How do you manage your fonts?

We use Suitcase at my 9-5 full time studio job. - Its good - clear concise way of enabling specific fonts per client.

At my freelance studio i don't. Its a mess.
 
The majority of work comes into us WINDOWS... and with 3000plus fonts, we went down the suitcase route...

but for windows, it only works with adobe products... and even then it's unreliable.

One of our guys just has them all in her font folder (which used to cause us problems opening AI CS1 & 2 etc... scanning 3000plus fonts to open) - but she says CS3 has been fine...

So extensis - out the window.

Would still be interested to find a windows base solution, which is totally reliable.

Cheers

Jim
 
twiggy8520 said:
try linotypes Font Explorer X, that app has saved my life! its free to download, nice and easy to use. I have like 10000+ fonts so i have the system fonts safe and sounds in the default install locations and all the rest of my fonts in on big ol folder. Then i just use font explorer to activate/deactivate what i need, it also has plugins for cs2/3 and seems to work quite well on cs4 (i havent had much time to test it) so it'lactivate any needed fonts if you open a file with a deactivated font.
Click to expand...

I also use Font Explorer X...athough I only have around 2000 fonts...I keep them all activated and use FEX to catch any errors!

Very useful...and free but am keen to have a more organised approach to my fonts when I invest in my next mac (currently got a macbook pro)...possibly going to a propriety font organiser.
 
Try fontdoctor which can diagnose and repair font files and can also organise my font files in folders. With it i was able to have a lovely organised font folder.
 
Think enough has prob been said on this one but here's another vote for FontExporer X, although I'm considering buying Suitcase for the auto font activation (one of the companies I work for use over 100+ variants of Helvetica and Helv Neue for legal lines etc so finding the right one to activate is a nightmare).

One of the best things/ time saving (although very dull) was to delete a shed load of fonts I'd hoarded that I'd never use (freebies with computer arts, various rubbish from DaFont). Once done I've catagorised into folders within FontExplorer for 'Slab Serif', 'Script' 'Dirty/Distressed' etc. Took a good few hours but now it's so much easier to navigate to the type of font I want and re-discover some hidden gems I'd forgotten.
 
well now there is a fontexplorerX Pro that has just been released with auto activation for the cs4 suite, its really good.
 
Genius, thanks for that I'd been hoping for this as I'm used FontExplorer and wanted to stay with it, it's also only £29 till end of Feb. That's me sold.
 
I love FontExplorer. I have lists of fonts categorized by type and usage (I have one list of Handwriting-esque Fonts and one for Narrow Sans-Serifs), and it's nice to be able to activate fonts for when I need them. Somehow it annoys me to have to scroll through a whole list of fonts I will (likely) never touch. Loading fonts in Photoshop hasn't been a problem for me yet, but it easily could be, considering my packrat collector tendencies.

I'm thinking about checking out the FontDoctor thing, since I'm a bit obsessive about keeping everything organized.
 
Just bought and tested Font Explorer X Pro and would definitely recommend. Imported all my settings with out having to lift a finger, the font conflicts area seems to be easier to manage and the auto activation is working a dream. I'd get it while it's cheap!
 
I shoot myself in the foot because I don't ever download a font manager program. I do it the good ol' fashioned way :)
 
i just use the inbuilt mac capability, i don't mind it TBH, makes everything as simple as.
 
tim-ater, you mean font book? Yeah thats okay but as you start accumulating a large collection of fonts soon font book becomes slow and sluggish. I went over to the free version of font explorer X and it is so much easier to deal with all my fonts. It has a nice collection of tools as well. Believe me you'll never go back to font-book after.
 
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