Why do I need the Monotype Desktop App?

The Monotype Desktop App is the vehicle that delivers your selected fonts to your workstation via syncing from the Monotype Fonts web portal. Fonts synced to the Monotype Desktop App can be used in most applications on your workstation, streamlining the creative process and letting users focus their energy on the project at hand.

The Monotype Desktop App also “casts” fonts onto most major creative applications, minimizing the time creators waste searching for missing fonts and manually downloading and installing individual font files.

Syncing allows you to use the fonts from the Monotype Fonts platform by casting them into the various creative programs on your workstation via the Monotype Desktop App. Syncing tracks font use by individual user accounts, simplifying utilization tracking, security, and compliance. It’s the preferred method of accessing fonts from Monotype Fonts.
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Certain users also have download capabilities, which allows them to download font files from the platform and install it on their workstations.

In terms of functionality, there’s very little difference between the two. Syncing provides equivalent access to fonts as downloading does. There are a few use cases where downloading would be required, such as for use on offline workstations where syncing is impossible or for developer use in programming environments.

You can sync a font by clicking the dropdown arrow on the Sync button. Click here for a step-by-step guide to syncing fonts.

To download and install font files, you can click on the Download options tab in the Sync & Download options dialog. Click here for a detailed guide on downloading and installing fonts.

There are two ways to download the Monotype Desktop App:

Check out this article for more information.

To uninstall the desktop app, run the Uninstaller application. You can find the Uninstaller at the following paths on Mac and Windows:

After uninstalling, check for the presence of the following folders:

If files remain in these folders after uninstallation is complete, please restart your system and manually delete the remaining files.

The Monotype Desktop App has built-in plugins that can automatically detect missing fonts in your creative projects. This functionality is available for the following creative applications, with support for more added regularly:

Once you open a design file, the Monotype Desktop App automatically detects all the missing fonts, looks for them in Monotype’s library of 150,000+ fonts (or more if your team manages third-party fonts through Monotype Fonts), and casts them on to the creative application you’re working on. You will also be given a prompt to install the font.

Without the Monotype Desktop App, finding missing fonts can take hours—users might have to search through hundreds of team assets and folders or send a couple of emails and wait for responses. The Monotype Desktop App automates the process, reducing it to a few clicks.
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