Font Organizers

[Amber]

Lets compile a list of the various font organizers out there and give pros and cons of each one. I would like for this to be a resource that you can come to to find out information and to ask questions about the font organizers.

[Tina]

Well, I have The Font Thing.

I've never tried another.

The pros of the font thing are:

It's FREE (big pro. lol)

I can organize my fonts by designer (so I know which ones I can use for products)

It gives you a large preview of your font

Did I mention it was free? ;)

[susan]

Amber, great idea! I don't have anything to add, but I have been toying with getting one, so this will help me decide what to do.

Thanks.

[valeri]

I still need one. I used to use typograph years ago, and really liked it. I have tried the font thing and it confuses me. I am sure if I really tried to figure it out I could, but I have noticed that I have gotten lazy about learning things in my old age! lol

[scrapqltr]

I have AMP Font Viewer. FREE!
It will install, uninstall, and let you view your uninstalled fonts.
I use it mainly to flip through fonts fast and the screen is nice and big. You can also view the whole list of fonts by clicking a bar.
http://www.tucows.com/preview/283930.html

[Amber]

Im using Font Navigator that used to be free but they no longer offer it and instead are offering a paid font organizer.

Ive had the easiest time with the program with installing and uninstalling fonts. I like it MUCH better than the Font Thing!

[mekstamper]

I want to know how these organizer work. What do they show when you use them - the whole alphabet or just a few letters.
I've got to get something I know that.

I've told the young people in my home that an ideal Christmas gift for me would be a font organizer, installed, with all fonts loaded and a print out of all the fonts in a binder for reference! Wouldn't that be terrific! Oh and all the fonts on both my desktop and my laptop so I have consistency regardless of which computer I am using!

[Tina]

I'm confused by the installing and uninstalling comment about The Font Thing. I install my fonts by dragging them into my Fonts folder on my computer. From there they just show up in The Font Thing. No installing into the program needed.

Mary Ellen, in The Font Thing you can choose for it to show upper case ABCs (all letters and characters), upper case (all letters only), lower case (all letters only) or: The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog; Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs (LOL!); or How quickly daft jumping zebras vex.

You can download it any number of places just by typing it into your serch engine. Here is a bunch I googled:

The Font Thing Googled (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=the+font+thing)

[andyapc]

I hope it's not inappropriate for me to comment, but I just have to say - I cannot stand The Font Thing. :mad:

I have had so many problems with it. First, I had to create a new font file because when I was just working with my windows font file, if I uninstalled a font through TFT, it was actually deleted right off of my computer. Then I cannot for the life of me get TFT to default to my font file to browse for fonts - each time I browse, I have to search my entire C drive to get to my font file - VERY time consuming. I even emailed the help address twice and no response. Emma was even nice enough to email me HER version of it because hers defaults to her font file. However, it still doesn't for me. Then, it freezes my computer constantly. I refuse to use it any longer and am now in search of a new one. :(

[susan]

Andrea, I've heard the same things... users seem to be very hot or very cold over Font Thing. I tried to download it and had problems almost immediatly. Never did get back to it.

[Tina]

huh....I find this all very interesting that you all have had so many problems with it. Don't worry, I hold no loyalties to TFT, you won't hurt my feelings for disliking it. lol.

The thing that amazes me, however, is that I haven't have a minutes problem with it, and I am *SO* not computer savvy (ask margie, some days I think she is amazed I can turn the computer on let alone make products for dsp ;))....

[Angela]

At the moment I'm using XFonter:
http://users.pandora.be/eclypse/
It doesn't seem to have as many features as The Font Thing though, I would love if I could sort into collections. Didn't really have any problems with The Font Thing apart from the fact that it didn't display some of my more graphic fonts.

[Marcee]

I have tried the font thing..didnt like it...Font explorer...toooo many windows..too confusing..I am now using Typograph..love it..easy to use..wich is a plus for me..and you can use fonts without installing them..another great thing.

[Lauren]

I use FOnt Lister - it is free and it doesnt have near the options that TFT has but it works really quickly and loads just the fonts I want ( I keep all my fonts for scrapping in one folder divided into many subfolders - I ask Font lister to read the main folder ( and subfolders) - it takes a minute or so to temporarily load the whole lot.
I have heard though that with windows xp there isnt the limitation on fonts that there was with previous windows versions and perhaps I should just leave all those fonts in the main fonts folder

[Amber]

Tina- here is an explanation of what I mean by installing/uninstalling fonts.

I keep all of my fonts in a seperate folder on my C drive. This is not my windows font folder. So, I would tell TFT to look for new fonts and they would install in the program. Ok- so the left hand side showed all of the fonts and the window on the right would show everything that was "installed" or current. I would drag a font over to the right side and then could use it in my program but if I only wanted it for one project and wanted to "uninstall" it from being current, I could not drag it to the left side to make in not active. So then I tried to just completely uninstall it under the file menu and it deleted the font off of my computer completely.

With my current on, Font Navigator, I have it scan for new fonts, everythign shows up on the left side and then I can drag back and forth between windows to make a font active or not active. The problem I was running into was that I had 500 active, installed fonts and it was slowing down my system. Now I have about 250-275 of the necessary essential fonts and the fonts that are my favorite and I use all the time. If I need another font, I go to my organizer, scroll through the left side list, find the font I want, drag it to the right to make it active, then when Im done, drag it back to the left to de-activate it.

Does that help explain to you or anyothers my issues with TFT? I know, I was long winded, so sorry about that! :)

[Amber]

Im bumping this thread up.

[TsMom]

I used to have The Font Thing, and used it so little that I decided not to reinstall it after my computer crashed last monthy. Now, I actually organize my fonts into folders in windows and install and uninstall that way. But I have downloaded a freeware program called Font Frenzy after hearing it advertised on the Kim Komando show. Has anyone used this? It sounds pretty cool, but I'll never know if I don't load the darn thing. Anybody know about Font Frenzy?

LaWanna

[Amber]

LaWanna- I have not used Font Frenzy. If you load this and use it, please let us know how you like it!

[TsMom]

Okay, here's a warning to all. Don't use Font Frenzy. At first it seemed great, because it is supposed to organize and clean up the windows fonts folders and relocate all fonts except those which came with XP. The interface was pretty confusing and I was really lost. BTW, I consider myself fairly computer savvy. Well, somehow, I ended up really screwing up my computer and had to reinstall everything. Everything on my display showed up in symbols. I managed to fix it temporarily using Font Frenzy but as soon as I restarted the computer it reverted to the symbols. Even though all the fonts appeared to be installed in the fonts folder, my computer would not recognize them.

Now there is the possibility that it was a virus, but this all happened the day after I installed and used Font Frenzy. Also, I managed to use Font Frenzy to fix the problem, so I could read what was on my display, but the fix only lasted until I turned off the computer. What a mess!

Now I've reinstalled The Font Thing, which I personally like better than other font managers I've used which include Font Lister and another one I can't remember. I don't use TFT to organize the fonts though. I keep a folder in My Documents called Fonts. There all my fonts are sub-divided into categories (handwriting, typewriter, calligraphy, etc.). I only use TFT to install and uninstall and to view my installed and uninstalled fonts.

There's my two cents.
LaWanna

[elizabethlmccoy]

Has anyone heard of this? I've just received an adobe font collection cd and it comes with adobe font manager...just wanted to see if anyone uses or has used or has even heard of this.

Thanks,
Elizabeth

[Ms Pixel Lady]

I am going to check it out, thanks. If it is good enough for ADOBE it is probably good enough for me.

Michelle

[Amber]

Ive never heard of the Adobe Font Manager. Let us know how you like it Liz!

[elizabethlmccoy]

It is called adobe type manager not font manager FYI if you are trying to look it up. I haven't installed yet...been way too busy...but will try to get to it tonight!!!

I'll let you know.

[Kristen]

I'm using Printer's Apprentice. I've found that I prefer to look at printed versions of fonts - I have trouble choosing them using just a small sample window onscreen. This program lets me print in a variety of ways - both individual fonts and groups of fonts.

Besides the printing features, I can browse and group installed and uninstalled fonts. I can very easily install a font using the program and then uninstall it when I'm through.

It's not free, but I've found it worth the modest price. I tried several of the free programs but this was the first one I tried that really did what I needed. There's a free download so you can try it out first.

I decided last week that it was time (and past time) that I got all my fonts printed, put in sheet protectors, sorted, and stored in binders. I've been through more than a ream of paper, 200+ sheet protectors, and a black ink cartridge. I need more sheet protectors, and I'll need more ink soon too. However, I'm really looking forward to being able to browse through my collection this way.

Printer's Apprentice (http://www.loseyourmind.com/pa75.asp)

[txmusicmom]

I'm trying to Download The Font thing--
And I can't get it installed.

Hmm-- the file is a EX_

I can't get it work--

Some computer savvy person..........

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!

Donna

[Margie]

did you get it installed??
and btw here's a great tutorial on how to use the font thing!
http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/university/fontthing.shtml

[inskidahv]

I used Font Xplorer (yes, not Font Explorer), and has loved it eversince. I think it's not free, but you can download a trial. I think it's better than Font Thing because you have more options on what you can do with it. It can export the character/s to a text, rich text format, and my favorite, to a vector image! I love it especially when i'm coloring dingbats on Adobe Illustrator.

It prints out on different sizes and full characters. And of course you can organize your fonts by making favorite folders.

[tshirt]

Here's a version of Windows character map that shows an image of each font on your computer and how it looks with the text you are going to use. It is FREEWARE.

file size 250K

http://www.bikersaloon.com/download/charactermappro2.zip

[cosake]

Hi everyone:

I'm not using a Font Manager, but a Font Viewer program, called "Free & Easy Font Viewer".

This lets me get a good preview of what I have installed. (I'm using XP, so I've been told there are not problems installing many fonts - someone told me that they have 2500 fonts installed with no problems).

This might be useful for people who are simply looking to view fonts already installed on their computer, and it is free. It's very simple, and lets you increase or decrease the font size, make it bold, italic, underlined, etc. It shows lowercase and capital letters from a to i, numbers and characters like &.

The website is: http://www.styopkin.com/

and it looks like they have a Font Manager also.

- Colleen

[MandyT]

My 5 cents - for what its worth. I use The Font Thing. I have never had any problem with it. I set it up so that its default is my Windows Font file and have a Mandys Fonts file set up with all my hundreds of not commonly used fonts as a seperate collection. Have not had a problem installing and uninstalling using TFT.

But it is worth doing a back-up of your fonts (all of them) just incase of a system failure. I do seem to harp on about backing-up but have been caught out twice in the last two months. So if anyone out there learns from my mistakes it is worth it.

Mandy

[daddio]

Advanced Fonts Viewer is also worth a serious look, though I usually use Thumbs Plus, which not only previews and installs/uninstalls fonts, but handles all of your image cataloging as well.

daddio

[gammie]

I also had trouble with tft. First it installed but froze up and crashed every time I tried to install and uninstall. Then when I tried to reinstall the program it wouldn't even install. I brought it to my computer guy and he said it was a problem with Windows and the program but even he didn't know why. SOooo I went on a search also for a different manager. Right now I am using the Fontonizer which was recommended by microsoft. You get a free trial period to use it. So far so good. http://www.fontutilities.com/fontonizer (http://fontutilities.com/fontonizer)

[emdonovan]

This is a great thread! I'm new to this, and have so far only used the fonts that came with PSE-3. I have downloaded some others, but haven't figured out how to pull them into a lo yet. I have the instructions from a DSU class, but I didn't have a chance to sit and figure it out. I think that is one of those "Grandma takes the kids for the afternoon" projects. Anyway, I tried to download the Font Thing, but I couldn't install it. However, I blame my lack of computer skills! Thanks for all the great information you are sharing!

[MaureenH]

I am the "tech support" for our three computers, 4 printers, 7 external hard drives, etc. and so my key priority is to keep our systems clean and simple or I would never have time for anything else. One of my rules is no free software...the companies can be in and out of business, typically no suppot, minimal or no upgrades, glitches, can put stuf in weird places, can be conflicts with operating system upgrades because the software rewrites don't keep up. I realize that many people download freeware and it's fine, but it eliminates one possible problem.

I use Creating Keepsakes Font Organizer which I got as part of one of their Fresh Fonts CDs. I like it a lot. The only usage issue I've found is that when I add a font to a category it will add it a second time if the font is already in that category. I liked that it was a well established company with font products and a tech support phone number. In going to their web site to find a link to post here, I didn't find this product. The tech support person I spoke with was not very knowledgable but basically said it's out of stock on their web site right now. The web site did a redirect to this link.

http://www.letteringdelights.com/detail.lasso?SKU=1942&-session=letteringUser:42A8194C13a150EFACMuVn3C3E78

[MaureenH]

Ive never heard of the Adobe Font Manager. Let us know how you like it Liz!
I just finished searching Adobe's site and didn't find it so when you get a chance if you could provide a link to the product that would be great.

[sandra]

I'm having trouble with the FOnt Thing also. When I browse the list of fonts installed, many of them have a yellow "!" symbol or a red "X" symbol, and they can not be displayed in the sample window. The FAQ briefly touches on these symbols, but I am still lost. When I go to my windows font folder, these fonts are there. I am able to open them. I can even use them in my programs. Why can't TFT read them, display them, or tell me what to do with them?

I think I need a different program! :mad:

[gammie]

Check the web site for the program I listed above. It works great. You have to pay for it but you get a free trial first to try it out. It's called the Fontonizer.
Good luck
Gammie :)