How to install Bookerly, Ember, Roboto, and Other Fonts on Kobo eReaders
Thursday’s news about Amazon’s new font, Ember, inspired me to go find instructions on how to install it on an ereader.
While you can’t install custom fonts on a Kindle or a Fire tablet without hacking them, it’s relatively easy to install fonts on Kobo ereaders.
Sidenote: Did you know you can embed a font in a Kindle KF8 file? The short version is that you need to make an Epub file with the embedded font, and then use Kindle Previewer to convert that Epub file to a Kindle ebook.
The above Epub trick also works to get a font on to a Kobo device, if you like. But embedding a font in an ebook is a hassle, and fortunately we don’t have to bother with that step to load a font on to a Kobo ereader.
The process could not be simpler.
- Simply plug your Kobo device into your computer over USB, and then use your computer to create a new folder called fonts in the root folder of the device.
- Note that the folder must be named fonts, with an "s", or the device won’t see it.
- Copy all the font files into that folder. A font family usually comes in sets of four, and they all have to have similar names otherwise they won’t all be found by the device.
If you’re looking for fonts, I have posted a copy of the Bookerly and Ember fonts (with Amazon’s indifference, if not outright permission). You can also find additional fonts over at MobileRead (where I found the instructions).
Once you have installed the fonts, you should be able to select them from the font (Aa) menu from inside an ebook.
Here are a few screenshots of fonts I tested this evening:
Of the four, I think I like Bookerly the most. The Kobo Nickel font wastes too much space, and I am ambivalent to Ember and Roboto.
Which font do you like?
image by p_a_h
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