3. The Character Map window will appear
4. In the Font drop-down, navigate to the desired font
5. Check the box next to Advanced View
6. In the Group by drop-down, navigate to Unicode Subrange
7. The Group By window will pop up next to the Character Map window
8. Scroll to the bottom of the Group By window and select Private Use Characters. All available glyphs should now be displayed in the Character Map.
9. In the Font box, click the font you want to use.
10. Click the special character that you want to insert, click Select, and then click Copy
11. Open Silhouette Studio
12. Go to the Edit menu and click Paste
13. Adjust your font style as desired

Mac

1. Open the Finder
2. Open the Applications option
3. Open the Font Book application
4. Select the View Menu
5. Select the Repertoire option
6. Find the font and character you wish to use
7. Click to select the desired character
8. Press Command + c to copy
9. Open Silhouette Studio
10. Go to the Edit menu and click Paste
11. Adjust your font style as desired

Your text should show up after following these steps. If it does not, please note that there is a limitation to how much the Silhouette Studio program can accept being pasted at one time. You may need to copy and paste smaller strings of text rather than a larger section of text all at once.