Even if you have hundreds of fonts on your computer, you might not have just the right one for a particular project. Here are some ways you can use Font Book, the Mac’s font manager, to organize your collection of typefaces.
How to Create Libraries of Fonts
Font Book comes with four default font libraries: All Fonts, English (or your preferred language), User, and Computer. The first two libraries are pretty self-explanatory and are visible by default within the Font Book app. The User library contains all of the fonts installed in the yourusername/Library/Fonts folder, and accessible only to you. The Computer library contains all of the fonts installed in the Library/Fonts folder, and it’s accessible to anyone who uses your computer. These last two font libraries may not be present within Font Book until you create additional libraries in Font Book. You can create additional libraries to organize a large number of fonts or multiple collections and then break out smaller groups as collections.
How to Organize Fonts as Collections
You probably have favorite fonts that you use frequently. You may also have ones that you only use for special occasions, such as Halloween, or special fonts, such as handwriting or dingbats, that you don’t use often. You can organize your fonts in collections so that it’s easier to find a specific font, without browsing through hundreds of items every time you want to use it. The font collections you create in Font Book will be available in the Font menu or Fonts window of many applications, such as Microsoft Word, Apple Mail, and TextEdit. You’ll notice that Font Book already has some collections set up in the Collection sidebar, but it’s easy to add more.
How to Make a Smart Collection
Like the Smart Playlist feature in iTunes, Font Book has a feature that automatically populates a collection based on criteria that you set. Here’s how to create a Smart Collection.
How to Enable and Disable Fonts
If you have a large number of fonts installed, the font list in some applications can get pretty long and unwieldy. If you’re an inveterate collector of fonts, the idea of deleting fonts may not be appealing, but there is a compromise. You can use Font Book to disable fonts, so they don’t show up in font lists, but still keep them installed, so you can enable and use them whenever you want. Chances are, you only use a relatively small number of fonts, but it’s nice to keep them around, just in case.
Family Name: the name of the font (e.g., Helvetica, Palatino).Style Name: the version of the family (e.g., Condensed).PostScript Name: a variation of a font’s full name that you can find by selecting a font and pressing Command+I. An example of a PostScript name is “NuevaStd-Cond,” which is an abbreviation of “Nueva Std Condensed.“Kind: the file type of the font. Examples are TrueType, OpenType, and PostScript. A single font can fall under multiple kinds.Languages: the languages that a font supports.Design Style: similar to Style Name but with more specific options (e.g., sans-serif).
To disable (turn off) a font, launch Font Book, right-click its name and select Disable from the menu. To remove it entirely, choose Remove. You can also disable an entire collection of fonts, which is another reason to organize your fonts in collections. For example, you might create Halloween and Christmas font collections, enable them during the holiday season, and then disable them for the rest of the year. Or, you might create a collection of script/handwriting fonts that you turn on when you need it for a special project, and then turn off again. In addition to using Font Book to manage your fonts, you can also use it to preview fonts and print font samples.
