To add the basic Microsoft fonts, use the package which simplifies things.
sudo apt-get install msttcorefonts
This will install the most common TrueType fonts automatically. after that, run the following command to rebuild the font cache.
sudo fc-cache -fv
You can add other (private) TrueType fonts by adding them to the ~/.fonts folder. If you want them to be available system wide, add them to the /usr/share/fonts folder. (You'll need super-user/root privileges to install fonts system-wide.)
