Mary Ann, I had never heard of not installing them - I put them on my desktop and then drag and drop them into my FONT folder - click the WINDOWS button - up to the CONTROL PANEL - there you will see your FONT folder - if you don't do that - then I would make a FONT folder of sorts - where you know where it is - so you can drag and drop them later - when you need it - all the fonts in my font folder are available to me in all my programs on my PC, and I like using them there - as well.

And just to clarify this - so others do not misunderstand - they are all TrueType Fonts and not designs.

Well, all of mine are saved in folders on my C drive. That's where I download and keep all my designs in their specific folders. No problems for me doing it that way. Hugs..Carol

Fonts that are installed on the computer when it's new are in the Fonts folder. All those that I download from other places on the net I store in a "Fonts Other" folder which I created and it sits beneath the other folder when in Explorer. Download the a free program from the link and you can temporarily install them to create fonts, and then they will be uninstalled when you finish.

OH dear well, I am very naughty, I get impatient if I have to take extra steps when I want a font to embroider.

I'm afraid I install all my fonts in the Windows Font folder.

I did try keeping separate folders, but as I said, I get impatient. I don't want to go looking through fonts using a separate FONTS MANAGEMENT program, (most of them are so cumbersome they annoy me) to find the font I want to use, install it and have it uninstalled when I'm finished. I rarely finish with a font in one sitting, so when I want it again, I have to repeat the install process. NOPE don't have time for this.

I CAN tell Embird to go and find other font folders and it will search for the folder when I open Font Engine, but that also takes extra time, that I don't always have to spare.

Nope, after trying all sorts of filing ideas, I install my fonts so I can browse through them in Font Engine or Studio FE and all my other Stationery designing programs and when I find the one I want I click and work.

I DO have fast processors in my pc and laptop, I also have sufficient RAM to cope with my needs.

I also have my systems set up to tell me when a process is using up my resources, and the ONLY time it springs to life is when using FIREFOX (because it has nasty little hidden aps it runs periodically)
And when I am watching a virtual stitch-out in Embird, my other digitising programs don't do this.

Embird is a resource hungry program that REQUIRES a fast processor, but I digress.

My resources reporter does absolutely nothing when I am searching for, or browsing fonts.

I currently have 4,055 fonts installed on my Laptop, even more on my pc and both of them are still super fast.

A lot depends on your computer system, a slow processor and not enough RAM will cause problems doing many things, especially when digitising, designs will disappear off the screen, images will disappear off the screen, it will take forever to switch between views and scrolling a design becomes a nightmare. These are all signs your computer is not fast enough, but that DOES NOT mean that fonts are causing it. It mostly means your computer's internal processor is too slow (anything under 2.0 GHZ is a problem if you want to run digitising programs) and your RAM (Random Access Memory) is too low. I have 2 GIG Ram.

I do hope some of this is helpful to someone.
Hugs and roses, Meganne

Thank you everyone for the replies. I see that it will be much better for me to install them on the main drive so they are ready when I need them.

I have a newer laptop with 2.13GHz Processor, and 4.00GB Ram so I should not have a problem with them.

Thank You ((Hugs)*4U
Mary Ann

I also install them, I haven't had any problems doing it this way.....I download to a folder in my documents, scan with Norton's and then install when I know they are clean....

I keep mine on a "memory stick" or jump start..then I know that I won't lose them. My pc crashed a couple of years ago and I lost a ton of stuff including fsl which nearly killed me. Hope that this helps!!!

I have a folder named "Fonts" with subfolders named by typographic style.
"Serif", "Sans Serif", "Handwritten", "Fraktur" and so on and I do not! install them to the system.
To view and sort I use a very! good free program named NexusFont. When I am in need of a special font in a writing program or elsewhere I can activate it from there for the system- or switch it off without sending the file around.
When I plan to embroider a poem for a wallhanging for example, I type the text into Embirds Fontengine, choose the file path to use fonts from this main folder "Fonts" (all subfolders are scanned too)and have a look if the text is working when embroidered.

Lots of replies here. I'm sure others will be able to use all the info given also.

Everyone is always so helpful on this board. Even tho I have been embroidering for a few years, you have ALL taught me so much. ;)

Thank you
Mary Ann