Identify Font Types in Microsoft Windows 7

Some applications do identify font types by placing icons next to a particular font in a listing. Such behavior is an exception rather than a norm, and many times you may not know which font type you are choosing. And by font type, we mean the various font file formats such as OpenType, TrueType, etc. that are recognized by Microsoft Windows.

To identify font types, you first need to see a listing of all fonts installed on your system. Follow these steps to learn more.

1. Access the Run dialog box (keyboard shortcut: Windows Key + R) and type “control fonts” in the dialog box without the quotes as shown in Figure 1, below.
   
   
   Figure 1: Run dialog box
2. This action will bring up the Fonts dialog box that you can see in Figure 2, below. Here, in this dialog box you can see all fonts installed on your system. However, there is no way to identify font types yet. To do so, click the Change your view button, highlighted in red within Figure 2.
   
   
   Figure 2: Fonts dialog box
3. This step brings up a drop-down list of options that you can see in Figure 3, below. Choose the Details option, highlighted in red within Figure 3.
   
   
   Figure 3: Choose Details view for your installed fonts
4. You will now see the Details view, as shown in Figure 4, below. Note that you can now see a header strip on the top of the font listing area, highlighted in red.
   
   
   Figure 4: The Header strip
5. Now right-click this header strip to see a flyout menu, as shown in Figure 5, below. Select the Font type option in this menu, highlighted in red.
   
   
   Figure 5: Enable the Font type option
6. You will now see the Font type option in the header strip, and you will also see different values for this option, as can be seen in Figure 6, below.
   
   
   Figure 6: Different font types
The different font types you see are:

OpenType, highlighted in red
TrueType, highlighted in blue
Type 1, highlighted in green
Raster, highlighted in yellow

So, this is a well-tested, albeit roundabout way to know the file type of any installed font.

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