7 Best Ways to Fix GIMP Not Showing New Fonts in Windows 10

When you add fonts in Windows PC, technically, they will be immediately available on all supported programs like Microsoft Word, Paint, Photoshop and even GIMP. But, sometimes, while the fonts appear in some applications, they are missing in others. This is what happens in GIMP for some users. We will therefore explain how to fix GIMP which does not recognize new fonts.

GIMP is a free and open-source alternative to Photoshop. Although we know its image manipulation capabilities, such as changing the image background, removing the background, and even the transparency of the background, we also surprises with regard to the text. But for that, we need to have nice fonts. And when these don’t load, problems arise.

Now let’s see how to display new fonts in GIMP

How to install fonts in GIMP

You do not need to install the fonts separately in GIMP. By default, any font you install on your Windows PC will become available in GIMP. To install fonts, you can drag and drop the font files (after extracting the ZIP file) to the C: Windows Fonts folder.

Otherwise, right-click the font file in any folder and select Install or Install for all users. See our detailed guide to installing fonts in GIMP.

Now that you know the proper method for installing fonts, let’s see why it doesn’t display new fonts.

1. New font analysis

Once you have installed new fonts on your PC, you should always use the Rescan native fonts feature in GIMP to display the new fonts.

To do this, launch GIMP and click on the Fonts tab on the right side. You will see a green refresh icon. Click on it to rescan the fonts.

If the Fonts tab is not present, click on the Configure this tab icon.

Select the Add tab, then Fonts.

Point: You can also add the Fonts tab in the Windows menu> Dockable dialogs> Fonts.

2. Restart GIMP

If the new scan does not load GIMP with the new fonts, restart GIMP. To do this, close the application and then open it again.

Pro tip: You should also try the magic trick to restart your PC.

3. Supported fonts

GIMP is based on the FreeType 2 font engine, which supports many font formats. These include:

• TrueType fonts (and collections)
• Type 1 fonts
• Type 1 font with CID key
• SBB fonts
• OpenType fonts (TrueType and CFF variants)
• Bitmap fonts based on SFNT
• X11 PCF Fonts
• Windows FNT Fonts
• BDF fonts (including anti-aliased fonts)
• PFR Fonts
• Type42 fonts (limited support)

Any font that FreeType 2 can handle will be added to GIMP once you install it on your Windows PC. You must add the rest of the fonts manually to the GIMP Fonts folder if they do not load, as shown below.

4. Check the font files in GIMP

By default, GIMP must have at least two folder paths added in its settings. One is the Windows font folder and the second is the GIMP font folder. If one of them is missing, especially the Windows folder, the fonts will not work properly in GIMP. So you need to check the font folders and add a folder if it is missing.

For that, proceed as following:

Step 1: Launch GIMP and click Edit at the top. Select preferences there.

2nd step: On the left side of the Preferences window, click on the plus icon next to the Folders option to expand it.

Stage 3: Scroll down and click Fonts. Then on the right side you will see the different folder paths. Make sure that the path to the Windows fonts folder – C: Users USERNAME AppData Local Microsoft Windows Fonts or C: Windows Fonts is added. Also check the GIMP folder C: Program Files GIMP 2 share gimp 2.0 fonts.

Step 4: In case the location of the file where your fonts are installed is missing in the above step, you must add it. To do this, click on the add folder icon. Then click on the path selection icon. Navigate to the path of the fonts folder. Then click on Ok.

5. Adding fonts manually in GIMP

To do this, go to the path C: Program Files GIMP 2 share gimp 2.0 fonts on your PC. Copy the extracted font file (TTF) to this folder. Then reanalyze the fonts as shown above or restart GIMP.

6. Update GIMP

Similar to all tools, even GIMP is prone to bugs. Sometimes the problem is in the current version of GIMP, and that’s why you don’t see the new fonts. To correct it, check if an update is available for GIMP. If so, install it.

7. Uninstall GIMP

If nothing works, try reinstalling GIMP. To do this, first of all, uninstall GIMP from your PC. Restart your PC. Then reinstall it.

Bonus tip: Quick font overview

When you have to choose a font for your text in GIMP, selecting the text every time is a tedious task. Fortunately, you can quickly preview fonts in GIMP without repeating all of the steps.

To do this, select the text in GIMP. Then click on the Fonts tab on the right side. Click on a font, then use the arrow keys to scroll through the others. The new font will immediately reflect on your text.