# Can anyone suggest a good font management tool?



## MacMagicianJunior (Nov 28, 2010)

Hey everyone, I've run into a font organization issue in CS5 and I was hoping someone here might have a solution. The problem is I have too many fonts installed, they're all validating fine and there are no issues with system performance but I'm finding my own performance is suffering having to sort through them all to find the right font for the project I'm currently working on. It's really slowing down my workflow...

Can anyone suggest either an app or plugin that would allow me to sort my fonts into definable groups that I can select or browse from within the CS5 font panes (primarily Ps, Id and Ai)? I would prefer not to have to swap out installed bundles of fonts depending on the project if at all possible (since that would also drag on my workflow).

I took a stroll through Adobe Exchange and didn't find anything there so any ideas would be a help...

cheers!


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## MannyP Design (Jun 8, 2000)

FontExplorer, is hands-down the best font manager out there; it's solid and plays well with other programs. But I don't think it'll do what you want.

Adobe Type Manager used to allow people to do this, but alas it's gone the way of the Dodo bird.

You might fine what you're looking for here: 25 Font Management Tools Reviewed - Smashing Magazine


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## Dennis Nedry (Sep 20, 2007)

[deleted]


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## fjnmusic (Oct 29, 2006)

I find I can get a lot done just using Font Book (comes with) but I imagine you've already explored that option.


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## MacMagicianJunior (Nov 28, 2010)

MannyP Design said:


> FontExplorer, is hands-down the best font manager out there; it's solid and plays well with other programs. But I don't think it'll do what you want.
> 
> Adobe Type Manager used to allow people to do this, but alas it's gone the way of the Dodo bird.
> 
> You might fine what you're looking for here: 25 Font Management Tools Reviewed - Smashing Magazine


Thanks guys, I appreciate the suggestions!

Yeah, I remember ATM... that would have worked nicely, I took a look at the smashing link and while I think that Font Explorer is going to be the font management tool I use, it's handling most of what I wanted to do and it's possible that if used in conjunction with the Font Card haxie I might be able to get the in-app feature I want... I think I'm going to wait to test on my backup machine first though.



fjnmusic said:


> I find I can get a lot done just using Font Book (comes with) but I imagine you've already explored that option.


Yeah, I thought about it, tried it, but Font Book is a bit cumbersome for me, and it doesn't have the in-app feature that I was looking for... I haven't explored FEX too thoroughly yet but I do find the interface better in FEX than Font Book.


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## Dennis Nedry (Sep 20, 2007)

[deleted]


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## ChilBear (Mar 20, 2005)

I know many using FEX but stubborn as I am, stayed with Suitcase Fusion from Extensis. Still works and works with program activation as previous.


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## Guest (Jan 20, 2011)

Dennis Nedry said:


> I think having any large amount of fonts installed in Fontbook is just asking for trouble. Best to keep them off somewhere else, and let a proper font manager handle activation on per-project usage.


Most especially having any large amount of fonts ACTIVE at any given time is asking for trouble. Seen it far too many times, people say "my machine is really bogged down" only to find out why .. they have thousands of fonts installed and active, tons of duplicates and conflicts, etc.


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## MacMagicianJunior (Nov 28, 2010)

mguertin said:


> Most especially having any large amount of fonts ACTIVE at any given time is asking for trouble. Seen it far too many times, people say "my machine is really bogged down" only to find out why .. they have thousands of fonts installed and active, tons of duplicates and conflicts, etc.


Exactly what I'm trying to avoid before it gets to be an issue... as I said in my initial post there's no performance issues *yet* but I'm finding navigating the fonts I have pretty cumbersome...


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## MacMagicianJunior (Nov 28, 2010)

Well guys, ran into a bit of a snag... FEX is causing CS5 and Office 2008 to crash if I try to run elements of either simultaneously. I like it's interface and features but if it crashes the apps I need the fonts managed for I'm not sure how useful it's going to be... anybody have any thoughts?


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## Dennis Nedry (Sep 20, 2007)

[deleted]


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## wonderings (Jun 10, 2003)

I use Font Agent Pro, it works well for me and was a relief compared to Suitcase. I don't have many fonts activated at one time and I don't have fonts set to stay active all the time. One thing I love about Indesign CS5 is when the job is packaged, there is no need to have the fonts active, they are in a "Document fonts" folder and Indesign can see those and use those without any software. Its also somewhat backwards compatible, if a client gives us a packaged indesign file I just change the "fonts" folder in the package to "Document fonts" and it works as it should 99% of the time.


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## MannyP Design (Jun 8, 2000)

Never had issues with CS5 and Office. Are you using that Font Card haxie? If so, that might be the problem.

Otherwise, try running the FEX tools to clean the caches and see if that helps. Could be a corrupt cache in there somewhere.


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