How to Clear the Font Cache on Mac

Most Mac users never think about font cache. The exception: graphic designers, video editors, and anyone who installs and removes fonts regularly. When font cache goes bad, you get strange symptoms — glyphs rendering wrong, fonts showing as installed but not appearing in apps, Adobe apps crashing on launch, or the wrong font showing up everywhere even after you change it.

Here’s how the font cache actually works on macOS Sonoma 14 and Sequoia 15, and how to clear it without breaking your system.

How macOS caches fonts

Font caching on Mac is more complex than it looks. The system maintains caches at multiple levels:

• /System/Library/Caches/com.apple.ATS/ — system-level font cache (read-only on modern macOS)
• ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.ATS/ — user-level font cache
• /private/var/folders/.../C/com.apple.ATS/ — temporary system cache
• /Library/Caches/com.apple.ATS/ — system-wide font cache for all users
• ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.iconservices.store/ — icon cache (often related)
• /Library/Caches/com.apple.iconservices.store/ — system icon cache

There’s also a font registry database that tracks which fonts are activated. Adobe apps maintain their own font caches separately.

The supported way: atsutil

Apple provides a Terminal command for managing the font cache, though it’s been quietly deprecated and might not work as expected on the newest macOS versions.

sudo atsutil databases -remove
atsutil server -shutdown
atsutil server -ping

What this does:

1. Removes the font database files.
2. Shuts down the font server.
3. Wakes the font server back up, which forces a rebuild.

You’ll be prompted for your admin password. Output may include some warnings — usually safe to ignore.

After running these commands, restart your Mac. The font cache rebuilds during boot.

The brute-force approach

If atsutil isn’t doing it, manual cache clearing:

1. Quit all running applications. Especially Adobe apps, Microsoft Office, anything font-related.
2. Open Finder, press Cmd+Shift+G.
3. Paste ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.ATS/.
4. Move all contents to Trash.
5. Repeat for ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.iconservices.store/.
6. Empty Trash.
7. Restart your Mac.

The cache rebuilds during the next boot. First boot after rebuild can be slightly slower than usual — this is normal as macOS recreates the cache.

For the system-wide cache (requires admin):

sudo rm -rf /Library/Caches/com.apple.ATS/

Then restart.

Safe Mode reset

A clean way to force a font cache rebuild without manual file deletion:

1. Apple Silicon Macs: Shut down. Hold the power button until you see “Loading startup options.” Select your startup disk while holding Shift, then click “Continue in Safe Mode.”
2. Intel Macs: Restart while holding Shift.

Safe Mode disables most caches and forces a rebuild on the next normal boot. Many font issues clear up after a Safe Mode boot followed by a regular restart.

Don’t dig through ~/Library yourselfSweep knows where every app stores its cache. Free download for Mac →

Adobe-specific font caches

If you use Adobe Creative Cloud, those apps maintain their own font caches that exist separately from the macOS font cache. Common locations:

• ~/Library/Application Support/Adobe/CoreSync/plugins/livetype/.r/ — Creative Cloud font activation cache
• /Library/Application Support/Adobe/Adobe Fonts/ — system-wide Adobe Fonts cache
• ~/Library/Caches/com.adobe.CoreSync/ — sync cache

To clear Adobe-specific font cache:

1. Quit all Adobe apps and the Creative Cloud desktop app.
2. Sign out of Creative Cloud.
3. Move the folders above to Trash.
4. Restart.
5. Sign back into Creative Cloud — it’ll re-sync activated fonts.

This is the standard fix for Adobe Fonts (formerly Typekit) that won’t activate or shows the wrong font.

When font cache problems happen

Common triggers:

• Installing many fonts at once (especially via Font Book)
• Using a third-party font manager (Suitcase Fusion, RightFont, etc.) that changed how fonts are activated
• Removing fonts via drag-to-trash instead of deactivating properly
• macOS major version upgrades
• Migrating to a new Mac
• Adobe app updates that conflict with cached font references

If you experience font issues right after one of these events, font cache is the prime suspect.

What font cache problems look like

Symptoms:

• Fonts showing as installed in Font Book but not appearing in app menus
• Wrong glyphs rendering (especially with character variants)
• Apps crashing on launch (Adobe apps are notorious for this)
• Bold or italic styles missing despite being installed
• Documents opening with substituted fonts even though originals are present
• Fonts appearing in some apps but not others

If you see any of these, try a font cache clear before doing anything more drastic.

There’s a faster waySweep finds and clears caches across every app you use, all at once. Try Sweep free →

Font Book validation

Font Book has a built-in font validation that catches problems:

1. Open Font Book (in Applications).
2. Cmd+A to select all fonts.
3. File → Validate Fonts.

It’ll flag duplicates, corrupted files, and conflicts. Resolving those issues often eliminates the need for a cache clear.

Don’t clear these

Some folders look like font cache but aren’t:

• /System/Library/Fonts/ — system fonts. Don’t touch.
• /Library/Fonts/ — third-party fonts available to all users. These are actual font files, not cache.
• ~/Library/Fonts/ — your personal fonts. Actual font files.

Deleting these removes fonts, not cache.

How much space does font cache take?

Not much. User-level font cache is typically 50-200MB. System-level is similar. This isn’t a storage-recovery exercise — it’s a troubleshooting one.

For storage, the bigger Mac wins are app caches, browser caches, and old files in ~/Downloads/.

How often to clear font cache

Never proactively. The font cache doesn’t grow unboundedly and rebuilding it without a reason just adds slow first-boot to your day.

Clear it when you have a problem. Font issues are usually obvious — wrong glyphs, missing fonts, app crashes on font load.

The relationship to icon cache

/Library/Caches/com.apple.iconservices.store/ is technically the icon cache, not font cache. But the two are related — both are managed by similar system services and often go bad together. If you’re clearing one for troubleshooting, clear both.

When font cache won’t fix it

Font cache clears help with cache problems. They don’t fix:

• Genuinely corrupted font files (use Font Book validation)
• Licensing issues with Adobe Fonts or Monotype
• App-specific bugs unrelated to font loading
• Display rendering issues (those are GPU, not font cache)

If a cache clear doesn’t help, the issue is elsewhere.

Worth automating?

Font cache is rarely worth automating. It’s a troubleshooting fix, not maintenance.

For broader Mac maintenance — app caches, system caches that build up over time, the dozens of cache folders most users don’t know exist — Sweep handles all of those in one pass. Free download for macOS Sonoma 14 and Sequoia 15. Font cache isn’t typically in the “automatically clear” bucket because clearing it requires a restart and shouldn’t happen without an obvious reason.

Bottom line

Mac font cache lives at ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.ATS/ and a few system-level locations. The supported clear command is sudo atsutil databases -remove. The brute-force version is deleting the cache folders manually. Either way, restart afterward.

Don’t clear it without a reason. Clear it immediately if you’re seeing wrong glyphs, missing fonts, or font-related app crashes.