Identify Font File Types in PowerPoint

Have you heard that all fonts are not the same? Did you know that only TrueType fonts can be embedded in PowerPoint, and that too only on Windows versions of PowerPoint? And what are the other font file types? On this page, we will explore these topics.

For purposes of clarity, we will identify these font types:

• TrueType Fonts
• OpenType Fonts
• Postscript Type 1 fonts
• Cloud fonts (available only in Microsoft 365 versions of PowerPoint)

We typed some text and brought up the Fonts Gallery within PowerPoint, as you can see in Figure 1, below.

Figure 1: PowerPoint’s Font Gallery

You will notice that all font names in the Gallery are preceded with an icon. You will find three distinct icon types:

1. TrueType fonts are preceded with an icon that shows twin T characters, as displayed highlighted in blue within Figure 1, above.
2. OpenType fonts are preceded with an icon that shows a large O character, as displayed highlighted in red within Figure 1, above.
3. Postscript Type 1 and Printer fonts are preceded with an icon that shows a Printer, as displayed highlighted in green within Figure 1, above.
4. Cloud fonts, indicated by the cloud icon on the right (highlighted in red within Figure 2, below) are fonts that are not installed, but will be downloaded and installed from Microsoft's online services if you use it within your slides. Do note that the Cloud fonts option is only available in Microsoft 365 versions of PowerPoint.
5. 
   Figure 2: Cloud fonts

While most PowerPoint versions on Windows do provide visual indicators in the Fonts Gallery, the same is not always true for Mac versions of PowerPoint.