How to add my own fonts to Hatch?
We get asked often if you can add your own fonts to Hatch?
The answer is "it depends on what type of font you have".
There are three types of lettering that are referred to as "fonts".
- System Fonts
- True Type Fonts - (or Open Type Fonts)
- Individual letters (sometimes called fonts by the user)
System Fonts
These are the .ESA files that were digitized by a professional digitizer and saved to work with keyboard lettering. You can type the letter and the professionally digitized font will appear. These are the easiest and best quality fonts.
If you have purchased these from a 3rd party,make sure they are the .ESA format that will work with Hatch. If you do not know, ask the vendor.
If you have Hatch 3:
You will save the *.ESA file to this folder: C:\ProgramData\Wilcom\Hatch Embroidery\FONTS
If you have Hatch 2.1 or an earlier version, please visit this FAQ Site: How to add my own fonts to Hatch 2 and Hatch 1
If you have purchased these directly from the Hatch website,you do not need to install them. You simply restart your software after your purchase and the fonts will appear in the font drop-down list.
True Type Fonts - (or Open Type Fonts)
These are fonts that are installed on your windows system. Once installed in your system, you can use them as "keyboard lettering". You type the font and Hatch will automatically add stitches to the letter and show on your screen.
Some of these will work very nicely, but it depends on the actual way the original font was created. Remember, these were not originally created for "stitches". They were created to be printed in solid colors with no outlines, sections, etc. You may find some letters or symbols in the font style does not work good in stitches. if so, select a different font.
You can find many online for free or small price.
Individual letters (sometimes called fonts by the user)
These are actually just individual embroidery designs that look like a letter. Generally they are saved to a machine stitch format.
To use these in Hatch:
Open the design you want to add fonts or open a new blank design
"Insert" the design. (File Menu > insert design) or use the "Insert design" icon on the top toolbars.
These are the types of fonts or lettering you can use in Hatch.
What if you have your own keyboard font from previous software?
This font would have been saved in a format that only works in the software it was saved for. You would not be able to use this font directly in Hatch. You can open the font in the software that it was saved for and then save it to a file format that Hatch can read. Then "insert" as an individual letter.
Custom Assets:
If you are updating from Hatch 1 or Hatch 2 to Hatch 3 and want to move your custom assets to a new computer, you can find them at the locations specified from this FAQ Site - Where are my ESA files? Where are my motifs? – Hatch Embroidery