THE FONT INSPECTOR MANUAL

From first click
to favorite font.

A practical guide to finding, understanding, and keeping great type.

01

Your first font inspection

Install the extension from the Chrome Web Store and pin it using Chrome’s extensions menu. Open a normal website, refresh the page, and click the Font Inspector icon. Choose Pick text on page, then point at a heading or paragraph. Click the text to lock the inspection panel. You can also right-click text and choose Inspect Font.

This manual covers version 2.1.0. Check your installed version; some features described here may not yet be available in the Chrome Web Store release.
02

Get comfortable with the shortcuts

Press Alt + Shift + F to start picking. While the picker is active, use the up and down arrow keys to move between a parent and child element. Click or press Shift to lock the selection. Press Escape to cancel picking.

If the shortcut does not work, check for a conflict in Chrome’s extension shortcut settings.
03

Read the typography details

The inspection panel shows the family stack, reported rendered font, source, weight, size, line height, and letter spacing. It also includes text and background colors, variable axes when available, OpenType settings, and the selector path.

A fallback warning can help explain a mismatch. Rendered-font detection is a useful aid, not a guarantee for every character, especially mixed scripts and symbols.
04

Copy a style into your project

Copy an individual value when you only need the size or color. For a larger handoff, choose a complete style in CSS, Tailwind, or SCSS format. Review the result in your project: copied values do not include a font license or automatically load the font.

Use Get this font to explore available provider links, page font files, or suggested free alternatives. Verify the license at the original source.
05

See all fonts on a page

Open Fonts on this page to see families ranked by their share of text, along with weights, sizes, and fallback warnings. Hover over a family to outline where it appears. Inspect a sample or save the page’s fonts for later comparison.

The ranking reflects text on the page, rather than how much visual area a heading occupies.
06

Build your own font library

Inspections are saved locally. Use filters, pins, and collections to organize discoveries, then compare up to four fonts side by side. Export as JSON for a backup, or choose CSS variables or design tokens for a project handoff.

Local browser storage is not a cloud backup. Export discoveries you want to keep before clearing extension data or uninstalling. The repository includes anonymous usage analytics; page URLs, page text, and browsing history are not included according to its README.
07

When something does not work

Refresh pages that were open before installation or an update. Chrome blocks inspection on internal pages and the Chrome Web Store. Text embedded in images or canvas is not live HTML text and cannot be identified with CSS inspection.

If a font is missing, confirm the page has finished loading. A fallback can be caused by a failed download or a character that the selected font does not contain.
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