Customize font sizes without scaling in Windows 10
Alternate Font Sizer is a free program for Microsoft Windows to customize the size of different fonts on the system without display scaling.
When Microsoft released the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, it removed font customization options from the Control Panel without bringing the functionality to the Settings application or elsewhere.
While you can change the scaling of the display to make everything larger or smaller, there is no option anymore to change some or even all fonts only.
Tip: You can try System Font Changer as well which we reviewed earlier.
Alternate Font Sizer
Alternate Font Sizer brings the functionality back. You can run it on any modern version of Windows but it offers the biggest benefit on Windows 10 Fall Creators Update or newer versions of Windows as you can manage font sizes on previous versions of Windows from the Control Panel.
The program requires the Microsoft .Net Framework 2.0; Windows will install it automatically when it is not available. Note that the program needs to be installed before it can be run.
You may also run into Windows SmartScreen issues when you run the application for the first time after installation.The program triggers it because it is probably not super popular (yet).
The very first thing you should do on start is to select File > Save As to save the current configuration to the local system. The program does not create backups of the current settings or offers restore functionality which means that you will either have to remember all values or use the save option so that you can restore it.
To restore it simply select File > Open.
You can change fonts for the following interface items:
- Captions.
- Icons.
- Menus.
- Messages.
- SM captions.
- Status.
Each item comes with its own size menu that you use to change the font. You can type the new size directly or use the menu to pick a new size using the mouse.
You may change the font to italic furthermore, and hit the edit button to open the full editing interface.
The full editing options include a preview feature which can be quite handy as you can see directly how the font of the selected element changes when you modify values. Just hit the preview button after you modified values to see the effect on the text right away.
You can make lots of modifications there such as editing the font type, weight, height and width. Many options are locked by default thanks to secure mode as modifications could result in text not being displayed properly anymore on the system.
Uncheck the "secure mode" option to unlock them all and customize additional settings such as the character set, quality, or orientation.
You need to hit the apply button once you are done editing font values and may need to restart the system before they become available.
Closing Words
Alternate Font Sizer is a useful program for Microsoft's Windows 10 operating system that restores options to customize fonts on the system without changing the display scaling at the same time.
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Yep I agree with the dumbing down description of Windows 10. The scaling is abysmal compared to what it should be by now. I guess you get that way when you cobble together a operating system the way Microsoft has done with Windows. Nice to see someone bringing back some sense of incremental settings to at least give a user back some control.
https://www.wintools.info/index.php/advanced-system-font-changer came out with a new version yesterday and is an interesting design I’ve used before.
Note that at least for me running latest Windows 10 1803 and latest Chrome x64 beta, Advanced System Font Changer can even change the font and point size used in Chrome tabs. Another win for accessibility aficionados.
Nice point. This one going right into my toolkit. Thanks Martin.
This is so amazing! Thank you so much for pointing us to this software Martin.
Funtionality present in Windows 7: imgur.com/3Ly7zH0
Workaround 10. That’s what it should have been called.
Excellent tool, thanks a lot for reviewing it !
MS is dumbing down Windows to useless.
It is becoming a bit absurd. They force reinstall every 6 months and every time the user has to spend more and more time to get their system back to usable. Only thing they seem to be capable of expanding is more “telemetry” and cloud pushing. :/