How To Use Font Management Software And My Favorites
Yes, you need this! It’s the most effective way of managing all of your fonts. If you read my post How To Install Fonts And The Best Sites To Get Them – and have fallen in love with installing, using, and viewing fonts, then you are going to love this even more.
Having a central location of all of your fonts is the perfect way to get a good visual on how many fonts you have installed, which ones you want to remove, and even have a printed list of your fonts.
Fonts. We love them. Hoarding them leads to problems finding, sorting and using them in a timely manner for creative work. Font management software is utility software that computer users use to browse and preview fonts and typically to install and uninstall fonts.
Once you watch my tutorial below, you can choose the software you like best and begin using your font management software!
With font management software, you can do the following:
♥ activate and deactivate fonts
♥ protect fonts that are required by the system by preventing them from being uninstalled
♥ organize fonts by groups and libraries
♥ rename font files
♥ view fonts that are not currently installed print font samples or font books illustrating some or all the fonts on the system
♥ print font samples or font books illustrating some or all the fonts on the system
♥ sort fonts according to different criteria
♥ search for fonts meeting specific criteria
There are so many font management tools available to us that choosing the perfect one can be a confusing and arduous task. In this post, I’m going to show you how to use them and which are my personal favorites!
Below, you will find my top picks for Windows and for MAC. I’ll list them and then show you how easy they are to use.
Windows & MAC Top Picks:
nexusfont – (Win / Free) best font manager for Windows. Hands down, my top pick. NexusFile is a dual pane file manager. It looks simple but has powerful features. Archive, FTP, Advanced Rename and many more functions. You can customize its look with skin and list color setting. Also, you can customize shortcuts. You can manage/compare/choose fonts with well-organized features. You don’t need to install all fonts to the system. You can load fonts you are working with only.
It’s simple and easy and that’s why it’s my top pick!
Fontcase (Mac, Paid Free) – You will have the power to view both installed and non-installed fonts by icons, lists or preview lists. You can also tag your fonts and quickly filter or search your library to find exactly the fonts you are looking for. One of the strongest aspects of the Mac is the range and elegance of its fonts but these often stay hidden away deep inside OS X until you need them. Fontcase is a font management application that provides an elegant management system so that your fonts get the same exposure and treatment as anything else stored on your system, such as multimedia files. Its developer has labeled it as ‘iTunes for fonts’ and while that may be stretching it, you can see where they’re coming from.
Of course, you can use FontExplorer on the Mac but Fontcase provides an altogether richer and more spectacular management experience. At the beginning, you’re prompted to import all of your fonts which takes a while and there’s a lot of hanging around while it processes them all. When you’re done, however, you can start browsing although again. The program works surprisingly slowly for what is basically a font manager. You can search fonts via a search box in the top-right of the interface and scroll through your fonts a little bit like you would do with photos in Picasa. Searching is helped by the fact that you can tag fonts.
Suitcase Fusion – (Win / Mac, Paid For) Organize your entire font collection into a single, searchable location with a professional font manager. Get the most out of your font collection with Suitcase Fusion® This software you’ll have to pay for. Jam-packed with features, this software is a bit on the pricey side, but if you are wanting a tool that’s got it all, this one is for you.
Font Viewer – (Win / Free) Another one of my top picks! Arrange and view a large number of fonts which are installed on your computer, applying their various styles to the text of your choice. Font Viewer renders all installed font families in a scrollable grid view and allows you to change the size, color, background-color and displayed text, all at the touch of a button.
Its built-in listing feature lets you select fonts and store their names in a readable and easily accessible format. You can also export your list to a text file (.txt) or a FontViewer file (.fv) for use at a later date. Additionally, you can export your font list to an Adobe Acrobat PDF file (.pdf), with all the styles and settings applied.
Print My Fonts – I have this installed as well. With this tool, it is possible to list all of your installed fonts as well as fonts from your hard drive or disk. You can display any sentence or a single character written in the fonts of your choice so that you are able to compare their looks.
You can have a look at the list of font styles directly on your computer or you can print it via your printer or export the list in various file formats such as image (JPG, PNG or BMP), HTML Website, via a PDF printer as PDF or as RTF document that can be opened in Microsoft Word or OpenOffice. The best output format suitable for you depends on your purpose. For example, an image output can be used to show a font list on your homepage.
Whatever font management tool you decide to you, you’ll be so happy to have this powerful tool at your hands. I decided to install three of these tools because each one has different features and functionality and I really enjoy playing around with all of them!
Be sure to watch my tutorial below on how to use font management software.
If you have any questions, please leave them in the comment section below. I’ll be happy to help!
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Excellent post. Informative and helpful. I will consider using these.
Janice
Thanks much Janice! this software is really a game changer. It’s the best way to manage your fonts! Have a great week!
Awesome blog post…. very useful font tools and info!!
Thanks much Patti. It’s really a game changer! xo
Thanks for the great post and video. Had no idea there was such a thing as font management software! I downloaded the one you suggested and set it up easily — love being able to see what the font look like in sentences.
Hi Diane, Oh you are going to love playing with your fonts now. This software is a game changer for sure. So glad you are enjoying it! Have a wonderful week!
Very useful info. Thanks.
Thanks much Cheryl! It’s much fun using this software but then again being a geek I find these things fun lol. Have a great week!
I am always amazed at everything you find time to do. As I always say, TG for my webmaster!
Thanks much Carol. I love using font management software it’s perfect for seeing all of your fonts and managing them. Yes, having a webmaster is awesome. I think I’m the delegated WM for sure lol
I’m putting this in my bookmarks! It looks complicated…but thanks for the step by step!
Hi Tam, it’s really easy to use and once you do you are going to love it! Thanks much and have a great week.
Never know that fonts could be this fascinating. Thanks for inspiring me to focus on them. You’re a terrific teacher.
Thanks much Roz! I hope you get to install some beautiful fonts and enjoy them! Have a fun one!
You truly are amazing, Carolann. Great information and wonderful resource too. Thank you for sharing!
Thanks so much Elin! I am so glad you enjoyed the post and I hope you get to install some awesome fonts too!
Thank you for these tips and wonderful tutorial. I am constantly learning so much from your blog.
Thanks much Ellen. Then I’m doing my job good! I hope you get to enjoy installing some fonts and soon! xo
Oh, I have so much to learn. Thank you for being such a great teacher!
Thanks much Lois. I appreciate you kind words.
I had no idea such a thing existed! Thank you for opening up a new world for me!
Kimberly
Thanks much Kimberly. I’m glad you enjoyed the post and hope you get to download some beautiful fonts too!
I downloaded a font and downloaded the NexusFont, but I am stuck at the step of how to get the font into the NexusFont tool.
We can review in our next meeting for sure Sue. Glad you started the process – you are going to love having all of those fonts to play with!
I visit your site. and i have very clear concept about How To Use Font Management Software. Thanks .
Glad you liked the post Ken. I love fonts too.