Using Excel to Install a Font

Hi,

I've picked out a font that I want a workbook to use, but it's one that isn't installed on every computer (it came out of Office 2007, but my firm uses Office XP and 2003). So my thought was to store the .TTF files on a network drive and check the user's sysroot\fonts\ folder when the workbook opens. If the files aren't there, it'll copy them and reopen the workbook. I had thought this would restore the font, but it doesn't seem to be working. The files copy correctly and the workbook reopens, but it still shows everything in Arial (as if it can't find the correct font). Below is the routine I've created. Any thoughts?

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Hello Caligula,

When installing a new font, it has to be installed in the Font Folder used by the system. On a regular PC this is usually "C:\WINDOWS\Fonts". The files need to be extracted before they are placed in the folder. Be sure you have all the files for each size range the font uses. If you miss installing one, the font won't be available at all.

Sincerely,
Leith Ross

Hi Leith,

Thanks for the response. I'm a little confused by it though. The variable fFolder identifies the individual user's font folder (in case it's WINXP\Fonts or something like that). The individual font files (all four, as you can see in the code) are stored on a network drive, not archived or anything like that. I've deleted the files from my own PC's Windows\Fonts folder, then used this macro to install them and they're fully functional in other applications (or in Excel after I close and reopen the program)... Am I missing something?


Thanks,
Chris

Hello Chris,

I really don't know in this case because I have never installed fonts on network drive. If there were issues with network permissions, you surely would have received an error message about it. Perhaps someone else here at has had the same experience and can offer their advice. Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

Sincerely,
Leith Ross

Hi Leith, as always, thanks for your responses. I just want to clarify that I'm not installing them on a network drive, per se. The .TTF files (which have to be stored in an individual PC's sysroot\Fonts folder to work) are being stored on a network drive. The only reason I'm doing this is so that anyone in my department that uses the spreadsheet will have access to these files. The Auto_Open macro does copy those files successfully to everyone's Fonts folder... My concern is why the font isn't being displayed properly without a lot of manual work. It can still be done from anyone's computer; they just have to set the font to something else, reopen Excel, then reset the font to the one that was just copied to their PC (far too much work)...

Thoughts anyone?

Thanks everyone for your responses. I did finally figure out how to get this to work... I believe it's either a Windows issue or an issue inherent in Office applications. If the font files are copied to C:\windows\fonts\, but not with Windows Explorer, the font list is never updated in Excel (or Word, Access, etc). However, if you open Windows Explorer and navigate to the font folder, the next time you open Excel, the font list will be correct (and the newly installed font will display correctly). So I wrote some code to copy the files to a user's font folder then shell a copy of explorer (code below). It works, but I'd like an easier way... Any thoughts?

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