# How can I kill calibri? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 15, 2019, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-kill-calibri/841788 "2019-10-15T14:19:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2019, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-kill-calibri/841788/1 "2019-10-15T14:19:04Z")
Calibri (the font) not Colibri (the moderator) - he can live; however Calibri. Must. **DIE**!!! I’ve changed it so that it’s not the default in Outlook, xl, & Word but that’s only for documents that I create. I can’t find how to replace it as a system default. When I extract a spreadsheet from our system, it opens in that God-forsaken font. Despite having a spreadsheet in Arial, when I paste a url in (that’s not in shitfont on the website) it shows up that way in my spreadsheet. It’s even the default in Wordpad, which comes with windows & doesn’t need office to use. There must be some way to change it from being the Windows default but my Googlefu isn’t finding any. So how do I blast all vestiges of this incredibly-awful-to-read font from my PC? ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2019, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-kill-calibri/841788/2 "2019-10-15T14:36:44Z")
If you hate it so much, why don’t you just delete it? In Windows 10, go to your font settings. Search for Calibri, click on it, then click on the Uninstall button. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2019, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-kill-calibri/841788/3 "2019-10-15T14:55:48Z")
Can’t; it’s a protected system font. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2019, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-kill-calibri/841788/4 "2019-10-15T19:00:22Z")
Why did Microsoft make calibri the default. I dislike it also and I’ve change my default in Word and it still ends up back in calibri. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2019, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-kill-calibri/841788/5 "2019-10-15T19:17:38Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > Why did Microsoft make calibri the default. I dislike it also and I’ve change my default in Word and it still ends up back in calibri. It was designed specifically for Microsoft as one of its “ClearType” fonts, which are fonts designed to render properly on LCD screens. When Microsoft saw that LCD was overtaking CRT as the primary kind of display they were concerned that old fonts like Times New Roman or Arial would not look right on modern displays. Hence Calibri, which has “subtly rounded stems” and a “true italic” form influenced by handwriting. Basically, as screens got better and resolutions got higher, older fonts looked clunky when zoomed in. ClearType fonts were the reaction. Microsoft really liked Calibri and released it with Windows Vista and made it the default font in Office 2007. Other ClearType fonts are: Cambria, Candara, Consolas, Constantia and Corbel. (They all start with “C” for “ClearType”.) Calibri is so ubiquitous that Google felt compelled to release their own freely-licensed font called “Carlito”, which is part of the ChromeOS and can replace Calibri in a document without disrupting layout since each character has the same metrics as the corresponding Calibri character. The Panama Papers Case was a scandal in Pakistan where a document supposedly from 2006 was found to be a forgery because it used Calibri font which wasn’t publicly available until a year later: > **[Panama Papers case](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Papers_case)** > > Political views > Parties > Elections ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2019, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-kill-calibri/841788/6 "2019-10-15T19:22:59Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > Other ClearType fonts are: Cambria, Candara, Consolas, Constantia and Corbel. ( **They all start with “C” for “ClearType”**.) Today I learned ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2019, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-kill-calibri/841788/7 "2019-10-15T19:24:19Z")
Thank you for the answer. I prefer the Arials and Times New Roman, but at least there was a real reason for Calibri. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2019, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-kill-calibri/841788/8 "2019-10-15T23:27:28Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > Calibri (the font) not Colibri (the moderator) - he can live; however Calibri. Must. **DIE**!!! > > I’ve changed it so that it’s not the default in Outlook, xl, & Word but that’s only for documents that I create. I can’t find how to replace it as a system default. When I extract a spreadsheet from our system, it opens in that God-forsaken font. Despite having a spreadsheet in Arial, when I paste a url in (that’s not in shitfont on the website) it shows up that way in my spreadsheet. It’s even the default in Wordpad, which comes with windows & doesn’t need office to use. There must be some way to change it from being the Windows default but my Googlefu isn’t finding any. > > So how do I blast all vestiges of this incredibly-awful-to-read font from my PC? If you’re really serious about killing Calibri, head to the registry and replace it. The key on Windows 10 is HKEY\_LOCAL\_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Fonts, or at least that is the key on my machine. The values for that key are basically a map of fonts to TrueType files. If you want to _kill_ Calibri, make the Calibri values point to TrueType files for other fonts you like, such as Tahoma. Your programs will think they are using Calibri, but they will render a different font _on your machine only_. It is also worth noting that the font for the Windows 10 operating system itself is not Calibri, but Segoe-UI. So when you see Calibri in MS Office, that’s in all likelihood an MS Office setting. You say that you already changed the setting, and that other people’s documents open up with Calibri by default. I’m afraid you are out of luck there, because these other people are saving their documents with the Calibri font. Unlike text files of old, MS Office documents specify the font in the file itself, so if someone else creates a document in Calibri font, it will open up in Calibri font for you. You can get around this by replacing Calibri in the registry as described above, just realize that you are only changing things for your own computer. ~Max ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2019, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-kill-calibri/841788/9 "2019-10-15T23:37:33Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > when I paste a url in (that’s not in shitfont on the website) it shows up that way in my spreadsheet For this one try pasting without formatting (right click, paste without formatting) or changing the default font in your web browser settings. You may not realize this but often times copying and pasting copies the font, size, color, images, and a bunch of other stuff you may not necessarily want. ~Max ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2019, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-kill-calibri/841788/10 "2019-10-16T04:02:13Z")
Note to self - Read OPs more carefully before ordering any services off of the Dark Web. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2019, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-kill-calibri/841788/11 "2019-10-16T08:41:46Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Today I learned Me too. ---
**Author:** ![Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b2d939/32.png) [@Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Go_Arachnid_Laser_1)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2019, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-kill-calibri/841788/12 "2019-10-16T08:49:31Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > Thank you for the answer. I prefer the Arials and Times New Roman, but at least there was a real reason for Calibri. Ah, yeah, the Arial Master Race. ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2019, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-kill-calibri/841788/13 "2019-10-16T11:50:58Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > It was designed specifically for Microsoft as one of its “ClearType” fonts, which are fonts designed to render properly on LCD screens. When Microsoft saw that LCD was overtaking CRT as the primary kind of display they were concerned that old fonts like Times New Roman or Arial would not look right on modern displays. Hence Calibri, which has “subtly rounded stems” and a “true italic” form influenced by handwriting. > > Basically, as screens got better and resolutions got higher, older fonts looked clunky when zoomed in (…) A lovely, informative post **Atamasama**. I can understand why a simple slanted italic looks bad on a monitor (using a grid to form diagonal lines), but don’t know how a true italic is going improve that, since the lines are still diagonal—and they have finicky little serifs. I guess I’ll take a closer look at Calibri Italic on my screens sometime. Thanks again. ---
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2019, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-kill-calibri/841788/14 "2019-10-16T13:48:14Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > Why did Microsoft make calibri the default. I dislike it also and I’ve change my default in Word and it still ends up back in calibri. Be sure to check the button to make your new choice default for new documents. Otherwise it will only do it for your current document. I hate calibri, too, so I made a shortcut to the normal.dotm template and pinned it to the documents menu in Word. If Word crashes and I lose my settings, it’s easy to open it up and restore things how I like them. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2019, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-kill-calibri/841788/15 "2019-10-16T15:29:49Z")
Here’s something to test: Boot off a USB stick or disc some other OS. E.g., a Linux “live” CD. (TrustedInstaller prevents this in Windows.) Go to Fonts under the Windows directory on your PC. Move the calibri.ttf files and friends to someplace safe. Take a font file you like and make a copy named “calibri.ttf”. Repeat for all 6 calibri\* files and the “new” corresponding versions. (There’s also these files on my system under a subdirectory of Windows/WinSxS. Not sure if you need to play with those.) Either it will work just beautifully or totally mess up a ton of things. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2019, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-kill-calibri/841788/16 "2019-10-16T17:54:09Z")
Spider Man vs colibri: The Fonts of Idiocy #1 coming soon. ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2019, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-kill-calibri/841788/17 "2019-10-17T23:04:49Z")
> [@Baal\_Houtham](#): > > A lovely, informative post **Atamasama**. I can understand why a simple slanted italic looks bad on a monitor (using a grid to form diagonal lines), but don’t know how a true italic is going improve that, since the lines are still diagonal—and they have finicky little serifs. **[Cleartype](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ClearType)** involves sub-pixel rendering by using partial-density values to blur out the jagged transitions. With high-density screens, the technology is basically dead at this stage, but _Calibri_ eternally lies … ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2019, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-kill-calibri/841788/18 "2019-10-19T17:58:54Z")
I typed and submitted my PhD thesis in Calibri. It was only a semi-conscious choice; I never bothered to change the font to anything else (which probably indicates that I couldn’t have found it so terrible), but I did have the awareness that I found it superior to other fonts, such as Arial or TNR (probably mostly because of their overuse, though). My supervisor didn’t complain either. FWIW, [this study](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/252830342_The_Effect_of_Typeface_on_the_Perception_of_Email) concluded that among the different fonts used on test subjects, Calibri was perceived as the most professional and trustworthy. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2019, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-kill-calibri/841788/19 "2019-10-21T16:00:02Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > (Other ClearType fonts are: Cambria, Candara, Consolas, Constantia and Corbel. (They all start with “C” for “ClearType”.) …Comic Sans? ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2019, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-kill-calibri/841788/20 "2019-10-23T00:21:34Z")
> [@Schnitte](#): > > (…) > FWIW, [this study](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/252830342_The_Effect_of_Typeface_on_the_Perception_of_Email) concluded that among the different fonts used on test subjects, Calibri was perceived as the most professional and trustworthy. It should be mentioned that the three fonts compared in that study were: Calibri Comic Sans and… [Gigi](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/typography/font-list/gigi). So, adjudging Calibri the most professional is not a meaningful accolade. (I’m going only by the summary section that I could access without registration. And FWIW, I’m a graphic designer who likes Calibri just fine. I’ve used it on several project where I wanted non-professionals to be able to create supporting materials that would coordinate with my designs.) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-kill-calibri/841788.md?page=2)