View source for Calibri

{{short description|Sans-serif typeface family designed by Luc(as) de Groot in 2002–2004}}

{{Infobox typeface
| image = Calibri sample image.png
| name = Calibri 
| style = [[Sans-serif]]
| classifications = [[Humanist sans-serif]]; Modern sans-serif<ref name="NowReadThis">{{cite book|last1=Berry|first1=John D.|title=Now Read This: the Microsoft ClearType Collection|publisher=Microsoft Corp|year=2004|url=https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/typography/cleartype/clear-type-font-collection|location=Redmond, WA}}</ref>
| creationdate = 2002–2005
| releasedate = 2007
| creator = [[Lucas de Groot|Luc(as) de Groot]] (Standard Latin, Cyrillic, Greek, and Hebrew); [[Mamoun Sakkal]] (Arabic); [[Ruben Tarumian]] (Armenian and Georgian)<ref>{{cite web |title=Calbri Font Family |url=https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/typography/font-list/calibri |website=Microsoft |publisher=Microsoft |access-date=8 October 2021}}</ref>
| foundry = [[Microsoft]]
| license = Proprietary
| metrically_compatible_with = [[Carlito (typeface)|Carlito]]
|}}
'''Calibri''' ({{IPAc-en|k|ə|ˈ|l|iː|b|r|i|}}) is a digital [[sans-serif]] [[typeface]] family in the [[humanist sans-serif|humanist or modern]] style. It was designed by [[Luc(as) de Groot]] in 2002–2004 and released to the general public in 2007, with [[Microsoft Office 2007]] and [[Windows Vista]].<ref name="Phinney">{{cite web|last1=Phinney|first1=Thomas|title=Calibri reached the general public on January 30, 2007, with the release of Microsoft Office 2007 and Windows Vista on that date.|url=https://www.quora.com/When-was-Calibri-font-made-available-to-general-public-as-a-part-update-of-Windows-and-or-MS-Office|website=[[Quora]]|access-date=11 July 2017}}</ref><ref name="Lucasfonts">{{cite web|last1=Berry|first1=John D.|last2=De Groot|first2=Lucas|title=Case Study: Microsoft ClearType|url=http://www.lucasfonts.com/case-studies/calibri-consolas/|website=Lucasfonts|access-date=11 July 2017}}</ref> In Office 2007, it replaced [[Times New Roman]] as the default typeface in [[Microsoft Word|Word]]<ref name=MS>{{cite web|title=Microsoft typography: Calibri|url=http://www.microsoft.com/typography/fonts/family.aspx?FID=287|publisher=Microsoft|access-date=10 Dec 2011}}</ref> and replaced [[Arial]] as the default in [[Microsoft PowerPoint|PowerPoint]], [[Microsoft Excel|Excel]], [[Microsoft Outlook|Outlook]], and [[WordPad]]. De Groot described its subtly rounded design as having "a warm and soft character".<ref name="Lucasfonts" />

Calibri is part of the [[ClearType Font Collection]], a suite of fonts from various designers released with Windows Vista.<ref name="Microsoft ClearType Font Collection">{{cite web|title=The Microsoft ClearType Font Collection|url=http://www.microsoft.com/typography/ClearTypeFonts.mspx|website=Microsoft Typography|publisher=Microsoft|access-date=31 August 2017}}</ref> All start with the letter ''C'' to reflect that they were designed to work well with Microsoft's [[ClearType]] text rendering system, a text rendering engine designed to make text clearer to read on [[liquid-crystal display]] monitors.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Hudson|first1=John|title=Comments on Typophile thread|url=http://typophile.com/node/81735|website=Typophile|access-date=28 September 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141030072541/http://typophile.com/node/81735|archive-date=30 October 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> The other fonts in the same group are [[Cambria (typeface)|Cambria]], [[Candara]], [[Consolas]], [[Constantia (typeface)|Constantia]] and [[Corbel (typeface)|Corbel]].<ref name="Lucasfonts" /><ref name="Van Wagener" />

==Characteristics==
Calibri features subtly rounded stems and corners that are visible at larger sizes.<ref name="Van Wagener">{{cite web|last1=Van Wagener|first1=Anne|title=The Next Big Thing in Online Type|url=https://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=47&aid=78683|website=[[Poynter Online]]|access-date=31 August 2017|url-status=bot: unknown|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060604203726/https://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=47&aid=78683|archive-date=4 June 2006}}</ref> Its sloped form is a [[italic type|"true italic"]] with handwriting influences,<ref>{{cite web|last1=Levien|first1=Raph|author-link=Raph Levien|title=Microsoft's ClearType Font Collection: A Fair and Balanced Review|url=http://typographica.org/on-typography/microsofts-cleartype-font-collection-a-fair-and-balanced-review/|website=Typographica|access-date=24 November 2014}}</ref> which are seen in many modern sans-serif typefaces.

The typeface includes characters from Latin, [[Latin script in Unicode|Latin extended]], [[Greek alphabet|Greek]] and [[Cyrillic script|Cyrillic]] scripts. Calibri makes extensive use of sophisticated [[OpenType]] formatting; it features a range of [[Typographic ligature|ligatures]] as well as lining and [[text figures]], indices (numbers enclosed by circles) up to 20, and an [[Stylistic alternate|alternate]] ''f'' and ''g'' accessible by enabling the fourth and fifth stylistic sets.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Batchelor|first1=Lee|title=Opentype Features in Microsoft Word|url=http://leeviathan.com/opentype-features-and-how-to-use-them/|website=Leeviathan|access-date=7 July 2015}}</ref><ref name="OpenType features">{{cite web |title=Package details: OpenType features |url=https://www.lucasfonts.com/fonts/package_details/calibri |publisher=LucasFonts |access-date=2 October 2020}}</ref> Some features in Calibri remain unsupported by Office, including true [[small caps]], all-caps spacing, superscript and subscript glyphs and the ability to create arbitrary fractions; these may be accessed using programs such as [[Adobe InDesign]].

One potential source of confusion in Calibri is a visible [[homoglyph]], a pair of easily confused characters: the lowercase letter L and the uppercase letter i (l and I) of the [[Latin script]] are effectively indistinguishable; this is true of many other common fonts, however.

The design has similarities to de Groot's much more extensive [[TheSans]] family (a [[Sans-serif#Humanist|humanist]] font) and shares similarities with [[Vox-ATypI classification#Humanist 2|humanist]] fonts, although this has straight ends rather than rounding.<ref name="Dutch Type">{{cite book|last1=Middendorp|first1=Jan|title=Dutch Type|date=2004|publisher=010|location=Rotterdam|pages=219–227|chapter=The Two Sides of Luc(as) de Groot}}</ref>

{{as of|2017}}, a [[Hebrew alphabet]] version is in development.<ref name="van de Klundert" />  De Groot has also said in 2016 that he would like if possible to add [[Bulgarian alphabet]] variant letterforms at a later date.<ref name="European Cyrillics">{{cite web|last1=Knecht|first1=Sonja|title=European Cyrillics|url=http://txet.de/typofest-bulgaria/|website=TXET|access-date=31 August 2017}}</ref>

==Availability==
[[File:Calibri carlito comparison.png|thumb|A comparison between Calibri and Carlito in some of the more different glyphs]]
Calibri is the default typeface of [[Microsoft Office]] and much other Microsoft software. Joe Friend, a program manager on Word for [[Office 2007]]'s release, explained that the decision to switch to Calibri was caused by a desire to make the default font one optimised towards onscreen display: "We believed that more and more documents would never be printed but would solely be consumed on a digital device", and to achieve a "modern look".<ref name="Joe Friend Quora comments">{{cite web |last1=Friend |first1=Joe |title=Why did Microsoft change the default font to Calibri? |url=https://www.quora.com/Microsoft-Office/Why-did-Microsoft-change-the-default-font-to-Calibri |website=Quora |access-date=25 April 2019}}</ref>

Because of the long [[development of Windows Vista]], Calibri's development – from 2002 to 2005 – occurred several years before the release of that OS.<ref name="NowReadThis" /><ref name="Lucasfonts">{{cite web|last1=Berry|first1=John D.|last2=De Groot|first2=Lucas|title=Case Study: Microsoft ClearType|url=http://www.lucasfonts.com/case-studies/calibri-consolas/|website=Lucasfonts|access-date=11 July 2017}}</ref> It was first presented in a 2005 beta of Windows Vista, then codenamed Longhorn,<ref name="Phinney" /> and first became available for use with the Beta 2 version of Office 2007, released on May 23, 2006.<ref>{{cite web |last=Mondok |first=Matt |title=Office 2007 Beta 2 released for the masses |publisher=Ars Technica |date=23 May 2006 |access-date=18 July 2017 |url=https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2006/05/4091/}}</ref> Calibri and the rest of the ClearType Font Collection were finally released to the general public on January 30, 2007, since when it has been released with most Microsoft software environments.<ref name="Phinney" />

Calibri is also distributed with [[Excel Viewer]], [[PowerPoint Viewer]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=10|title=Download Excel Viewer from Official Microsoft Download Center|publisher=Microsoft}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=13|title=Download PowerPoint Viewer from Official Microsoft Download Center|publisher=Microsoft}}</ref> the [[Microsoft Office]] Compatibility Pack for Windows,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=3|title=Download Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint File Formats from Official Microsoft Download Center|publisher=Microsoft}}</ref> and the Open XML File Format Converter for Mac.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=27334|title=Download Open XML File Format Converter for Mac 1.2.1 from Official Microsoft Download Center|publisher=Microsoft|access-date=2013-02-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130505191454/http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=27334#|archive-date=2013-05-05|url-status=dead}}</ref> For use in other operating systems and web apps, a license may be obtained from [[Ascender Corporation]] and its parent company [[Monotype Corporation|Monotype Imaging]].<ref name="MyFonts">{{cite web|title=Calibri|url=https://www.myfonts.com/fonts/ascender/calibri/|website=MyFonts|publisher=[[Monotype Imaging]]/[[Ascender Corporation]]|access-date=30 August 2017}}</ref>

The Calibri Light font was introduced in [[Windows 8]] and was retrospectively added to [[Windows 7]] and [[Windows Server 2008 R2]] as part of a software update.<ref name="Calibri Light update" /> Starting with Microsoft Office 2013, Calibri Light is the default font for [[PowerPoint]] presentations and [[Microsoft Word|Word]] headings.<ref name="Calibri Light update">{{cite web |title=An update is available to add the Calibri Light and Calibri Light Italic fonts to Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 |url=https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/an-update-is-available-to-add-the-calibri-light-and-calibri-light-italic-fonts-to-windows-7-and-windows-server-2008-r2-717a0bbe-0610-bd3c-3cc1-bad9b7809e55 |website=Microsoft Support |publisher=Microsoft |access-date=31 August 2017}}</ref>

In 2013, [[Google]] released a [[free license|freely-licensed]] font called [[Croscore fonts#crosextra fonts|Carlito]], which is [[metric-compatible]] to Calibri, as part of [[Chrome OS]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blogs.gnome.org/uraeus/2013/10/10/a-thank-you-to-google/|title=A thank you to Google from Desktop Linux|website=GNOME blog}}</ref> Carlito's metric-compatibility ensures ChromeOS users can correctly display and print a document designed in Calibri without disrupting its layout. Carlito’s glyph shapes are based on the prior open-source typeface [[Lato (typeface)|Lato]].<ref name="CTAN Carlito">{{cite web |title=carlito – Support for Carlito sans-serif fonts |url=https://ctan.org/pkg/carlito?lang=en |website=CTAN |access-date=22 October 2018}}</ref>

On April 28, 2021, it was announced that Microsoft would be replacing Calibri with a new default font across Microsoft products.<ref name="Beyond Calibri">{{Cite web|date=2021-04-28|title=Beyond Calibri: Finding Microsoft's next default font|url=https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2021/04/28/beyond-calibri-finding-microsofts-next-default-font/|access-date=2021-04-28|website=Microsoft 365 Blog|language=en-US}}</ref>

==Awards==
Calibri won the TDC2 2005 award from the [[Type Directors Club]] under the Type System category.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120218110153/http://www.tdc.org/news/2005Results/index.html TDC2 2005: Winning Entries]</ref> The Arabic typeface of Calibri won the 2nd Award of GRANSHAN 2016.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2017-06-13|title=Competition 2016 – Winners|url=https://www.granshan.com/competition-2016-%E2%80%93-winners|access-date=2022-01-12|website=GRANSHAN|language=en}}</ref>

==In crime and politics==
Because of Calibri's position as the default font in Office, many cases have been reported in which documents were shown to be forged thanks to a purported creation date before Calibri was available to the general public.<ref name="Phinney">{{cite web|last1=Phinney|first1=Thomas|title=Calibri reached the general public on January 30, 2007, with the release of Microsoft Office 2007 and Windows Vista on that date.|url=https://www.quora.com/When-was-Calibri-font-made-available-to-general-public-as-a-part-update-of-Windows-and-or-MS-Office|website=[[Quora]]|access-date=11 July 2017}}</ref><ref name="Calibri's Scandalous History">{{cite web | last1=Arbes | first1=Ross | title=Calibri's Scandalous History | url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/07/31/calibris-scandalous-history | work=[[The New Yorker]] | publisher=[[Condé Nast]] | date=24 July 2017 | access-date=1 August 2017}}</ref><ref name="added source">{{cite web | last1=Peters | first1=Diane | title=The Font Detectives | url=https://daily.jstor.org/the-font-detectives/ | website=[[JSTOR]] | date=15 May 2019 | access-date=24 May 2019}}</ref><ref name="Microsoft’s fonts catch out another fraudster—this time in Canada">{{cite web | last1=Bright | first1=Peter | title=Microsoft's fonts catch out another fraudster—this time in Canada | url=https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/01/microsofts-fonts-catch-out-another-fraudster-this-time-in-canada/ | website=Ars Technica | publisher=Condé Nast | date=15 January 2019 | access-date=21 January 2019}}</ref><ref name="Hayes">{{cite web |last1=Phinney |first1=Thomas |title=Bob Hayes NFL Hall of Fame forgery |url=https://www.thomasphinney.com/2009/02/bob-hayes-nfl-forgery/ |website=Thomas Phinney |access-date=29 January 2021}}</ref>

In 2017, the font came to public attention as evidence in the Pakistani government-related [[Panama Papers case (Pakistan)|"Panama Papers" case]] (also known as Fontgate),<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/13/fontgate-microsoft-wikipedia-and-the-scandal-threatening-the-pakistani-pm | title='Fontgate': Microsoft, Wikipedia and the scandal threatening the Pakistani PM | first1=Sune Engel | last1=Rasmussen | first2=Pádraig | last2=Collins | work=[[The Guardian]] | date=13 July 2017 | access-date=31 May 2019}}</ref> in which a document provided by Maryam Safder (daughter of ex PM Nawaz Sharif) was supposedly signed in February 2006 was found to be typed up in Calibri.<ref name="McKurdy CNN">{{cite web | last1=McKurdy | first1=Euan | last2=Saifi | first2=Sophia | title=At the center of a corruption case involving the Pakistani Prime Minister is a font | url=https://edition.cnn.com/2017/07/13/asia/maryam-nawaz-sharif-calibri-font-trnd/index.html | website=[[CNN]] | date=13 July 2017 | access-date=14 July 2017}}</ref><ref name="thenextweb/11july2017">{{cite news|last1=Clark|first1=Bryan|title=Microsoft's default font is at the center of a government corruption case|url=https://thenextweb.com/world/2017/07/11/microsofts-default-font-is-at-the-center-of-a-government-corruption-case/#.tnw_g9h04axJ|access-date=11 July 2017|work=The Next Web|date=11 July 2017}}</ref><ref name="Dawn">{{cite news|last1=Siddiqui|first1=Zarin|title=We asked the creator of Calibri to weigh in on the JIT debate|url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1344685/we-asked-the-creator-of-calibri-to-weigh-in-on-the-jit-debate|access-date=13 July 2017|work=[[Dawn (newspaper)|Dawn]]|date=12 July 2017}}</ref><ref name="Jafar">{{cite web | last1=Jafar | first1=Ovais | title='Extremely unlikely' Calibri used in Feb 2006 to draft legal document, says font creator | url=https://www.geo.tv/latest/149222-extremely-unlikely-calibri-used-in-feb-2006-says-font-creator | website=geo.tv | date=13 July 2017 | access-date=4 August 2017}}</ref> De Groot said that there was "really zero chance" that the document was genuine.<ref name="van de Klundert">{{cite web|last1=van de Klundert|first1=Mitchell|date=13 July 2017|title=Het Nederlandse Calibri brengt mogelijk de Pakistaanse premier ten val|url=https://nos.nl/artikel/2183048-het-nederlandse-calibri-brengt-mogelijk-de-pakistaanse-premier-ten-val.html|access-date=14 July 2017|website=[[Nederlandse Omroep Stichting]]|language=Nl}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
* {{Commons category-inline|Calibri (typeface)|Calibri}}

{{Microsoft Windows Typefaces}}

[[Category:Typefaces and fonts introduced in 2007]]
[[Category:Microsoft typefaces]]
[[Category:Humanist sans-serif typefaces]]
[[Category:Windows Vista typefaces]]
[[Category:IPA typefaces]]
[[Category:Typefaces with text figures]]
[[Category:Digital typefaces]]
[[Category:Typefaces designed by Luc(as) de Groot]]
[[Category:ClearType Font Collection]]