diff --git a/darwin/drawtext.m b/darwin/drawtext.m
index c04b402b..64c4b255 100644
--- a/darwin/drawtext.m
+++ b/darwin/drawtext.m
@@ -212,3 +212,15 @@ void uiDrawTextLayoutExtents(uiDrawTextLayout *tl, double *width, double *height
 	[tl->frame returnWidth:width height:NULL];
 	[tl->forLines returnWidth:NULL height:height];
 }
+
+void uiLoadControlFont(uiFontDescriptor *f)
+{
+	CTFontRef ctfont;
+	CTFontDescriptorRef ctdesc;
+
+	ctfont = (CTFontRef) [NSFont systemFontOfSize:[NSFont systemFontSizeForControlSize:NSControlSizeRegular]];
+	ctdesc = CTFontCopyFontDescriptor(ctfont);
+	uiprivFontDescriptorFromCTFontDescriptor(ctdesc, f);
+	CFRelease(ctdesc);
+	f->Size = CTFontGetSize(ctfont);
+}
diff --git a/examples/drawtext/main.c b/examples/drawtext/main.c
index d94d2572..5f1a3712 100644
--- a/examples/drawtext/main.c
+++ b/examples/drawtext/main.c
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ uiArea *area;
 uiAreaHandler handler;
 uiFontButton *fontButton;
 uiCombobox *alignment;
+uiCheckbox *systemFont;
 
 uiAttributedString *attrstr;
 
@@ -97,15 +98,21 @@ static void handlerDraw(uiAreaHandler *a, uiArea *area, uiAreaDrawParams *p)
 	uiDrawTextLayout *textLayout;
 	uiFontDescriptor defaultFont;
 	uiDrawTextLayoutParams params;
+	int useSystemFont = uiCheckboxChecked(systemFont);
 
 	params.String = attrstr;
-	uiFontButtonFont(fontButton, &defaultFont);
+	if (useSystemFont)
+		uiLoadControlFont(&defaultFont);
+	else
+		uiFontButtonFont(fontButton, &defaultFont);
 	params.DefaultFont = &defaultFont;
 	params.Width = p->AreaWidth;
 	params.Align = (uiDrawTextAlign) uiComboboxSelected(alignment);
 	textLayout = uiDrawNewTextLayout(&params);
 	uiDrawText(p->Context, textLayout, 0, 0);
 	uiDrawFreeTextLayout(textLayout);
+
+	//TODO RENAME?
 	uiFreeFontButtonFont(&defaultFont);
 }
 
@@ -140,6 +147,11 @@ static void onComboboxSelected(uiCombobox *b, void *data)
 	uiAreaQueueRedrawAll(area);
 }
 
+static void onCheckboxToggled(uiCheckbox *b, void *data)
+{
+	uiAreaQueueRedrawAll(area);
+}
+
 static int onClosing(uiWindow *w, void *data)
 {
 	uiControlDestroy(uiControl(mainwin));
@@ -208,6 +220,10 @@ int main(void)
 	uiComboboxOnSelected(alignment, onComboboxSelected, NULL);
 	uiFormAppend(form, "Alignment", uiControl(alignment), 0);
 
+	systemFont = uiNewCheckbox("");
+	uiCheckboxOnToggled(systemFont, onCheckboxToggled, NULL);
+	uiFormAppend(form, "System Font", uiControl(systemFont), 0);
+
 	area = uiNewArea(&handler);
 	uiBoxAppend(hbox, uiControl(area), 1);
 
diff --git a/ui.h b/ui.h
index 40aea949..290d4006 100644
--- a/ui.h
+++ b/ui.h
@@ -923,6 +923,8 @@ struct uiFontDescriptor {
 	uiTextStretch Stretch;
 };
 
+_UI_EXTERN void uiLoadControlFont(uiFontDescriptor *f);
+
 // uiDrawTextLayout is a concrete representation of a
 // uiAttributedString that can be displayed in a uiDrawContext.
 // It includes information important for the drawing of a block of
diff --git a/unix/drawtext.c b/unix/drawtext.c
index 477e9ca3..f6f79ec5 100644
--- a/unix/drawtext.c
+++ b/unix/drawtext.c
@@ -79,3 +79,19 @@ void uiDrawTextLayoutExtents(uiDrawTextLayout *tl, double *width, double *height
 	*width = pangoToCairo(logical.width);
 	*height = pangoToCairo(logical.height);
 }
+
+void uiLoadControlFont(uiFontDescriptor *f)
+{
+	GtkWidget *widget;
+	GtkStyleContext *style;
+	PangoFontDescription *fontdesc;
+
+	widget = g_object_ref_sink(gtk_label_new(""));
+	style = gtk_widget_get_style_context(widget);
+	gtk_style_context_get(style, GTK_STATE_FLAG_NORMAL,
+		"font", &fontdesc, NULL);
+	uiprivFontDescriptorFromPangoFontDescription(fontdesc, f);
+	// pdesc is transfer-full and thus is a copy
+	pango_font_description_free(fontdesc);
+	g_object_unref(widget);
+}
diff --git a/windows/drawtext.cpp b/windows/drawtext.cpp
index ec2ae152..2bab793d 100644
--- a/windows/drawtext.cpp
+++ b/windows/drawtext.cpp
@@ -534,3 +534,53 @@ void uiDrawTextLayoutExtents(uiDrawTextLayout *tl, double *width, double *height
 	// TODO make sure the behavior of this on empty strings is the same on all platforms (ideally should be 0-width, line height-height; TODO note this in the docs too)
 	*height = metrics.height;
 }
+
+void uiLoadControlFont(uiFontDescriptor *f)
+{
+	fontCollection *collection;
+	IDWriteGdiInterop *gdi;
+	IDWriteFont *dwfont;
+	IDWriteFontFamily *dwfamily;
+	NONCLIENTMETRICSW metrics;
+	HDC dc;
+	WCHAR *family;
+	double size;
+	int pixels;
+	HRESULT hr;
+
+	metrics.cbSize = sizeof(metrics);
+	if (!SystemParametersInfoW(SPI_GETNONCLIENTMETRICS, metrics.cbSize, &metrics, 0))
+			logLastError(L"error getting non-client metrics");
+	hr = dwfactory->GetGdiInterop(&gdi);
+	if (hr != S_OK)
+			logHRESULT(L"error getting GDI interop", hr);
+
+	hr = gdi->CreateFontFromLOGFONT(&metrics.lfMessageFont, &dwfont);
+	if (hr != S_OK)
+			logHRESULT(L"error loading font", hr);
+
+	hr = dwfont->GetFontFamily(&dwfamily);
+	if (hr != S_OK)
+			logHRESULT(L"error loading font family", hr);
+	collection = uiprivLoadFontCollection();
+	family = uiprivFontCollectionFamilyName(collection, dwfamily);
+
+	dc = GetDC(NULL);
+	if (dc == NULL)
+		logLastError(L"error getting DC");
+	pixels = GetDeviceCaps(dc, LOGPIXELSY);
+	if (pixels == 0)
+			logLastError(L"error getting device caps");
+	size = abs(metrics.lfMessageFont.lfHeight) * 72 / pixels;
+
+	uiprivFontDescriptorFromIDWriteFont(dwfont, f);
+	f->Family = toUTF8(family);
+	f->Size = size;
+
+	uiprivFree(family);
+	uiprivFontCollectionFree(collection);
+	dwfamily->Release();
+	gdi->Release();
+	if (ReleaseDC(NULL, dc) == 0)
+		logLastError(L"error releasing DC");
+}