Frequently Asked Questions

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Fonts and Glyphs Overview

Overview

Silhouette offers fonts available for download through the Silhouette Design Store.

Silhouette cutting machines can also cut other fonts installed on your computer through the Silhouette Studio software program. You do not need to download these into the Silhouette software. Any True Type (.ttf) or Open Type (.otf) font installed on your computer in your font directory will show up as an available option for cutting letters once the Silhouette software is opened.

Please note that some fonts may not be designed for optimal cutting, so we cannot guarantee that every font style will cut well with a Silhouette cutting machine.

How to Install Fonts for Silhouette Studio

Fonts purchased from the Silhouette Design store should download and install automatically into your Silhouette Studio library when running the latest version of Silhouette Studio.

Certain Premium Fonts may need to be installed manually to your computer as follows:

Downloading the font file from the Design Store:

  1. Close out of the Silhouette Studio software
  2. Go to your Silhouette Design Store download history
  3. Select the order containing the desired font file
  4. Check the Download box for all fonts you would like to download
  5. Select the Download Checked option at the top of the order
  6. A zipped folder will be downloaded to your default download location, it will be named after the Design Store Order Number

Install the font on a PC:

  1. Open the downloaded folder or locate the font file in question
  2. Double-click on the desired font to install
  3. A font management window will open
  4. Select the Install option in the upper-left of the window
  5. The Install button will turn grey, indicating that the font has been installed

Install the font on a MAC:

  1. Open the downloaded folder or locate the font file in question
  2. Open the downloaded folder
  3. Double-click on the desired font to install
  4. A font management window will open
  5. Select the Install option in the lower-right of the window
  6. The font management window will close, indicating that the font has been installed

Silhouette Studio version 4.1.441 and higher will support automatic installation of Premium Fonts.

Monogram Font vs Monogram Cut File

A monogram is a decorative motif of two or more letters.

There are two different kinds of monograms available from the Silhouette Design Store:

Please note that these are distinctly different types of files.

Monogram Cut Files download from the Design Store to the “Recent Downloads” folder of your library as a Studio file. These files are simply a design that cannot be modified by typing with your keyboard. If the design comes with multiple letters, you can Ungroup the pieces and move the letters to customize the monogram. 

Monogram Fonts downloaded from the Design Store to the “Fonts” folder of your library. These are font files with access to multiple letter. These can be manipulated by typing on your keyboard using the Text tool.

 

NOTE: While the thumbnail picture may appear similar between these two different kinds of files available on the store, they are different. A simple method of telling them apart is that a Monogram Font will typically have an icon of “Aa” in the bottom left corner of its preview window designating that it is a Font file rather than a Regular Cut file.

What is a Glyph?

In typography, a Glyph is the specific shape, design, or representation of a character. For the fonts offered by Silhouette, glyphs can refer to letters, symbols, flourishes, or dingbats icons.

A number of fonts found on the Silhouette Design Store include glyphs. 

How to Access Glyphs

The Designer Edition upgrade provides a glpyh support feature to make access to special characters and glyphs easier.

 

If you are using the Basic edition of Silhouette Studio, you can alternately access these characters using the standard operating system Character Map on your computer as follows:
 
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

NOTE: That there is a limitation to how much the Silhouette Studio program can accept being pasted and you may need to copy and paste smaller strings of text rather than a larger section of text all at once.

* Silhouette Studio does not currently support all available glyph libraries utilized by font creators. However the above steps will allow access to all available glyph libraries.

Font Installation or Glpyh Access Issues

Click here for further information on font installation or glyph access issues.

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