How to Upload Fonts to Cricut Design Space

If you want to take your Cricut projects to the next level, you should consider using your own fonts in Cricut Design Space. Don’t worry, it’s really easy! I’ll show you How to Upload Fonts to Cricut Design Space on Mac, Windows, and Mobile Devices. Plus I will share some of my favorite places to download fonts for personal and commercial use.

Can I Upload My Own Fonts to Cricut?

Yes! The most popular question I get about font is “can you import fonts into Cricut?” You can use fonts already on your computer in the Cricut Design Space app. Known as “system fonts,” you can use them in all of your projects for FREE. That means that any font you have downloaded to your computer, you can upload it to Cricut Design Space!

There is a large selection of fonts that are included in Cricut Design Space for free (“Cricut fonts”), and you can use them in any of your projects. In addition, there are even more Cricut fonts available with a Cricut Access subscription. But what if none of the Cricut fonts work with your design? If you’re like me, you like to use ALL the fonts!

This is where all of the downloaded fonts on your computer will give you the creative freedom to create any design you want! You can use a particular font to create brand projects, holiday projects, and more! Don’t limit yourself or pay for the available fonts in Design Space when there are high quality fonts you can download for free or cheap!

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Where Can I Download Free Fonts for Cricut?

Adding fonts to Cricut Design Space is easy, and I have an entire post dedicated to the Best Fonts for Cricut, which includes some of my favorite fonts from Creative Fabrica. I prefer fonts from Design Bundles or Creative Fabrica v. Cricut Design Space.

There are some really great font designers that sell their fonts on both of those sites. Other places that I really like are FontBundles and Creative Market. These sites are where I get the fancy cursive fonts that you always see on Pinterest!

You can find free downloadable Cricut fonts almost anywhere! Creative Fabrica and FontBundles regularly offer free fonts that can be used commercially. You can also download fonts for free from websites like DaFont or Google Fonts. You can download fonts from all of these places to use with your Cricut.

Uploading fonts from free font sites like Dafont to Cricut is just as easy as other sites. BUT, keep in mind that these sites usually do not offer their fonts for commercial use.

What are Good Fonts for Cricut Design Space?

As much as I love a free font, they are not all created to be compatible with electronic cutting machines. Fonts that are rough, sketched, or look watercolor will not cut cleanly with a Cricut. A lot of hand lettered cursive fonts fall into these categories, so definitely watch for those. When you choose to download fonts for Cricut designs, you want to look for fonts that have clean edges.

Cricut Design Space uses mathematical equations to read the font and turn it into a cut file. You may have heard the term “vector” or SVG file – those are file types that use this mathematical formula.

Fonts that are simple and clean lined have more straightforward equations and will therefore be simpler for the Cricut to cut.

If you look closely at this font in Cricut Design Space, you will see the rough edges and tiny little points that will have to cut.

This font is a serif font that has minimal points and will cut nicely.

Of course there are cursive fonts that will cut very well, but how a font is designed is extremely important when you choose a font to download to Cricut Design Space.

If you want to read more about fonts and vectors (and how you can design craft files with fonts outside of Cricut Design Space), make sure you read my post on How to Vectorize Fonts. If you’re a more advanced Cricut user, you’ll love the freedom you get outside of Design Space!

When choosing fonts to download, you also need to consider the end use for your project. If it is for personal use, generally any font is fine to use. But if it is a project that you will sell (commercial use), you will need to choose fonts that include a commercial license. Most fonts will explicitly state what the terms are.

That is one of the reasons that I love to choose fonts from FontBundles or Creative Fabrica. All purchased fonts or fonts downloaded within their subscriptions automatically include a commercial license.

How to Use Your Own Font in Cricut Design Space

There are only a few steps you need to follow to start using your new fonts from your own computer! Here’s a quick overview of How to Upload Fonts to Cricut Design Space. You can jump to each section of the tutorial by clicking the links below.

1. Download the Font (if you haven’t already)
2. Install the Font on your Computer or Mobile Device
3. Open Cricut Design Space and Use Your Downloaded Font

Uploading fonts is as simple as learning how to install or add fonts to your computer or mobile device. I promise, once you learn how to add fonts, you won’t stop! Getting the perfect font style for your design is always motivation to upload fonts to Cricut Design Space.

1. Download a New Font to Your Computer

For this tutorial, I am going to use the same font called “Lemon Dreams” in all screenshots. Lemon Dreams is a font available for commercial use from Creative Fabrica.

You need to know where your download folder is on your computer. Navigate to that folder and locate the downloaded font (usually a .zip file).

Unzip the file.

Open the folder that contains the unzipped files.

Depending on the font you downloaded, you may see multiple versions with the .otf and .ttf file extensions. In general, you will want to use the .otf file type. OTF means “opentype font file” and contains special characters, ligatures, or other font enhancements. If .ttf (truetype font) is the only one available, that’s totally fine. You can also choose to install all of the available file types.

2. How to Install a Font on your Computer or Mobile Device

Follow the steps below to install a new downloaded font on your Apple computer, Windows PC, iPad, iPhone or Android Device.

How to Install a Font on Mac OS X

I use a MacBook, and I usually drop them directly from the Downloads folder to the Font Library within the Finder. However, if you aren’t familiar with using multiple Finder windows, there’s another easy way!

Open Finder and navigate to your Downloads folder. Unzip the file if you haven’t already, and the font folder will load.

Right click on the file, and hover over “Open With >”.

Open with Font Book (Default).

A small window will open with your font selection and if it looks correct, click Install Font.

This will prompt Font Book to open on your computer, which will verify the font and install it on your Mac.

In this window you can see all of the characters that are available with your font. This font is now installed on your computer and is available for other programs to use.

How to Install a Font on a Windows Computer

Locate your downloaded font .zip file.

Some versions of Windows will allow you to see a preview of what the zipped file contains. Don’t confuse this with the file being unzipped. You must unzip the file to install fonts to your PC and use with Cricut Design Space.

Extract all of the files and select a location to save the unzipped files.

The unzipped files will open in the new folder.

Select the font files and right click. Select “Install” in the drop down menu, and Windows will install the fonts on your PC for use in all programs.

Alternatively, you can search for and open “Font Settings” in your Settings menu.

Drag and drop the font files from the new folder that contains the downloaded font files to the Font Settings window.

If the font installs, you will see a confirmation of the loaded font in the “Available Fonts.”

Your new fonts are now installed and can be used with your PC programs.

How to Install Fonts on an iPad or Mobile Device

Installing a font on an iPad or mobile device to use with the Cricut Design Space app is not as straight forward.

You will need to download another app to create a configuration file (install file) for your device. I use the free app iFont which is available on Apple devices as well as Android devices. (There is a paid version, but it is not required for the purpose of this tutorial).

The following screenshots are from my iPad. They will also apply to iPhone users. If you have an Android mobile device, you can follow this brief tutorial from Creative Fabrica.

First, navigate to the downloads folder on your mobile device or tablet. Tap once on the zip file to unzip your font files.

Head over to the iFont app and under Font Finder, select “Open Files…”

Navigate to the same folder as in the previous step and tap the font file you wish to install.

Your downloaded font will appear in the Imported Fonts column.

Click the blue Install button and follow the onscreen prompts to proceed with installation and create an install file.

Open your settings and select “Profile Downloaded” which should be right at the top of your menu choices.

Continue clicking through the on screen prompts to allow the font to be installed. You will get a “Profile Installed” confirmation pop-up once the installation is complete.

Click “Done.” You’re ready to use your new font with Design Space and cut with your Cricut!

3. Open Cricut Design Space

IMPORTANT: if Cricut Design Space was open on your computer or mobile device before you downloaded fonts, you will have to close the program and reopen Design Space in order for the font to populate.

To access your new fonts within Cricut Design Space, you’ll need to navigate to “System fonts.” System fonts are those that are contained in your computer, and are NOT provided with Cricut Design Space.

While in your Design Space canvas, select the Text Tool and type your text. (You can double click the text box to edit your text).

Go to the Menu Bar and click the font drop down menu to expand the fonts panel and see all of the different fonts available.

Select “System” at the top of the fonts menu to view all of the system fonts on your computer. *Note: if you have a lot of fonts installed on your computer, System fonts may take a while to load.

Here is what the font menu looks like in the Desktop App. “System” is in the middle at the top of the screen.

And on mobile, it’s at the bottom of the screen, but still in the middle.

Once the system font list populates, select your new font and keep designing!

Troubleshooting Downloaded Fonts in Cricut Design Space

If you are having trouble finding or installing fonts to Design Space, try these tips:

• Restart the Cricut Design Space app. That may be all you need to do to find fonts in the font menu or font dropdown.
• Restart your computer. When restarting your app doesn’t work, try to restart your device.
• Double check that you have installed the font correctly. Open another program and see if the same fonts are available to use.
• Have you updated Cricut Design Space? It’s always a good idea to keep your Design Space app updated to the latest version.
• If you aren’t seeing the new font in any programs, go back and repeat the steps for installing a new system font.
• When in doubt, contact Cricut Support. Hopefully this tutorial will get you up and running with new Cricut fonts, but sometimes there is a problem only they can fix!

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