Font Managers

[holly]

Do you use one?

[ljbarden]

Of course, I have too many fonts (2000, I think - haven't kept track lately) not to use one. Used to use The Font Thing, but it didn't want to work properly on my new PC, so I switched to Font Xplorer.

[scraprascal]

I've also been using The Font Thing, sometimes it's happy on my pc, sometimes not. I'll have to check out Font Explorer--Thanks Lauren!!

[holly]

Yeah, must check it out!

[Kat Stokes]

Can you actually see the font type before you start to use it when typing with a font manager? I use PSE 3.0 and when I start to type something, I have to change it 50 million times before I finally find the font I want. It would be much better if I had a sample when I go to select the font....

[three-cowboys]

For the Mac Chickies out there, I use Font Book. Came with System X.

[holly]

Kathi, yes!!!

[Vania16]

I use the Font Thing too - love it :) It lets you type in a phrase and see how it looks in each font.

[c_lyle]

I really need to get a font manager. I'm not exactly sure how many fonts I have but I know it's WELL over 500!

I'm off to check out Font Thing and Font Xplorer.

[holly]

It's better to just burn a CD of all of your fonts....then, it does hog up your space on your hard drive....and with a font manager, it's very easy to install and uninstall. Font Thing locks up on my a lot. So, I'm going to try that other one!

[Vania16]

Strange, I've never had font thing lock up - think I'll check out the other one though and see if it's better . . .

[MelissaL88]

I use Font Thing, too. But, I've had issues with my PC locking up with Font Thing, PSE 3.0 & an Explorer Window (or 2 or 3...) open. I'll have to give Font Xplorer a try!

[TraceyLee]

yes.

i use Extensis Suitcase- i have way too many fonts (over 8000, the last time i checked), and The Font Thing takes FOREVER to load when i want to see all of my fonts at once. i don't have that problem with Suitcase. :) my only problem with Suitcase is that i have to manually load all of my fonts into it- a PITA the first time, but after that- not too bad.

[holly]

Tracey, you can't just browse from a CD?

[HeidiD]

I've only ever used the Font Thing. Where do you find the Xplorer?

[MarshaZepeda]

I use the font thing... I tried ampsoft once but it was too much of a hassle. I like the font thing because I can install and uninstall...

[ljbarden]

Font Xplorer is here - http://www.moonsoftware.com/fxplorer.asp

It is shareware, but it has a demo you can try out to see if you like it.

[laurakj]

I use FontLister 2.0. It's a freeware program that basically lets you browse all the installed fonts on your PC. You can set up categories, but I haven't taken the time. It's pretty basic, but does what I need it too :)

[TraceyLee]

Tracey, you can't just browse from a CD?

i've never tried that with this program, lol.

i use this one simply because it doesn't take forever to load everything when i want to see samples of all of my fonts. and since i have so many and have spent so much on them, i want to be able to actually use them. if they were on CD, i'd be lazy and just use whatever is already installed. i'm the same way with my digital elements- if it's on my hard drive, i'll use it- otherwise, i won't hunt through my CDs looking for it.

[~~Andie~~]

another font book user here (love my mac!)

[info@artplates.com]

Thanks to this forum I just downloaded and installed The Font Thing! SO COOL! Now I can easily scroll all my fonts instead of clicking on each one. What a time saver! Thanks everybody for the great recommendation!

[Keela]

Thanks for the info...I'm sure I'll need one someday as my collection grows!

Keela

[NancyS]

I've been very happy with X-Fonter, which I installed after reading that so many had problems with Font Thing.

http://www.blacksunsoftware.com/

And I thought I would just add that PSCS2 does now have the ability to preview the installed fonts. I was so used to using X-Fonter so I turned off that option in PS, but thought I would just post this as an FYI that it is available now.

[ScrapHappyME!]

Can someone tell me how to burn fonts to disc? I open up the Fonts in my Control Panel but I NEVER have seen an option to save them to disc. Weird huh?

[travelgirlut]

Can someone tell me how to burn fonts to disc? I open up the Fonts in my Control Panel but I NEVER have seen an option to save them to disc. Weird huh?

I would just copy and paste them all into your CD burning drive folder and then it should have a link to the left that says burn these files to disk.

I use Font Thing. I tried Font Hit and though it had a prettier interface Font thing had better features so I stuck with it.

[lisahoo]

ONE of these days, I am going to have a printout of my fonts to look thru... (yeah, RIGHT!!)

In the meantime, I am using TFT, but I just lost all my collections ;o( So I was surfing the boards here for some suggestions.

There is a very good tutorial on TFT and organizing fonts in general here:
http://www.kathysmithstudio.com/TFT.html

And a great site for info about fonts & typography here -- which covers some of the Font Managers that are available here -- http://www.typephases.com/fontmanagement.html

Help that helps someone!!

[Goss1971]

Lost all your collections as in??? Your fonts are gone off your computer? This JUSt happened to me and I'm totally upset cuz I lost a lot of fonts that I used regularly!!! And now I have to go and try to find them all over again. I am going to try to burn them all to disc after I get some of them back...because nothing is as frustrating. I didn't even know your fonts could just go POOF into the realm of the unknown! grrr.

Oh...and I also use The Font Thing...LOVE it...don't know what I did before I had a font manager!


ONE of these days, I am going to have a printout of my fonts to look thru... (yeah, RIGHT!!)

In the meantime, I am using TFT, but I just lost all my collections ;o( So I was surfing the boards here for some suggestions.

There is a very good tutorial on TFT and organizing fonts in general here:
http://www.kathysmithstudio.com/TFT.html

And a great site for info about fonts & typography here -- which covers some of the Font Managers that are available here -- http://www.typephases.com/fontmanagement.html

Help that helps someone!!

[faded magnolia]

the font thing ATE YOUR FONTS!!!! hehehe

[lisahoo]

Lost all your collections as in??? Your fonts are gone off your computer? ...

LUCKILY I keep all my "extra" fonts in one folder, which I backed up before I replaced the HD ;o) But all my work to categorize them went POOF!

Believe me, I would be jumping out the window for a lot of other reasons if I didn't have backups.

BACKUP YOUR 'PUTER!! OFTEN!!!

[Angelbq]

I use both font thing and easy & free&easy font viewer (last from styopkin.com). I like them both in different ways. The weird thing though is that they have different total font count from each other.

[RachelS]

i don't like the font thing. i tried it once and the best thing i can say about it is that it let me print out a list of my fonts with samples.

[Cynnder]

i dont use anything...should I? LOL

[hawaiianbrat96]

I don't have one....

[midgetprincess79]

I use AMP Font Viewer and really like it. The Font Thing had too many issues for my liking.

[Kathy Moore]

Another vote for AMP from me...I've been using it over a year and love it.

[janygb143]

Ok, so I really wanted a printout of all my fonts, so I could see them all at once and kind of get an idea of which of the zillions I wanted to use.

I went searching, and found this:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/resources/officetips/may05/tips0510.mspx
This amazing little page tells you how to set up a script (command, I guess?) that eventually creates a Microsoft Word document of all the fonts on your computer. It types out the name of the font (using the font), as well as the generic "The quick brown fox" sentence, but you can customize it to type out whatever you want.

Just open Notepad, copy and paste the little gray box from the above website that says, "Here's the Script" into a new Notepad file, Save As a .VBS file, then go to Windows Explorer and double click. Then sit back and watch the magic (yes, it's so amazing it's magical. i heart fonts.)

If you just want a listing of the names of the fonts, Delete where it says, : The quick brown fox... etc. (ONLY deleting the stuff in quotations, leave the quotations). If it comes out unalphabetized, you can copy and paste the list into Microsoft Excel and click the A-Z button and it will alphabetize, then copy and paste back into Word. To save paper, I formatted into 3 columns... (yeah, it all sounds complicated, but it's so worth it, I swear)

Please let me know if you need help, or if you are completely unfazed by the enormity of my discovery, and I will do my best to convert you into a believer.

[lisahoo]

WOW -- I will have to try that! Thanks for that info!!!