I have a 2024 M4 iMac that is running Tahoe 26.3.1. Is there any way to change the defaut system font to a different one? I would like to use American Typewriter in all my programs, especially Notes, Pages and Numbers. Do I need to use Terminal to get this accomplished? If so, what is the command I need to input into it? Thank you.
iMac (M4, 2024)
Do you mean system-wide? as in every menu, dialog, window, etc.?
Or, since you mention Notes, Pages and Numbers, do you mean the default font that is used in documents you create in these applications?
For the first, as noted, there is no option to change the standard OS font used for things like menus, dialogs, window title bars, etc.
For application-specifics, both Pages and Numbers (as well as some other apps) support templates and style sheets - you can create a template document that uses your preferred fonts and use that for all future documents.
Notes does support font choices, and has a set of preset styles, but there's no way (that I'm aware of) to change the default styles to use a different font, so it'll have to be changed on a per-note basis.
Do you mean system-wide? as in every menu, dialog, window, etc.?
Or, since you mention Notes, Pages and Numbers, do you mean the default font that is used in documents you create in these applications?
For the first, as noted, there is no option to change the standard OS font used for things like menus, dialogs, window title bars, etc.
For application-specifics, both Pages and Numbers (as well as some other apps) support templates and style sheets - you can create a template document that uses your preferred fonts and use that for all future documents.
Notes does support font choices, and has a set of preset styles, but there's no way (that I'm aware of) to change the default styles to use a different font, so it'll have to be changed on a per-note basis.
No, you cannot in any way change the default San Francisco font. At least, not in the OS menus themselves.
Notes, Pages and Numbers should allow to choose any font you want.
I agree with my learned colleague @Kurt Lang
The Default System Font has been San Francisco 12 point since the time Apple crated this font.
Apple made macOS use the San Francisco font as the default starting with OS X El Capitan (version 10.11) in 2015.
Apple first designed San Francisco for the Apple Watch interface.
At WWDC 2015, Apple announced it would replace Helvetica Neue with San Francisco across macOS and iOS for better readability on Retina displays.
How to change the default system font on M4 iMac?
