Reviews of popular font manager and font repair software for graphic designers, pre-press professionals and creative studios.

Font management tools reviewed

Font management software for graphic designers

Graphic designers and typographers use a lot of fonts. Certainly we experiment with and change fonts much more than most computer users and this can sometimes get a bit difficult to manage. To aid in this, we have compared and evaluated three professional font management applications.

On top of font management issues, having thousands of fonts installed and active at the same time can be a drain on system resources and can reduce productivity – especially in a workgroup environment.

Both the Macintosh and Windows platforms have utilities for managing fonts to some degree, but neither is really adequate in a professional environment. This is where professional font management software tools come in.

There are numerous font managers available but, from a design and graphic arts standpoint, only three are really pitched at the professional design market. Suitcase, from Extensis; MasterJuggler, from Alsoft; and FontAgent Pro, from Insider Software.

And font management is not always simply a task for individual designers. The ability to manage multiple typefaces and font families across a network is an invaluable tool for busy studio managers. So, which font manager is the best choice for both self employed designers and also for fast moving creative workgroups? What factors should be taken into account when choosing a font manager.

Choosing a font manager > Suitcase > MasterJuggler > FontAgent Pro

4 March 2006

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• MasterJuggler Vs Suitcase
• Font management for Illustrator and Photoshop