Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here: Fonts Missing in Word.

Fonts Missing in Word

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated August 14, 2024)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021


2

Graham has Office installed on his computer. When he tries to access the Fonts drop-down list in Word, PowerPoint and Publisher, all he gets is a Device font, but in Excel he has access to all the fonts installed on the system. Graham is wondering why this is occurring.

In order to understand what is going on, it is important to understand what Word expects from its environment. One of the things that Word expects (as does PowerPoint and Publisher) is a printer that it can work with. If the printer is installed correctly in Windows, then Word will use it and format everything you see on-screen as if it will be printed on that printer.

If you don't have a printer driver installed—or if you don't have a printer driver installed that can use your fonts—then Word can't access the fonts, either. Excel can because it doesn't really care that much about printer capabilities. Whether a given font can be used by a given printer is of little consequence to Excel, but it means quite a bit to Word.

So, the first thing you need to do is check with Windows to see which printer drivers you have installed. If you don't have any installed, then install at least one, even if it is for a printer you don't have. If you have the correct printer drivers installed, make sure that one of those printers is specified as the default printer in Windows. Restart Word and your fonts should now be available.

If you have a laptop computer that you normally don't print from, you should still install a printer driver on it and make sure that printer driver is set as default. If you don't, you won't be able to use the full formatting features of Word.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (12866) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Fonts Missing in Word.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Retrieving Worksheet Names

Want to grab the names of all the worksheets in a workbook? Here's how you can stuff all those names into the cells of a ...

Discover More

Using an Input Mask

When you are entering information in a worksheet, it sure would be handy to have a way to "mask" the information being ...

Discover More

Using Dynamic Chart Titles

Want the title of your chart to change based upon what is placed in a worksheet cell? It's easy; just add a formula to ...

Discover More

Learning Made Easy! Quickly teach yourself how to format, publish, and share your content using Word 2021 or Microsoft 365. With Step by Step, you set the pace, building and practicing the skills you need, just when you need them! Check out Microsoft Word Step by Step today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Viewing Your Entire Document Width

The Zoom tool is very useful to help you see all of your document information. Here's how to make sure you can see all ...

Discover More

Unwanted Font in Draft View

Word supports different ways of viewing your document as you work with it. One of those views, Draft, can use a specific ...

Discover More

Default Sort Order in the Open Dialog Box

When you want to open a file within Word, the normal way is by displaying the Open dialog box. If you want to modify the ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is five minus 3?

2024-08-14 07:49:35

David in Mississippi

It seems that it would work ton install a PDF printer driver, true? For example, most editions of Windows now include the "Microsoft Print to PDF" as a printer on each system, so it might be worth trying to install that as you r default printer when no others are available.

Here's a screenshot of this available device on my Windows Printers and Scanners settings:
[{Fig}]


2020-05-31 12:11:16

Harvey Flaisher

Hi Allen:

Thank you, this solved my problem in Word 2003.


This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the ribbon interface (Word 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the menu interface.

Videos
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.