A Font of All Knowledge

October 5, 2008 11:49 PM

FontFilter: What is the best font management application for Windows? I would like opinions on the best software package regardless of price, as well as on the best in terms of price-to-value.

My wife is a designer and her extensive collection of fonts is getting rather out of control. We've found that they are slowing down her PC, and through some research I have found that a font management utility is what I'm looking for to help alleviate the problem. Of course, if there are better solutions I'm all ears. Thanks!

(I see this question was asked over a year ago here... with the rate that software changes, I thought it was prudent to ask again.)

posted by fusinski to technology (8 answers total)

Printer's Apprentice is what I use. Started with it several versions ago and have been well pleased with the app. It is free to try and only $25.00 to buy.
posted by bjgeiger at 3:06 AM on October 6, 2008

We use Suitcase at my day job and it works fine enough with the Adobe Creative Suite under XP. No deep love for it, since it seems to have a limit to the number of fonts it can have open and will start shutting of some fonts once you past that admittedly large, but unknown number. It costs $99

At home I use Linotype Font Explorer X for Macintosh, which is free and great. They're working on a version for PC, so she might want to keep an eye out for that.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 3:27 AM on October 6, 2008

Smashing Magazine has a review of 25 font management tools, which is how I ended up picking the one I have. I am also on Windows but they are covering both types. I found the screenshots and features lists to be helpful.

That link currently appears to be b0rked, however, which is odd as Smashing seems reliable in general.
posted by DarlingBri at 5:57 AM on October 6, 2008

Brandon- Last I heard, Linotype Font Explorer was a disaster on the PC. Any idea if they have notably improved the app?

bjgeiger- Just checked out Printer's Apprentice. Seems like it does the trick. Any complaints about it in particular?
posted by fusinski at 7:35 AM on October 6, 2008

I'm a huge fan of FontExpert - I found Suitcase and its ilk to be huge, confusing, and expensive. The biggest feature I like is the ability to keep all of my fonts NOT in the Windows folder, group them seven ways to Sunday if I like it, so I can find what I'm looking for, activate and deactivate easily (so they don't show up in your programs' available fonts lists unless they're activated), etc.

I've been using it for 3 years, and love it. $59, I think.
posted by twiki at 8:18 AM on October 6, 2008

No complaints...I like it. I can drag out old disc or CDs I have stored fonts on and call them up and move them into use with no problems. The only thing I changed was the default sentence for checking how they look typed.
posted by bjgeiger at 8:55 AM on October 6, 2008

Suitcase meets my needs, it seems to be what my graphic design friends use as well. Although I have not tried any others to compare it to.
posted by seric at 2:17 PM on October 6, 2008

TheFontThing is something I've kept since my Windows 3.11 days because I've yet to find a free or for-pay font manager that works as well.
posted by Mozai at 2:25 PM on November 6, 2008