A Microsoft announced in a blog post todaythat Office introduces a new font as default in applications such as Word, Outlook, PowerPoint and Excel: Aptos. This font replaces Calibri, which has been in use since 2007 and which many people know and use in their daily work.

Aptost is a sans-serif typeface, reminiscent of mid-20th century Swiss typography. It was designed by Steve Matteson, who previously created the Segoe font, which Microsoft has licensed as the default font for Windows. The Segoe UI font family was first introduced in Windows Vista and is still used in Windows 11. Matteson was also involved in the development of the original Windows TrueType base fonts.

Aptos was formerly known as Bierstadt, but Matteson renamed it after his favourite Californian town, Aptos. The endings of Aptos are very clearly truncated, but there is also some subtle softening to avoid the rigid grid-based typography usually found in this type of "grotesque san-serif" font. Helvetica is the best known example of this typeface, and Matteson has also contrasted it with Microsoft's Arial font.

Although Calibri will replace Aptos as the default font, Calibri will still be prefixed at the top of the new font menu (initially only available on the web) along with its predecessors like Times New Roman and Arial. Calibri was so widely used in 2017 that it even became a key piece of evidence in the corruption investigation of Pakistan's prime minister.

The other four fonts that have not been selected as default - Grandview, Seaford, Skeena and Tenorite - will still be available in Office, and Microsoft will even keep the Bierstadt font name in the drop-down selector for those who already like it.