Importing fonts allows you to manage both your non-Monotype fonts and our standard inventory using the same easy-to-use font management dashboard. Learn how to use Monotype Fonts to streamline font sharing and licensing compliance for your imported fonts.
What are imported fonts?
Imported fonts are the fonts that are not part of Monotype Font’s inventories and are used as third-party fonts. It includes the following type of fonts:
Non-Monotype fonts: Fonts purchased from another font foundry
Monotype custom-designed: Fonts custom-designed for your brand by the Monotype Studio
It is easy to identify these fonts as they are denoted by a different icon than Monotype fonts.
Who can import fonts?
Only Company Admins can import fonts and font collections to their Monotype Fonts account. They are responsible for access sharing and license management. Other users can use the Request access button to request access from admins. Importing fonts allows creatives to use the Monotype Desktop App to design with brand new fonts, as well as previously used fonts.
Which font file formats does Monotype Fonts support?
A font format is a font file holding font data. There are three types of font formats such as bitmapped, stroke, and outlined.
Outlined font formats are scalable and widely used. The most commonly used outlined font formats are PostScript, TrueType (.ttf), OpenType (.otf or .ttf), and Web Open Font Format (.woff and .woff2).
You can import the following font file types on Monotype Fonts:
File type | Font format | Full form | Description |
.otf | OTF | OpenType Font | OpenType is the most popular modern file format for fonts. OTF files can also come in a Compact Font Format (CFF) flavor. |
.ttf | TTF | TrueType Font | TrueType file format originated in 1980s. It is still broadly supported in desktop software. |
.woff | WOFF | Web Open Font Format | It is a wrapper format for TrueType and OpenType fonts. It compresses the files and is supported by all modern browsers. |
.woff2 | WOFF2 | Web Open Font Format 2 | WOFF2 is an update to the original WOFF format |
The following file formats are not supported on Monotype Fonts:
PS (.ps) — PostScript desktop font
EOT (.eot) — EOT web font
SVG (.svg) — SVG web font
Note: Before importing your web fonts onto your Monotype Fonts account, please ensure that you are in compliance with the original EULA of these web fonts.
Where can I find and manage imported fonts?
You can manage your imported web fonts alongside your imported desktop fonts from the Imported Fonts page, where they are grouped by family. The icons displayed next to each family name indicate whether that family contains only desktop fonts, only web fonts, or both.
How do I import fonts?
Before importing your web fonts onto your Monotype Fonts account, ensure that you are in compliance with the original EULA of these web fonts.
As a company admin, you can start importing fonts into Monotype Fonts by following the steps below:
Go to Manage > imported fonts to open the Imported fonts page.
Click Import fonts. The Font importer page displays in a new tab.
Drag and drop the font files into the import area or click any of the supported file type format to select and import.
Or click in between the highlighted box and select the downloaded imported font files.
Ensure that you extract the zip file. You can select or drag and drop the entire extracted folder too.
You can upload up to 3,500 font files at once. If you add more than 3500 fonts, the fonts will not be added, and the list will stop behaving as expected. If your list exceeds 3500 fonts, create a new list and add remaining fonts to the new list. You can also contact our support team if you need assistance with importing a much larger collection.
Keep in mind: It’s important to immediately add all the appropriate tags, define access for the fonts, and upload the corresponding license documents as soon as the file upload is complete. Doing so makes it easy to keep track of font installations and sharing in adherence to your license agreements.
The fonts will start uploading and you will get the success message once the upload is complete. The uploaded fonts will also be listed under the imported fonts section of your target account.
Managing access for imported fonts
Follow the steps below to grant or revoke access to sync or download imported fonts for your users or teams.
Granting access
Click on the Access column in a family row. This field indicates the number of users that have access to the font.
The Who has access (a share access dialog box) displays.
You can grant access to multiple users and teams at once. You can also search for users and teams by name.
You can also grant access to a third-party font or family to your entire company by enabling the Give access to entire company field.
Make the desired changes and click Update to grant access to the selected users or team.
You can also grant access to individual fonts by expanding a family row, clicking on the number field in a font row under the Access column, and following the steps outlined above.
Revoking access
Similar to the steps outlined above, in the Access column, start by clicking on the number field in a font or family row to bring up the share access dialog.
Users and teams with access to the font or family are denoted by a checkmark next to their names.
Hover over the checkmark to switch it to a cross icon, as shown below. Click on this to revoke access for the selected user or team.
Click Update.
In the Docs column, click on the + button in a family row. This will launch the file browser on your system for you to locate license documents.
Once uploaded, your documents are displayed in the family row under the Docs column, as shown below:
You can click on the paperclip icon to either download or delete a supporting document, as shown below:
You can also upload supporting documents pertinent to individual fonts by expanding a family row, clicking on the + button in a font row, and following the steps outlined above.
You may upload up to five supporting documents per family. You may also upload up to five documents per font. Document uploads are limited to a maximum file size of 20 MB per document, and accepted file formats are PDF (.pdf), TXT (.txt), ODT (.odt), JPG/JPEG (.jpg/.jpeg), PNG (.png), TIFF (.tiff), XLS/XLSX (.xls/.xlsx) and XML (.xml).
How can I use imported web fonts in a project?
You can add imported web fonts to web projects and digital ads.
Users must be given the right access to imported web fonts before they can add these fonts to a web project or a digital ad. Users without access will be shown a "permission required" alert when they attempt to add an imported web font to a web project, with the option to request access.
Once an imported web font is added to a web project or a digital ad, it can be subsetted according to your needs and then used on your website along with other web fonts from Monotype using an embed code or via a self-hosting kit.
How does tagging work with imported fonts?
The Font Importer automatically tags fonts by style and language and groups them by family, so they’re well organized and ready for use in your "Imported Fonts" dashboard.
You may also choose to add private tags to your fonts from the font uploader screen, once importing finishes. To do this, click on the Add tags button in the top-right corner.
This will change the uploaded fonts view to show a Bulk add tags button in addition to showing + icon buttons next to each uploaded font.
As the name suggests, clicking on the Bulk add tags button allows you to add tags to all uploaded font files, all at once.
Clicking on the + icon buttons next to each individual font will allow you to add tags specific to these individual font files. You can add private tags specific to individual fonts in addition to bulk tags.
To learn more about font tagging, click here.
Admin approval for Imported fonts - FAQs
What is the imported fonts admin approval workflow?
This feature streamlines the process for admins (team admin, division admin, limited admin, company admin) to review and approve access requests for imported fonts (fonts uploaded by companies into the Monotype Fonts platform).
Where can I request font access?
Click on the request icon to request font access on:
Search page (Browse > Fonts)
My library -> Assets
Quick view font previews
Family page
Style page
Font pair page
Similar fonts page
Favourite page
Favourite pair page
Search Page
Quick view font previews
Family page
Style page
My library -> Assets
Similar fonts page
Font pair page
Favourite page
Favourite pair page
How do I, as a company admin, manage pending access requests (approve, reject, or revoke) for imported fonts?
Log in to the Monotype web platform.
Go to Manage > Requests. The requests page displays.
The Requests page has the following four tabs:
Pending: All new access requests start in the pending state, awaiting admin review. Admins can choose to either approve or reject them.
Approved: Once a request is approved, it moves to the approved tab, indicating the user has access to the font.
Rejected: Requests that are denied by admins are listed under the rejected tab.
Revoked: If admin withdraws an approved request, then it moves from Approved to the Revoked tab, indicating that the access has been revoked.
Go to Pending tab, click Review from the Actions column to manage the user’s access request. The Review request page displays.
Enter your comments in the designated field and click Approve to continue.
It is also possible to partially approve the font access request. Follow the steps below to partial approve:
Click Select styles.
Use Select All to select only the styles that you want to approve.
Click on Save and review to open the Review request pop-up.
Review and click Approve.
The selected font styles gets approved while the deselected fonts get rejected.
Once approved, the request will automatically shift to the Approved tab.
To reject the access request,
Click Review.
Enter your comment.
Click Reject all.
The rejected request will get moved to the Rejected tab.
To revoke the access request, go to Approved tab > click View details.
The font’s detail displays, click on Revoke Access. All the styles will get revoked, and this request will be moved to the Revoked tab.
To revoke access to specific styles within a font family, navigate to the Styles tab, select the styles you wish to revoke, and click Revoke Access.
A confirmation message displays, click Revoke to confirm.
The selected font(s) will move from Approved to the Revoked tab.
How are access requests automatically approved?
Go to Manage tab > Imported Fonts.
The Imported Font page displays.
Select a font family or individual font style and click on Share access. A Who has access pop-up displays.
Search for a user or user group and click Update.
Note: You can also enable the Give access to entire company option to give access to all the users or user groups within the company.
The access request for the selected user will be automatically approved.
Note: You can click on View Details > Overview to verify the status of the request (whether it has been auto-approved or not).
How are access requests automatically revoked?
Go to Manage tab > Imported Fonts. The imported fonts page displays.
Select the font family or the individual font style.
Click on Share access. In the Who Has Access window, locate the user and click Remove Access next to their name. Click Update to confirm the changes.
Note: You can also enable the Give access to entire company option to give access to all the users or user groups within the company.
The access request for the selected user will be automatically revoked.
Note: You can click on View Details > Overview to verify the status of the request (whether it has been auto-revoked or not).
Who will receive email notifications for user access requests?
Email notifications are sent only to the relevant admins based on team-to-team admin mapping. If no Team Admin is assigned, a fallback hierarchy ensures the correct admins are notified.
Team-to-Team Admin Mapping
If your company has a Team Admin assigned to the requester’s team, that Team Admin will receive the notification.
Multiple Teams
If the requester belongs to multiple teams, all mapped Team Admins for those teams will receive notifications.
Fallback Hierarchy (when no Team Admin is assigned)
If the requester’s team does not have a mapped Team Admin, notifications are sent in the following order until an eligible role is found:
Division Admin(s)
Limited Admin(s)
Company Admin(s)
No Team Structure
If your company does not use a team structure at all, notifications will go to all Company Admins (same as the current behavior).
Uploader Notification
The admin who uploaded the imported font will always receive the notification for requests to that font, in addition to the rules above.
How does team mapping affect notifications?
If your company uses team mapping, then only the admin assigned to that specific team will receive notifications.
What happens if no team mapping is set up?
In the absence of team mapping, notifications will follow a default fallback order:
Team Admin
Division Admin
Limited Admin
Company Admin
What happens to font access requests when a user is deleted or deactivated?
When a user is deleted, their existing font access requests are automatically updated to reflect their inactive status. The updates are as follows:
Current Status | Updated Status |
Pending | Rejected |
Approved | Revoked |
Rejected | Remains Rejected |
Revoked | Remains Revoked |
If a deactivated user is reactivated, what happens to their previous font access status?
The font access status of the reactivated user remains unchanged. There is no automatic update to their font access in the Imported Font Admin Approval system.
Reactivated users will need to request font access again if they want to use imported fonts.