How do I permanently delete Font Book on MacBook Air?

Microsoft 365 fonts are embedded in App Bundles. Applications are actually folders. /Applications/Safari.app/Contents/... Microsoft distributes their fonts inside each bundle duplicating them. This is due to App Store sandboxing requirements enforced by Apple.

For Microsoft 365 apps downloaded from the Mac App Store, the fonts are indeed embedded within the individual app bundles (e.g., Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook). Specifically, these fonts are stored within the app package in the Contents/Resources/DFonts folder. This means that the fonts are not installed in the system-wide Font Book on macOS, and they are only accessible to the Microsoft 365 apps themselves unless manually extracted and installed system-wide. This approach allows Microsoft to include a large number of fonts (including cloud fonts) without cluttering the macOS Font Book, but it also means these fonts are not available to other applications unless you take additional steps to install them.

Key points about embedded fonts in App Store bundles:

• Location: Fonts are stored in the Contents/Resources/DFonts folder within each app's package.
• Accessibility: These fonts are exclusive to Microsoft 365 apps and do not appear in macOS Font Book by default.
• Duplication: Each Microsoft 365 app (Word, Excel, etc.) includes its own copy of the fonts, which can take up significant storage space (over 1 GB collectively).

To make these fonts available system-wide (e.g., for use in other apps like Adobe products), you can manually copy them from the DFonts folder and install them using Font Book. However, be aware that this may violate Microsoft’s licensing terms, as these fonts are licensed for use within Office apps.

DO NOT DELETE THE FONTS IN THE 365 App bundles! You will break your 365 applications and you'll need to delete and re-install from the App Store.

Film Geek wrote:

I am trying to permanently delete fonts I have installed on my Mac (Sequoia). I have tried going through Font Book (deleted them but they're still showing up on Word or, in the case of several, they are not in the font book but still show up in Word). I have also tried going through the terminal to clear the cache and restarted the computer. No luck! This is so frustrating

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: Font Book issue - they won't delete

"Font Book issue - they won't delete: I am trying to permanently delete fonts I have installed on my Mac (Sequoia). I have tried going through Font Book (deleted them but they're still showing up on Word or, in the case of several, they are not in the font book but still show up in Word). I have also tried going through the terminal to clear the cache and restarted the computer. No luck! This is so frustrating"

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Deleting Fonts from the App Book on a Mac:***

A. Two links to try:

• Install or Remove Fonts on your Mac - Apple Support
• Remove, Deactivate or Activate Fonts in Font Book on Mac - Apple Support

B. Try a Third Party App:

Using the App Store app, try a few to manage and delete them

Go Here: RightFont - font manager on the Mac App Store

***Source: Delete fonts - how is this done? - Apple Support Community

There are quite a few fonts you can remove from the Office apps. Each app has an embedded DFonts folder, which all have the same fonts. They take up a surprising amount of space for fonts. About 541 MB worth per app.

To access the DFonts folder, right click on each Office app, choose Show Package Contents and go to the Contents/Resources folder. Within DFonts, you can remove all but the fonts shown next.

This is based on the last version of Office 365 I used, so it may be slightly different now. MOVE the fonts not listed below to a folder on the desktop. Launch the Office app you removed them from. If for some reason it won't run, you can simply put the removed fonts back a handful at a time until you find the one(s) it doesn't like being missing.

arial.ttf

arialbd.ttf

arialbi.ttf

ariali.ttf

ArialNarrowBoldItalic.ttf

ArialNarrowItalic.ttf

ArialRoundedMTBold.ttf

ariblk.ttf

Calibri.ttf

Calibrib.ttf

Calibrii.ttf

calibril.ttf

calibrili.ttf

Calibriz.ttf

Cambria.ttc

Cambriab.ttf

Cambriai.ttf

Cambriaz.ttf

seguisym.ttf

symbol.ttf

tahoma.ttf

tahomabd.ttf

Verdana Bold Italic.ttf

Verdana Bold.ttf

Verdana Italic.ttf

Verdana.ttf

webdings.ttf

Wingdings 2.ttf

Wingdings 3.ttf

Wingdings.ttf

Any fonts you removed can then be treated like any other fonts and opened with your font manager to use them on all apps across your system.

As a separate note, the Office apps, who knows why, will not list Zapf Dingbats in the System folder. If you want, or need to see this font while using Office, put a copy of Zapf Dingbats from the System folder into each DFonts folder.

There are also a very large number of OS installed fonts you actually can remove, but the only way to do it is via Font Book. All of these "extra" fonts are in the /System/Library/AssetsV2/com_apple_MobileAsset_Font7 folder.

This procedure will remove all non-fixed fonts, which means any sets you've created will also be cleared.

Open Font Book. Click on All Fonts at the top of the left column. Highlight any font at the right and then press Command+A to select all of them. Right click anywhere in the list and choose Remove or Deactivate. It doesn't matter which one you select since the result will be the same. You'll get this message:

Click the red button. The entire folder mentioned above will be emptied except for the file com_apple_MobileAsset_Font7.xml.

A very large number of non-English fonts will now be gone from your font lists. If at any point you need a particular font back, all you need to do is right click on that font in Font Book and choose Download.

Deleting Font Book would do nothing to solve your problem as fonts are not stored in Font Book.

In the case of MS Office, their bundled fonts are stored inside the app bundles.

If your only problem is Word, ask also in the forums run by the people who make it

Word has its own set of fonts and doesn't provide any means of controlling them. All of this is invisible to the operating system and Font book.

The bigger question is Why are you trying to remove these Microsoft 365 fonts? Is it that you are running low on disk space? Or you just don't like these fonts?