How big is your font collection? If you’ve been busy downloading all the free fonts you can find, or if you’ve invested in some premium typefaces chances are you’ve got hundreds (or thousands!) of font files that are bogging down your system. Font managers are important tools that allow you to activate and deactivate your fonts on the fly, organise your collection into groups, and easily test out multiple typefaces at once to find the perfect choice for your designs. I browsed through graphic design forums and messageboards to find out which font managers were recommended by real professionals. This roundup features the most popular programs for both Windows and Mac, including free and premium apps for you to consider.
What do you want from a font manager?
FontBase — a Free, Beautiful, and Fast Font Manager. Font management. Professional features. FontBase is the font manager of the new generation, built by designers, for designers. Download FontBase We support Mac, Windows and Linux. I understand that even the latest FontExplorer is Universal Binary. That means that it won't work with Mac's upcoming (like in 48 hours) OS? I've used FontExplorer Pro for several years, and I'm a power typeface user-print, web, packaging design. Font management software helps designers organize fonts, easily view the selected ones, rename or delete the fonts that are no longer needed. Saves time and keeps your work professional. If you’re here to choose the best tool for macOS, here’s how you narrow down your search. The Mac OS X font managers review ⦿ Dave Girard The Mac OS X font managers review ⦿ dfontifier. Mark Douma's donationware utility (2004) for Mac OS X: dfontifier is an application that can convert Mac OS X-style Datafork TrueType fonts (.dfonts) into ordinary Mac OS 9-style TrueType fonts and vice versa. Cfont Pro is a free and handy font viewer and font manager software for your computer. With the help of this freeware you can view all of the fonts installed on your PC. This freeware also lets you manage the fonts. Its main features are preview exporter, font magnifier, and advanced character map.
Aside from the basic function of activating and deactivating fonts, are there any other features you might find useful from a font manager? There’s plenty of lightweight and often free choices, but sometimes the premium apps contain some really handy capabilities that can really benefit design professionals. Grouping, labelling, tagging and organsing your fonts helps you pick out the exact style of typeface that you need from your massive library. Previewing multiple fonts at once with custom wording can really speed up your logo designs by allowing you to visually compare different typefaces. Some font managers even come with Photoshop, Illustrator & InDesign plugins so any required fonts will be automatically activated when they’re needed. These are important features to consider when weighing up the value of the different programs on offer.
Windows Only Font Managers
NexusFont (Free!)
NexusFont is the most commonly recommended font manager for Windows. It’s simple little freeware application that has all the basic functions of activate & deactivating, sorting and searching your collection.
The Font Thing (Free!)
It was made in 1999, but The Font Thing is a tried and tested piece of freeware that is still in service for many designers. It allows you to install, organise, preview and filter your fonts from a lightweight program.
FontBase (Free!)
FontBase is a new font manager for Windows 7 or higher. Unlike many free programs for Windows, this app has a beautiful interface that makes it easy to live edit, style, preview, search and compare your fonts.
AMP Font Viewer (Free!)
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AMP Font Viewer is another free option for Windows users. It has many features for installing and categorising your fonts, including temporary installation of fonts so they remain active until the program is closed.
Mac Only Font Managers
RightFont ($39.95)
RightFont is a relatively new font manager for Mac. It helps you preview, sync, and organise fonts stored in any location without installing them, which is great for users with multiple devices. Fonts can also be filtered by classification, width or weight.
FontAgent Pro ($99)
FontAgent Pro is a classic font manager for Mac. It’s quite pricey, but you know you’re getting a tried and tested piece of software with lots of features. FontAgent Pro also comes with auto-activation plugins for the latest versions of Adobe CC and Quark.
Fontyou (Free!)
Fontyou is a new style of cloud based font manager. Rather than import all your fonts from your hard drive and access them via a traditional utility program, you upload your files to the cloud and manage your collections via the browser.
Font Explorer X 1.2.3 (Free!)
Font Explorer X has been my font manager of choice for many years. Originally this was a free version of Font Explorer X Pro, but it has since been removed from the Font Explorer website. Thankfully this handy free version is still accessible via Softpedia.
The Professional’s Choice (Win & Mac)
Suitcase Fusion ($119.95)
Suitcase is the biggest name in the design industry when it comes to managing fonts. At $120 it’s the most expensive program in this roundup, but it’s compatible with all the Adobe Creative Cloud software, QuarkXPress and even basic desktop appplications.
FontExplorer X Pro ($99)
FontExplorer X Pro is a comprehensive font manager with a wealth of features. It can also connect to FontExplorer X Server, which provides shared font management between entire teams, making it a great solution for teams and agencies.
Are you looking for a good looking Font Manager Application for Mac? There are a number of Free Font Managers for Mac and this article will help you pick the best font manager software for your MacBook.
The macOS has its personal font management software, Font Book, introduced to its users by default. Windows downloads fonts to a particular folder and Linux usually doesn’t preload fonts on a system thus negating the necessity for a font management software. Default font manager is useable but somewhat fundamental. For users who use various fonts, graphic designers and web designers, there’s a necessity for more advanced software.
Contents
- 2 5 Best Font Manager for Mac
Why a Mac Font Manager is Necessary?
Managing with hundreds or thousands of fonts present the user with a number of hurdles not least being able to obtain the correct font for the correct reason at the appropriate moment. Font management software guards system fonts to block accidental deletion and regulate the activation of the fonts needed. So, these software sorts, renames, searches, views, fixes or deletes damaged fonts.
Also, the font management tool subsists in order to shield system performance and endurance. Supporting thousands of fonts on a PC undermines the performance of the PC. Activating fonts, only when needed has clear advantages.
5 Best Font Manager for Mac
So, here are the best font Managers for Mac.
1. FontBase
Possibly the best font manager for Mac, for most users, is also a free font manager. FontBase is additionally a cross-platform for macOS, Windows and Linux devices. Developed for designers by designers, the proposition behind FontBase are font activation and deactivation. Activate particular fonts when needed for certain projects then deactivate them so that they don’t harm the system. Fonts are deactivated on their own when the FontBase app is terminated.
When the app is accessible and the font is lost for a particular design report, the font is activated on its own. Fonts can be organized into groups, thus presenting the management of a large selection of fonts even more easygoing.
2. Suitcase Fusion 8
The best-known font manager and font organizer for macOS and Windows is Suitcase Fusion 8. Fusion 8 is created with adaptability in mind to help profession workflows from Adobe Creative Cloud 2018 and QuarkExpress 2018 and involves syncing, via the cloud, with the free app TypeSync. Also, this nullifies matters about lost fonts while working.
FontDoctor is also incorporated for defective font checking. Fusion 8 has a FontSense technology that examines and recognizes fonts to assure the correct font is always practiced. Again, fonts are activated and deactivated as needed and the application allows browsing, previewing and organization of various fonts.
3. Typeface
Having a minimum interface settling the focus on fonts, Criminalbird’s Typeface is a wonderfully designed font manager for Mac. Typeface allows easy browsing, including live customization of preview and size of each font—both default system downloaded and saved fonts—free from distress. A manageable and easy to use tagging method adds a different way of managing particularly large font libraries. Through pointing Typeface to a directory in macOS, any recently downloaded fonts are appended automatically on refresh. These fonts can be manually activated and deactivated and there is a font auto-activation highlight currently under construction. Font compare supports font professionals to detect minor differences among similar fonts with overlays to analyze both.
Font filters assist designers to discover the ideal font for any job by improving the searching process. Pick bold, serif or other features of the desired font to determine those that resemble.
4. RightFont
RightFont is a lightweight, fast font manager that declares to be the best font app. This app enables you to preview, synchronize and organize fonts in any place without the need to download them. Fonts synchronize on its own from Adobe Typekit and Google Fonts. Enabling and disabling of fonts is probable with a single click, despite location which saves the font. Fonts activates on its own for other software such as Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and Sketch.
RightFont, a font manager helps to separate fonts by a given order such as serif, sans serif, script, width, weight and so on. It is probable to search for fonts using keywords and is possible by placing fonts as favorites or producing custom font lists. What’s more, this app provides full access to font metadata info.
Importing and exporting new fonts is as simple as drag-and-drop to and from RightFont. It also owns huge performance benefits over Apple’s Font Book and competitor app. RightFont comprises of a free iOS app to download and preview any font from email attachments, AirDrop sharing, and iCloud Drive. It is an application for macOS 10.11 and higher for which you need to purchase a license, though it does appear with a free trial that it is to install without prior registration.
5. FontExplorer Pro X
Designed for professionals, FontExplorer Pro X is a Mac font manager that is optimized for Retina Displays and carries Dark Mode. It is the perfect font management tool with the font set by organizations, and it automatically activates and deactivates fonts to protect the system. Mainly important when handling many hundreds of typefaces over tons of projects.
FontExplorer Pro X is an application for OS X 10.9 and above and macOS for which needs a permit. It is likely to download a 30-day free trial as it does ask for prior registration.
List of 9 Free Mac Font Manager Apps
Free Font Organizer Windows 10
Here is the final list of all Free Font Managers for Mac.
- FontBase
- Suitcase Fusion 8
- Typeface
- RightFont
- FontExplorer Pro X
- FontExpert
- NexusFont
- Wordmark.it
- Flipping Typical
Final Verdict
If you are using the latest macOS system or not, you have plenty of options for managing your fonts now. So, simply download from the list mentioned and make it happen your way. This list of top 9 Macbook font managers would have really eased out things for you. Let us know by commenting in the comment section below.