Meet Aptos: Microsoft Office has a new default font to replace Calibri

After 15 years of starting Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook with the Calibri font as the default, you’ll soon be greeted by a new look in your documents: Meet Aptos, the new default font that’s replacing Calibri. 

Microsoft began searching for Aptos in 2021, when it commissioned five new fonts and asked users to help them choose their favorite: Bierstadt, Grandview, Seaford, Skeena, and Tenorite. The winner was Bierstadt, “a contemporary sans serif typeface inspired by mid-20th-century Swiss typography” created by Steve Matteson. Bierstadt was then renamed Aptos.  

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Aptos is a minimalistic, sans-serif font with clean lines, simple letterforms with different weights, and clear legibility. Like all previous default MS Office fonts, Aptos aims to be professional, adaptable, and elegantly understated, as a default typeface should be.

According to Si Daniels, principal program manager for fonts and typography at Microsoft Office Design, “Steve wanted the font to be more universal and less mechanical or institutional. Aptos had to induce trust and be engaging to read.”

Matteson, a renowned typeface designer, told Daniels that this is part of why he begins creating new fonts by hand rather than on a computer. 

“I can refine the details and I draw very quickly on screen, but sometimes there are nuances that you get on paper that may not occur if you’re clicking, dragging, and holding down the shift key. [Drawing on paper is] a more physical expression of yourself,” according to Matteson.

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Aptos will appear as the default typeface for MS Office apps over the next few months, showing up gradually for users across the different programs. All five commissioned fonts have been available on MS Office apps since 2021 and will remain available for users.