Make Your App Stand Out with Custom Fonts (Without Uploading Files)

The fourteen fonts built into Power Apps Studio cover the basics, but they rarely match a company’s brand guide or a designer’s vision. Did you know you can reference any font installed on your users’ devices simply by typing its name? In this article we’ll walk through how to discover available typefaces, apply them in controls, and set fallback stacks so the app always looks good.

Scenario: Corporate Branding for an Internal App

Suppose your organisation uses Calibri for body text and Trebuchet MS for headings. You want every label in your app to follow this rule without forcing other users to install anything – they already have these fonts on their Windows machines. We’ll build a small app that demonstrates how to apply a custom font and how to test which fonts are available on the current device.

How Font Loading Works in Canvas Apps

Power Apps does not let you upload or embed fonts. Instead, the Font property of a label, button, or other control accepts a text string with the exact name of a font family. If that font is installed on the operating system where the app runs, it will be used. If not, Power Apps falls back to its default.

// The label below shows "Welcome" in Trebuchet MS, if available.
// If not, the app uses Power Apps' default font.

// In the Font property of a label
"Trebuchet MS"

Finding Installed Font Names

You need the exact name that the system uses to identify the font. Here are two common methods:

• Windows Font Settings – Open the Settings app, go to Personalisation > Fonts, and scroll through the list. The name shown there (e.g. “Calibri”, “Trebuchet MS”) is the string to use.
• Wordmark.it – This browser extension reads the fonts installed on your computer and lets you preview them with your own text. It’s a quick way to confirm the correct spelling.

Testing Available Fonts with a Gallery

A practical way to see all working fonts is to create a gallery that lists candidate names and renders each in its own typeface. This helps you verify that the font exists and looks as expected.

1. Add a Vertical gallery.
2. Set its Items property to a small array of font names you are interested in.
3. Inside the gallery, add a Label. Set its Font property to ThisItem.Value and its Text property to ThisItem.Value.

["Calibri", "Trebuchet MS", "Georgia", "Playfair Display", "Consolas"]

// Font property
ThisItem.Value

// Text property
ThisItem.Value

If you see “Playfair Display” rendered in a serif style, the font is present. If it falls back to a generic look, it’s either missing or the name is misspelled.

Providing a Fallback Font Stack

Because you cannot guarantee that a custom font exists on every user’s device, always supply one or more fallback fonts separated by commas. Power Apps will try each in order until it finds one that is installed.

"Trebuchet MS, Arial, sans-serif"

In this example:

• If Trebuchet MS is missing, Arial is used.
• If Arial is also missing, the generic sans-serif keyword tells Power Apps to pick any available sans‑serif font (commonly Segoe UI).

The most reliable fallbacks are the so‑called web‑safe fonts that are present on almost every device: Arial, Georgia, Times New Roman, Verdana, Impact, Courier New, etc. You can combine serif, sans‑serif, and even monospace families in the same stack.

Common Mistakes & Troubleshooting

• Spelling errors – Copy the font name exactly from the Fonts list. Even a single extra space breaks the match.
• Using a font that is not installed on the user’s device – Always test on a machine that does not have the font to confirm the fallback works.
• Forgetting the fallback – Without a fallback, the app will use its default font, which might look odd next to controls that use the custom font. Provide at least one generic family (serif, sans-serif, monospace).
• Case sensitivity – While Windows is case‑insensitive, some browsers or mobile devices may be case‑sensitive. Use the exact capitalisation from the official font name.
• Containers and galleries – Remember to set the Font property on each control individually; there is no global font inheritance in canvas apps.

Security & Performance Considerations

Using local fonts has no security impact – you are simply referencing a resource that already exists on the user’s operating system. There is no network request or file upload. Performance is identical to using a built‑in font because the rendering is handled by the device’s text engine.

Final Recommendation

Custom fonts elevate the look and feel of an app, but they must be used responsibly. Always provide a fallback stack that ends with a generic family. Test your app on devices that do not have the chosen font – or simply use the gallery technique above – to verify that the experience degrades gracefully.

References

• Original article by Matthew Devaney: How To Use Custom Fonts In Power Apps
• Web‑safe font lists: W3Schools CSS Font Fallbacks