Using Custom Font Books in macOS 13 Ventura

macOS 13 Ventura introduced a completely redesigned Font Book app that allows you to install, organize, and manage custom typography through custom font collections. While the update streamlined the interface and altered how some legacy management tools function, you can still group your fonts into custom collections, enable or disable specific sets for individual projects, and access those fonts across supported macOS applications.

Understanding Custom Font Collections in macOS 13

In macOS 13, the concept of a "font book" or custom library is represented primarily as a Collection. The redesigned interface organizes your typography in the sidebar under categories such as All Fonts, Installed, and My Fonts, followed by your custom collections.

Creating a custom collection allows you to group related typefaces—such as brand fonts, client-specific styles, or web design assets—without duplicating files or altering the underlying system structure.

How to Create and Manage a Custom Collection

To set up a custom font group in Font Book:

  1. Open Font Book: Launch the application from your Applications folder or via Spotlight (Command + Space).
  2. Create a Collection: In the sidebar, click the Add (+) button in the bottom-left corner or select File > New Collection from the menu bar.
  3. Name Your Group: Enter a descriptive name for your collection (e.g., "Project A Fonts").
  4. Add Fonts: Drag and drop installed fonts from the All Fonts list directly into your newly created collection. You can also drag font files directly from Finder into the collection to install and categorize them simultaneously.

Using Custom Collections Across macOS Apps

How applications interact with your custom font collections depends on the software framework they use:

  • Native macOS Apps (Pages, Keynote, TextEdit): These applications fully integrate with the standard macOS Font Panel. Pressing Command + T inside any native text editor opens the Font Panel, where your custom collections appear in the leftmost column for instant access.
  • Third-Party Apps (Adobe Creative Cloud, Microsoft Office, Figma): These applications generally do not display the macOS collection hierarchy directly inside their font menus. However, all active fonts organized within your custom collections are fully available to these programs as long as the fonts remain enabled in Font Book.

Activating and Deactivating Font Groups

To keep your font menus clean and reduce system overhead, you can turn entire custom collections on or off:

  • Right-click (or Control-click) the collection name in the sidebar.
  • Select Deactivate [Collection Name].
  • The fonts within that group will remain installed on your drive but will become hidden from application font menus until you right-click and choose Activate.

Important Changes in macOS 13

The Ventura update removed support for older PostScript Type 1 fonts. If your custom font collections rely on Type 1 formats, macOS 13 will no longer display or activate them. Ensure your custom assets are in OpenType (.otf) or TrueType (.ttf) formats to maintain full compatibility across the system.