How to Make Office 2016 for Mac Fonts accessible to system and other apps

[apizz]

We ran into an issue at the beginning of the year where our school's student newspaper did not have access to the basic fonts that were previously installed in /Library/Fonts by Office 2011 in the latest version of Adobe CC InDesign.

As a result, we ended up extracting several of these fonts from Word (/Applications/Microsoft Word.app/Contents/Resources/DFonts) and deploying them to the necessary machines through a configuration profile.

I understand that Microsoft has made the decision to make everything their respective office apps need within the app itself, but I'm wondering if anyone has figured out a way through an alias or other method to get the OS and third-party apps to see the fonts in Microsoft Word so that these Office fonts are usable by other applications on the Mac.

I tried running a ln -s /Applications/Microsoft Word.app/Contents/Resources/DFonts /Library/Fonts to create a symbolic link in /Library/Fonts, but opening up the Font Book app as well as the font menu within TextEdit does not cause the Word fonts to show up as options

Has anyone been able to get macOS to recognize these fonts without having to install duplicates in /Library/Fonts?.

[donmontalvo · Accepted solution]

@aporlebeke wrote:

I understand that Microsoft has made the decision to make everything their respective office apps need within the app itself

Apple gets the blame for this.

Safest route might be to just copy the fonts into /Library/Fonts/Microsoft and take it from there.

Linking to embedded fonts might come back to bite ya if/when an update comes out...atsutil is pretty nasty.

[apizz]

@donmontalvo Thanks for the response. I know Apple is the culprit here (although I do blame Microsoft because they are choosing to build their apps so they can be made available in the Mac App Store). I was just trying to avoid having to duplicate almost 500MB worth of fonts already installed on the machine.

Looks like copying is the way to go.

[bryantdresher]

@donmontalvo Does Microsoft's font licensing allow for copying fonts bundled and delivered inside the Application bundle to the /Library/Fonts folder? Sometimes the EULAs for fonts can be pretty specific and restrictive. Is there documentation somewhere that states Microsoft or the foundries MS has licensed fonts from are OK with this?

Once the fonts are copied out there, every application can see them. Are the fonts licensed for use with other non Microsoft applications?

[donmontalvo]

@bryantdresher good question. Slack is probably a good place to find out. Their Dev team is there so they would know or be able to point OP in the right direction. The obligation is in every software licensee to read the EULA.

[reissj]

@aporlebeke

This works for all fonts up until 10.12.6

on 10.13, all fonts need to be in .ttf format to upload into any apps in the Office Suite applications.

[dyangah]

Hi guys? can anyone share how we can deploy New Fonts into /Library/Fonts/Microsoft for users to access in their devices?

[user-iKTEzzWcqI]

Yes, I have figured out how to install MS office font collection and get it to be recognized by the Mac OS and FontBook app. This works for probably all versions of Mac OS X that you see this issue on.
Its really not rocket science and if you have used MS office and Macs since they were created and developed. Then you would have also probably figured this out and not be needing to read this reply or comment.

You can do it two ways. Run the MS OFFIce suite full installer and figure out Where the ms office font collection resides. open the Font Book app and search for ms office or Microsoft... find the font collection and bring it into the Font Book app. By using the menu bar or locating and dragging into the Font Book app.

I actually had an older MS office suite full suite , 2013 or maybe even older. It don't matter. Your looking for the Microsoft Office Font Collection containing 7 or 8 fonts. Back in the day MS office would install everything ' THE EXTRAS , MS OFFICE TOOLS, CLIP ART , ETC ETC ETC... Outlook Profiles and crap like that.. ALL WENT INTO THE USERS DOCUMENTS FOLDER. Easy cheesy right.? Well now who the hell knows where or why these things are So deeply hidden in the Mac OS X libraries ... but whatever. If your a technician or desktop support guy supporting Macs and you have not poked around every inch , folder, hidden folders, preferences files and literally taken the time to inspect every folder, file , extension, plugin etc etc etc... Then your not really a technician and need to go find another job. Know the best porn sites that don't give you some kind of virus does not make you a technician.. For the rest of you..... Start poking around and screwing up your Mac so you know how to fix the kind of crazy off the wall things you will see when supporting Apple Mac machines. Knowing Linux does not make you a Mac guy or expert or even very knowledgeable when it comes to Macs.,. In fact LINUX guys are the worst when it comes to Macs... Get a linux box if you like messing with code and making quirky changes that you think make you look smart. And NO you can not improve on the Mac OS onboard security and operating system ...if you think your making your Mac faster, more secure or improving on the overall security and functionality of the Apple Hardware and Mac OS software... GO GET A JOB WITH APPLE. Otherwise LEAVE IT ALONE And stop installing all those third party security apps like Symantec that just slow your machine down and screw things up everyone you update. Macs next to linux machines are the most secure machine operating today ... and there is no such thing as INTERNET SECURITY so get a clue.... Back to the font thing.... the second way to fix is do what I did... find a machine with the MS office font suite or folder located in the Mac OS and simply drag a copy to a USB stick and drag it into the appropriate folder on the problem Mac. You don't even need to mess with Font Book app.. AS LONG AS YOU HAVE THE PROBLEM MACHINE RUNNING IN TARGET DISK MODE and attached to another Mac. As long as the Mac OS system its idle you can drag and drop stuff in and out of libraries all day long. Ignore permissions of course.. So when you take the MS font collection from a machine hold the option key down while dragging any actively running library font folder to a location on a USB or desktop. and it will make a COPY and you won't get a message saying "SORRY NO CAN DO CUZ ITS BEING USED". you smell what I'm stepping in here boys and girls..? Alrighty .... Now in going to go and try to explain this same process to the idiots I'm working with that hired me but refuser to listen to a thing I say.... One of these days I'm going to find a team as good as the team I worked with at the New Haven Unified School District in Fremont Calif. Back in 1995 1996 1997 under Roger Hoyer. The best boss Ive ever had who KNEW how to run an IT Department and TEAM. Someday I hope to get back to working for those who deserve the best.... Our Public Schools and out Public Children. Corporate America sucks the motivation and joy right out of everything .. then you die. Cheers!