Every designer has been there: you know the perfect font is installed somewhere on your machine, but you can't remember the name. Scrolling through a dropdown list in Figma or Photoshop is tedious. There's a better way.
The Local Font Access API
Chrome and Edge (version 103+) support the Local Font Access API, a browser feature that lets a website — with your permission — read the list of fonts installed on your device and render them directly in the browser. No software to install. No files to upload. It all happens locally.
How Typescope uses it
Open Typescope in Chrome or Edge and click "Access System Fonts" in the header. The browser shows a permission prompt. Once you allow it, Typescope loads all your installed fonts and renders live previews in a grid. You can type any text and see every single font apply it in real time.
On a typical design workstation you might have 500–2,000 fonts installed. Typescope handles all of them, paging them in smoothly as you scroll.
Filtering and comparing
Once loaded, use the Category dropdown to filter by Sans Serif, Serif, Monospace, Display, or Handwriting. Use the search box to find a font by name. Select multiple fonts and click Compare to see them side-by-side with your custom text.
Works without permission too
If you don't grant the permission (or you're on Safari/Firefox), Typescope still loads the full Google Fonts library — 1,900+ typefaces — so you can preview and compare professional fonts without needing anything locally installed.
Why this matters
Font discovery is a real bottleneck in design workflows. Tools like Wordmark.it pioneered local font previewing, but Typescope adds Google Fonts, Fontshare, downloading, comparison, and language-specific font directories — all in one free app.
