Adobe should have a true font-management tool, something which allows one to manage all fonts stored on a Mac/PC
Adobe should have a true font-management tool, something which allows one to manage all fonts stored on a Mac/PC. Such a tool can dramatically improve font workflow -- I've been using Maintype 11, and it's great, but Adobe should have their own tool like that.
Yes, Adobe does have a very lightweight and feature-lacking "half-tool" for managing fonts, but it's kind of a joke, and lacks almost all the features I would want to see -- it's not a true font-manager at all; it only lets you install or uninstall fonts from the fonts.adobe.com website, and doesn't let you arbitrarily tag or group them in any way.
A real "font manager" would allow the user to view all fonts in the system Fonts folder, as well as fonts stored in any offline folder one might have (I have over 1000 fonts stored on a secondary drive). This tool should allow the user to give any of these fonts arbitrary tags, and group them into arbitrary collections. One should be able to preview text in any font seen by the tool, regardless of whether that font is actually installed or stored offline. One should also be able to use that tool to install or uninstall fonts to/from the system Fonts folder and/or the User fonts-folder.
Essentially, the same functionality that MainType 11 has, Adobe should offer their own first-party tool that does the same things, so that users don't have to look elsewhere for such functionality.
Ryan Dannar
shared this idea
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Daniel KOEHLER
commented
No one expects Adobe to replace dedicated font managers such as RightFont and similar tools, but Adobe should absolutely manage and present its own font library at a sufficiently high level.
Right now, it is missing too many essential features:
no glyph table
no ability to enter custom preview text
no useful support for non-English preview testing
no meaningful font metadata
no proper classification system
no search by type category
no search by designer
no search by foundry
no search by year of release
no search by related or visually similar families
no deeper family overview for serious comparison
in many cases, not even a proper display of the full set of styles within a family
the preview area is too shallow and restrictive for evaluating type properlyThese are not edge-case requests. These are core requirements for a serious typography workflow.
At the moment, the feature feels more like an early preview or internal development stage than a mature Creative Cloud tool. After being present for years, it should offer a much deeper and more professional font management experience for Adobe Fonts.
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Stephen Unkrich
commented
We need integration with font managers. Even if the CC app wasn't lightyears behind third-party programs, it would still be beneficial to your customer base to provide them with the option and freedom to choose their management system.
I understand the need for security since the fonts licenses aren't being purchased, but realistically the only security CC provides is changing the font file names and storing them in a temporary location. You can use a simple program to have those files located and converted back into readable font files, then move them to the folder of your choosing.
So this security by obscurity adds an extra step for anyone who has bad intentions (theft), but it also adds an extra step for those who simply want the freedom to manage their fonts with a third-party program.
Instead of removing the safeguards on the font files, you could integrate with some of the more popular font management providers. This allows you to maintain the current "security" feature, while also providing more freedom to your customers.