Getting Aptos Font to Print in PDF

Aptos became Microsoft's default font almost two years ago (1/1/2024). While some (me included) like it better than their previous default, Calibri, it causes problems when you try to save it as a PDF.

Cartoon: printer spitting out the wrong fonts

This happens because Microsoft serves Aptos from the cloud, and serves it only to certain applications (hint: Microsoft applications). This means that Adobe software such as Acrobat, and even Microsoft’s virtual printer driver (“Print to PDF”) cannot locate Aptos. The result? Your nicely formatted Word document ends up printing in the wrong font when you save it as a PDF. As a plus, it’s usually the ugliest font the system can find.

Some people say this problem can be solved by going into your printer settings and unchecking “Rely on system fonts only,” but not all printer drivers have this setting. And anyway, it didn’t work for me.

Here’s what you’ve got to do instead!

On a PC:

  1. Go to Microsoft’s website and find the official Aptos font package. As of this writing, it’s here.

  2. It will download as a .zip file. Go to your downloads folder, find the download (which should be called Microsoft Aptos Fonts.zip). Right-click the folder and select “Extract all.” The sytem prompts you to save the extracted files somewhere. It’s not necessary to get fancy and save them somewhere else - just choose the folder you’re in.

  3. Select all of the font files in the folder. Right-click and choose “Install.” That’s it!

You can now safely delete the .zip file and the unextracted font files. Next time you save a PDF from Word or other Microsoft software, the Aptos font should display in all its glory.

Here’s a video walk-through of installing the Aptos font

**** For font geeks Calibri, pronounced “kuh-LEE-bree,” was designed by Lucas de Groot (who looks like an old-school movie star and, according to a speech he gave in 2018, is “dissatisfied with the current state of things.” I’ll just leave that there). The font was first released in 2007. Find other fonts by de Groot and some cool learning resources at LucasFonts.