How to Restore the Old Fonts in Ubuntu 23.04

One of the visible changes in Ubuntu 23.04 Lunar Lobster is the new font for the texts in system menus, documents, and app windows.

The new font is slim. And, I’ve written a tutorial about how to try it out in Ubuntu 22.04 and 20.04. If you prefer the old fonts, it’s also easy to get it in Ubuntu 23.04!

And, here’s a GIF image shows the changes between the old and new Ubuntu fonts. NOTE: In image, “After” is the new fonts, while “Before” is the old one.

Install old Ubuntu Fonts in Ubuntu 23.04

To install the old fonts, just download the packages from Ubuntu 22.04 repository and install them.

1. To do so, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal and run command to download the 2 packages:

wget https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+archive/primary/+files/fonts-ubuntu_0.83-6ubuntu1_all.deb https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+archive/primary/+files/fonts-ubuntu-console_0.83-6ubuntu1_all.deb

Or, go to this page, then select download the .deb packages for Ubuntu 22.04 (Jammy Jellyfish) in your web browser.

2. After downloading the packages, install them by running command:

sudo apt install ./fonts-ubuntu*.deb

If you saved the packages in Downloads folder, run sudo apt install ~/Downloads/fonts-ubuntu*.deb instead.

Once installed, restart your computer to apply changes.

Lock & Prevent updating to new fonts

To prevent your system from automatically updating to the new fonts, you have to lock the old fonts packages that were just installed via the previous step.

First, open Ubuntu Software, search for and install Synatic Package Manager.

Then launch “Synaptic”, click “Search” and search “fonts-ubuntu“. Finally, do:

• Press and hold Ctrl then highlight both “fonts-ubuntu” and “fonts-ubuntu-console” packages.
• Go to menu “Package -> Lock Version”.

How to go back the new Ubuntu Fonts

To restore the new fonts, also search for and launch Synaptic package manager.

When it opens, search “fonts-ubuntu“. Then do:

• highlight both “fonts-ubuntu” and “fonts-ubuntu-console” packages via Ctrl + mouse click.
• Go to menu “Package” and un-check “Lock Version”.
• Next, right-click on both packages and select “Mark for Upgrade“.
• Finally, click on “Apply” button.

When process done, restart your computer and enjoy!

Source: UbuntuHandbook