How To Install Microsoft Fonts On Ubuntu? – 2 Easy Methods

Installing Microsoft Fonts on Ubuntu is easy but not easy enough for a new linux user. If you are a new linux user then it is obvious that you are running LibreOffice as your default office program. LibreOffice is a great free and open-source office program that comes pre-installed in Ubuntu and other linux distributions.

But the time comes for almost every new linux user who opens up a doc file created with Microsoft Office and says “What the heck is wrong with my computer!!”.

Well, don’t worry. Your question will be answered. But before that, let’s see what is the actual reason behind this problem.

In this tutorial, I will show you how to install Microsoft Fonts on Ubuntu and increase the compatibility of Libreoffice. At the same time, enjoy the freedom of being free.

Microsoft fonts are not installed by default in Linux, but why?

Well, first let me tell you that there is nothing wrong with your computer, neither LibreOffice nor your document file.

The problem lies in the fonts that were used in the document. When you create any doc file using Microsoft Office, it uses Microsoft’s core fonts like Arial, Arial Narrow, Times New Roman, and Courier New. Linux on the other hand uses open-source fonts called Liberation Fonts created by Red Hat.

When you open a document in LibreOffice, these Liberation Fonts alter the fonts that are used previously in Microsoft Office. Note that any document is written with Microsoft’s core fonts like Times New Roman or Arial, the equivalent font will be used to keep the document uninterrupted in LibreOffice as their width will be the same.

However, these Liberation Fonts are not identical to Microsoft’s core fonts. So if you need to use Arial or Times New Roman in your document then you need to install Microsoft core fonts into your system.

But there is a problem. Though Microsoft’s fonts are free to download, their usage is not that straightforward. If you want to use Microsoft’s fonts outside the Microsoft ecosystem then you need to accept the EULA (End User License Agreement).

That’s why linux distributions do not include MS Core Fonts by default because of their license even though these fonts are free to download.

Install Microsoft Fonts on Ubuntu-based Linux Distributions

There are multiple methods available for installing Microsoft Fonts on Ubuntu-based linux distributions.

There is no doubt that Microsoft owns the market share and MS fonts are more popular. As they are free to download, you can download them and install them manually on the system one by one.

Or you can create a .fonts folder in the home directory and paste all the fonts there.

As MS fonts are popular and needed for various reasons, Ubuntu made a couple of easy ways to install them all at once.

Method #1

In this method, we will be using the ubuntu-restricted-extras package. This package is very useful as it contains much useful software which is not included by default due to legal or copyright reasons. For example, some essential media codecs like mp3, DVD, etc. This package also includes an MS core fonts installer to install Microsoft Fonts on Ubuntu.

Open the terminal and copy-paste the following command.

If you are using regular, stock Ubuntu:

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras

If you are using Kubuntu:

sudo apt-get install kubuntu-restricted-extras

If you are using Xubuntu:

sudo apt-get install xubuntu-restricted-extras

If you are using Lubuntu:

sudo apt-get install lubuntu-restricted-extras

When the MS core fonts installer fires up, press the tab key to select <ok>.

And press the tab again to select <yes> to accept the EULA license terms.

After that, use the following command to update the font cache.

sudo fc-cache -f -v

Method #2

This time we are going to use the ttf-mscorefonts-installer to install Microsoft Fonts on Ubuntu. This is the same installer that ubuntu-restricted-extras has. But this will only install the fonts on ubuntu/linux.

This package or fonts are from the multiverse repository so we need to enable the multiverse repository first. Copy the following command and paste it into a terminal window and press enter.

sudo add-apt-repository multiverse

After that, copy the following command and press enter. Wait for the “Configuring ttf-mscorefonts-installer” option to pop up.

sudo apt update && sudo apt install ttf-mscorefonts-installer

After that, press the tab key to select <ok>.

And press the tab again to select <yes> to accept the EULA license terms.

Now use the following command to update the font cache.

sudo fc-cache -f -v

In case, if you accidentally decline the EULA then use the following command to reinstall the ttf-mscorefonts-installer

sudo apt install --reinstall ttf-mscorefonts-installer

You may face issues when installing MS core fonts. Recently I faced an issue in Pop OS 21.04 where the ttf-mscorefonts-installer was unable to download the fonts. Though it was installed correctly the fonts didn’t download. So I had to find another way of installing the fonts. If you face a similar issue like this, you can download the Debian package directly from Debian’s official repository. Follow the command below to complete the process.

wget http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/pool/contrib/m/msttcorefonts/ttf-mscorefonts-installer_3.8_all.deb
sudo dpkg -i ttf-mscorefonts-installer_3.8_all.deb

Let’s Check Out These Fonts

As we have installed Microsoft Fonts on Ubuntu, it’s time to check if these all are available to use. Open LibreOffice and find the fonts in the font selection combo box.

You will see every MS core font is available to use and works perfectly fine. As LibreOffice gets the compatibility, you can now use your MS Office documents without losing the actual format.

Conclusion

I hope this small tutorial will help you to install Microsoft Fonts on your Ubuntu system. If you have any questions or facing any difficulties, feel free to comment in the comment section below.

We will be very happy to help you out. And if you like this tutorial then don’t forget to share this with others. For more updates, like our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter. Peace!