[l008com]

More and more lately, I am running into many clients of mine, that have upwards of 1000 or more fonts in their fonts folder. But this inevitably causes all sorts or problems. To lock-ups while starting up, to specific app lockups and so on. In many cases, removing all the fonts in /Library/Fonts solves the problem, but then the client has no fonts. All of these clients talk of how they used to use ATM back in the day. ATM cause about as many problems as it solved though :-/ So what do you guys use to manage your fonts (those of you that have enough fonts, that they need managing, that is)? Are there any relatively simple solutions, software that just manages fonts, and doesn't stick its nose in everything, and cause its own instabilities while it's trying to solve the Font problem? Its too bad OS X doesn't have some sort of font manager built in, because fonts seems to be one of the few/biggest weaknesses of OS X.

[drainyoo]

Originally posted by l008com:
More and more lately, I am running into many clients of mine, that have upwards of 1000 or more fonts in their fonts folder. But this inevitably causes all sorts or problems. To lock-ups while starting up, to specific app lockups and so on. In many cases, removing all the fonts in /Library/Fonts solves the problem, but then the client has no fonts. All of these clients talk of how they used to use ATM back in the day. ATM cause about as many problems as it solved though :-/ So what do you guys use to manage your fonts (those of you that have enough fonts, that they need managing, that is)? Are there any relatively simple solutions, software that just manages fonts, and doesn't stick its nose in everything, and cause its own instabilities while it's trying to solve the Font problem? Its too bad OS X doesn't have some sort of font manager built in, because fonts seems to be one of the few/biggest weaknesses of OS X.

Dropping Fonts into the Font folder is a very bad idea. That will just slow your system down. Mac OSX does have a font manager that comes with OSX, its called Font Book. It really isnt that good and its mostly for consumers who really dont want to deal with that stuff.

I use Suitcase X1. Great app, works just fine. There is also Font Reserve which is pretty good as well. The trick is not to load all your fonts at once, just load the ones you need at that moment and then deactivate them when you are done.

[l008com]

I heard of Font Reserve, but then I loged on to MacUpdate to check it out, and the very first review was some guy bitching about how hes having all sorts of problems and Extensis bought it from some guy and now he's on the phone with them for 45 minutes... kinda scared me away.

[drainyoo]

Originally posted by l008com:
I heard of Font Reserve, but then I loged on to MacUpdate to check it out, and the very first review was some guy bitching about how hes having all sorts of problems and Extensis bought it from some guy and now he's on the phone with them for 45 minutes... kinda scared me away.

Well they probably dont know what they are doing. They are both very easy and very powerful apps. I use Suitcase all day long at work and I never have problems. Its never let me down even when I have a bunch of fonts loaded. I highly recommend checking out Suitcase, you wont be disappointed.

[l008com]

Can you link me?

[drainyoo]

Suitcase

[l008com]

Oh its the same people that make Font Reserve, and its also the same price as Font Reserve. So whats the difference between them? I'd rather have the one that simply does font managing and doesn't try to do other stuff, if possible :-)

[drainyoo]

Originally posted by l008com:
Oh its the same people that make Font Reserve, and its also the same price as Font Reserve. So whats the difference between them? I'd rather have the one that simply does font managing and doesn't try to do other stuff, if possible :-)

I never really used Font Reserve but Suitcase does just what you want. It manages Fonts and it does it well.