Font activation for CS6

[sigmadog]

I'm still waiting for LinoType to release updated CS6 font activation plug-ins for Font Explorer Pro. Manually activating fonts is getting a bit irritating.

Is there any font management app out there currently with auto-activation for CS6? Any word on when these will start appearing?

[Degard66]

Hi I`m trying to solve similar issue but I`m not limited to linotype. But I didn`t found any software what will solve this kind of problem.

Do you have any ideas?

[galliv]

It's just a trick... If you still have any cs5 app still on your machine, open it before or after cs6 and hide it. your fonts will be activated also on cs6

[stephenwales]

This is an easy fix, go into the plug-in manager and where you see a greyed out app for CS5 or 5.5 version of your app double click the "Not Found" text, then select your CS6 plug in folder for the appropriate app and hey presto, installs and works. Illustrator can be a bit glitchy but I've 141745 fonts of explorer has always been a bit glitchy

[yukio]

Originally Posted by stephenwales

go into the plug-in manager and where you see a greyed out app for CS5 or 5.5 version of your app double click the "Not Found" text, then select your CS6 plug in folder for the appropriate app and hey presto, installs and works.

Are we running the same software?

I tried that right off. It didn't work then, and it's still not working.

[sigmadog]

Just found out the other day that Suitcase Fusion has CS6 plugins for Illustrator and InDesign (they're waiting for a bug fix from Adobe for the Photoshop plug-in). Yay!

I'm running the 30-day free trial version and it seems work just fine (translation: I don't have to futz with it very much at all which is what I want in a font management app).

I may be switching from FontExplorer Pro to Fusion.

[yukio]

Update to this topic.

Insider Software is going to rev versions of FontAgent Pro in order to get CS6 support. When you follow the CS6 Plugin info link on their home page, you're taken to a lead-gathering form that replies with this once you feed it info.

We've been extremely disappointed at the way Insider has handled this. It's been amateur hour at best, and offensive from a customer perspective.

If, like us - you're gonna have to pay additional monies on top of your current license for basic CS6 font management support - and more than two months after CS6 ship date - it might be time to evaluate all of the opportunities in the marketplace.

[citizenzen]

Originally Posted by sigmadog

Manually activating fonts is getting a bit irritating.

Ever since the death of ATM I've manually loaded fonts ... and it doesn't bother me in the least.

You can preview any font by selecting the font and clicking your spacebar. Arrow up or down to quickly go through a number of fonts.

You can load the font by dragging it into your Users/Font folder. And that can be made even easier by including the Font folder in your Favorites section of your Finder.

IMO, font management software is essentially unnecessary.

[Baytriple]

Originally Posted by citizenzen

Ever since the death of ATM I've manually loaded fonts ... and it doesn't bother me in the least.

You can preview any font by selecting the font and clicking your spacebar. Arrow up or down to quickly go through a number of fonts.

You can load the font by dragging it into your Users/Font folder. And that can be made even easier by including the Font folder in your Favorites section of your Finder.

IMO, font management software is essentially unnecessary.

Thats nice for you but for me as a pro designer picking up many different jobs through the day that have to be turned around quickly. It is very irritating and time consuming!

If you are using FE then right click the indesign document you want to open and "open with FE" you will then be able to activate the fonts that are on your system "automatically"

[citizenzen]

Originally Posted by Baytriple

Thats nice for you but for me as a pro designer picking up many different jobs through the day that have to be turned around quickly. It is very irritating and time consuming!

I'm a professional designer (20 years) and I handle many different jobs during the day, too.

Your User/Library/Font folder is more than adequate.

IMO.

[Jim Campbell]

Originally Posted by citizenzen

IMO, font management software is essentially unnecessary.

I agree (and I've been a Mac-based design pro for about 20 years, too). I've never found a font management utility that didn't impede my workflow to a point that outweighed any supposed benefits.*

When a job requires a specific font, I buy it. Once a month, I have a quick scroll through my font folder and move anything I haven't used in a couple of months into a separate 'Deactivated Fonts' folder. If I subsequently find I need the font for a job, I move it back.

Broad sets of fonts can be created with Finder labels; on the rare occasions I require it, fonts can be attached to specific jobs/clients by adding a Spotlight comment.

Cheers

Jim

*Notable exception: for the period I worked in pre-press, with many, many, agency jobs coming in every day, the ability to activate whole sets of fonts on the fly was a god-send, but this was more an artefact of design agencies' belief that there is something intrinsically clever about finding a sans-serif body copy font that no one else has ever heard of.

[yukio]

Originally Posted by citizenzen

Your User/Library/Font folder is more than adequate.

IMO.

Surely you don't mean for that to come across as arrogant as it does.

[citizenzen]

Originally Posted by yukio

Surely you don't mean for that to come across as arrogant as it does.

I can't help how you interpret things.

[Baytriple]

I have 23,000 fonts. Am I really supposed to put those in my system folder.

No, using font explorer or the like is needed for those weird and wonderful fonts.

[citizenzen]

Originally Posted by Baytriple

I have 23,000 fonts. Am I really supposed to put those in my system folder.

No, using font explorer or the like is needed for those weird and wonderful fonts.

You don't put them all in your User/Fonts folder. You only put in that folder fonts you're currently working with.

You can preview fonts really easily in Lion. Highlight a font, click your spacebar, arrow up or down to scroll though any number of fonts.

When you find a font you want to activate, just drag it to your User/Fonts folder. I have mine in my favorites section of any finder window.

It's really quite fast and easy.

[steveash]

Originally Posted by citizenzen

Ever since the death of ATM I've manually loaded fonts ... and it doesn't bother me in the least.

You can preview any font by selecting the font and clicking your spacebar. Arrow up or down to quickly go through a number of fonts.

You can load the font by dragging it into your Users/Font folder. And that can be made even easier by including the Font folder in your Favorites section of your Finder.

IMO, font management software is essentially unnecessary.

Like you I don't really have any problems so manually open my fonts in Suitcase but I previously worked at a publisher where opening sets of editorial and ad pages meant opening dozens if not hundreds of fonts at a time. Opening them manually was not an option. For them there is no option to upgrade to CS6 until there is a stable font management solution. Different users will always have different needs.

[citizenzen]

Originally Posted by steveash

... I previously worked at a publisher where opening sets of editorial and ad pages meant opening dozens if not hundreds of fonts at a time. Opening them manually was not an option.

Yup. That sounds like a workflow that demands something more.

I'm not against font management. I just haven't seen the program since ATM that I like and want to use. I imagine that one day that will change.

[yukio]

For those of us who don't push our fonts around by hand, and who are Linotype FontExplorerX Pro customers - CS6-compatible (and CS5.x-updated_ plug-ins are out!

If, when you launch FontExplorer it doesn't offer to update them go to Tools-->Plug-ins Manager-->Check for updates

[AdeFowler]

The CS6 plug-ins for Fontexplorer are now available. Not sure if it works with ML but I guess that’s for another topic.

[christiantf]

I have the last version of the Font Explorer with Adobe CS6 and I don't know how activate the auto-activation font option. I have installed the plugins for PS, AI and ID but nothing happen when i open a file.

Later, I installed the last version of the Suitcase and just only importing the fonts and opening the an AI file, the fonts are activated automatically.

Anyone know if there is a problem with font explorer or and extra step i have to do?

[sigmadog]

Originally Posted by christiantf

I have the last version of the Font Explorer with Adobe CS6 and I don't know how activate the auto-activation font option. I have installed the plugins for PS, AI and ID but nothing happen when i open a file.

Later, I installed the last version of the Suitcase and just only importing the fonts and opening the an AI file, the fonts are activated automatically.

Anyone know if there is a problem with font explorer or and extra step i have to do?

I'm a little fuzzy on Font Explorer because I haven't used it in a while, but I think there's a menu item for enabling the auto-activation plug-ins, so it's not enough to simply install them, you have to turn them on (I think).

I could be way off on this, however, because I've been on Suitcase for over 8 months and Font Explorer is just a dim memory.

[PrePressAcrobat]

Originally Posted by sigmadog

I'm still waiting for LinoType to release updated CS6 font activation plug-ins for Font Explorer Pro. Manually activating fonts is getting a bit irritating.

Is there any font management app out there currently with auto-activation for CS6? Any word on when these will start appearing?

--

For InDesign
put a folder for "InDesign's Font Folder" in your sidebar
or as "shortcut" on your desktop.
Put your fonts for THE JOB YOU ARE WORKING ON
in that folder.
They will be instantly activated - even with a document open.
Magically - you can use PC fonts on a MAC
or MAC fonts on a PC
using this method.

--
For Illustrator
put a folder for " Hard Drive > Library > Application Support >
Adobe > Fonts" in your sidebar
or as "shortcut" on your desktop.
Put your fonts for THE JOB YOU ARE WORKING ON
in that folder.
They will be instantly activated - even with a document open.

--
For Photoshop
put a folder for " Hard Drive > (Particular)User > Library > Fonts
in your sidebar
or as "shortcut" on your desktop.
Put your fonts for THE JOB YOU ARE WORKING ON
in that folder.
They will be instantly activated - even with a document open.

Sounds like a pain
but with the folders in your sidebar
it is very quick and bombproof.
-
I work on well over a hundred files a day with this method
and I don't waste a second.
-
Suitcase is very good, as well
but - in a PrePress environment, especially,
it will not handle cross-platform fonts.
If you are lucky enough to use only :Open Type" fonts.
You have nothing to worry about from any font manager.

MD

[benwiggy]

Originally Posted by PrePressAcrobat

Sounds like a pain
I work on well over a hundred files a day with this method
and I don't waste a second.

The problem with manually managing fonts is not so much in installing them, but of removing them afterwards.
A good font manager lets you activate a set of fonts for a particular job, and then de-activate that set when you're done with one click. (Or if it auto-activates, then you can turn off the auto fonts in one go.)

With manually moving fonts between folders, you end up with hundreds of fonts all active at once, which you then have to sort through and weed out when you're finished.
With constantly moving the fonts, there's also the risk that a font may get accidentally dropped in the wrong folder, over-written, corrupted, or deleted.

Originally Posted by PrePressAcrobat

Suitcase is very good, as well but - in a PrePress environment, especially, it will not handle cross-platform fonts.

Err... ??? define "Cross-platform". AFAIK, Suitcase works fine with OTF and TTF fonts in PrePress.

Originally Posted by christiantf

I have the last version of the Font Explorer with Adobe CS6 and I don't know how activate the auto-activation font option. I have installed the plugins for PS, AI and ID but nothing happen when i open a file.
Anyone know if there is a problem with font explorer or and extra step i have to do?

Tools > Plug-in Manager > "Automatically activate fonts requested by plug-ins in possible".

I find Linotype FontExplorerX to be the best font manager I've ever used. Better than ATM Deluxe, better than Suitcase.