Blog

Font management software is a utility that allows multiple users to manage font files.

Some of the typical features of font management utilities include:

• Install/Uninstall fonts
• Activate/Deactivate fonts
• Organize fonts into group, types, or categories
• View and print font samples
• Copy & paste characters from the edit buffer to a document
• Font sharing and distribution
• Search for fonts with a specific name
• Browse fonts

Windows and Mac operating systems come with their own font management. Typically graphic designers will use additional font management software to help keep all of their fonts organized. The number of fonts a graphic designer may use can easily be in the thousands, which can use up a lot of memory.

Two major benefits of font management software are more suitable organization of fonts and improved performance of the system.

As you can imagine, keeping literally thousands of fonts under control at any given time can slow down performance and be a huge under taking. Font management software helps manage your fonts, which allows you to activate only the fonts you require at any one time, and deactivate them afterwards.

One problem many users have is that today’s font management market can be confusing, with no one vendor producing a font Management software package that runs on multiple platforms. This means that most companies need to purchase one program for their Mac operating systems and one for their computers running the Windows operating system. With many of our customers operating in a mixed environment, where they use both Mac and Window desktops, this issue is a common problem.

We have found that many graphics design companies today use the Mac operating system as the operating system of choice for the majority of their client work and internal systems. The good news is that there are many choices for font management software. Some are expensive, while others are free. We always suggest that clients download free trials before you buy to make sure it does what is needed. Give us a call if you need help determining which programs will best meet all of your internal needs.

—

About Iris Professional Services
Iris Professional Services is a computer consulting company operating offices in both Seattle and Portland. Businesses throughout the Pacific Northwest rely on our expert IT consultants for all their network IT support services.