Font Management Software

 Font Management Software is a utility that facilitates the handling of the font on your computer. A font management software can give the user a detailed overview of all the fonts installed, make installing or deinstalling fonts easier and much more.
 Some of the more advanced utilities check the system for damaged fonts and fix them too. Ordinarily the inbuilt font management tool of the system is enough. However, if you have a large number of fonts active and share libraries then you require an independent utility for their management. The main tasks of font management software are as follows:

• Organizing the fonts in libraries based on type. This also makes sharing a lot easier.
  
• Shorten the font menu. Active font files take up memory. It is advisable to remove the non-active fonts from the Fonts folder to reduce the overhead on the computer.
  
• Checking for corrupt fonts. If a system encounters a corrupt or duplicate font, file it gets confused. This may sometimes result in the system crashing too. Therefore, it is advisable to fix the damaged fonts and trash the non-recoverable and duplicate font files.
  

 A good font manager should do all that transparently. In fact, it is the hallmark of a good utility that management of the fonts requires minimum user intervention. Nevertheless, no single software does all that perfectly.

 Here is a list of various font management software available in the market along with their salient points and website details.

1. Font Xplorer
This font tool requires Windows 9x/Me/NT4/2000/XP and 2MB disk space.
It has Office 2000 look alike customizable toolbars. You can easily install, de install or browse the fonts with this utility. Different fonts can also be compared to aid selection. Detailed information about each font is available. You can download a demo version or purchase the full pack from their website http://www.moonsoftware.com

2. Font Agent
Insider Software offers this font management tool for Mac OS X. You can activate, manage, preview and print your fonts with this package. This is a tool for designers that also claims to repair and optimize the fonts.
Download a 30-day free trial or purchase the software at http://www.insidersoftware.com

3. Suitcase Fusion
Suitcase Fusion from Extensis Software combines the features of Font Reserve with the usability of Suitcase. It is offering a free 30-day trial download. The system requirements are Mac OS X 10.3.9 or higher and G4 processor at 1GHz or faster.
Website: http://www.extensis.com

4. Typograf
It displays OpenType ,TrueType ,PostScript Type 1 fonts ,Printer fonts and Raster or bitmap fonts. you can display font properties, compare and print font too. The system requirements are Windows XP,2000,NT,ME,95,98 with 1 MB free disk space
Website:- http://www.neuber.com

5. Font Doctor
It creates neat libraries of all the fonts on the hard disk. All the font files are checked for damage. The irreparable ones are sent to trash and the others repaired. Font Doctor is available in Windows and Mac versions.
Website : http://www.extensis.com

6. Master Juggler
This Mac OS package allows you to activate and deactivate fonts singly or in groups. it has a font viewer for seeing individual characters inside a font. It identifies the damaged fonts but does nothing to fix them. It also does not create libraries of fonts automatically.
Website http://www.alsoft.com/MasterJuggler/index.html

7. FontHit Font Tools
FontHit Font Tools is a free utility to view, preview, install, uninstall and print all types of fonts through a flexible plugin framework. It also allows the user to drag and drop font files for easy management.
Website http://software.fonthit.com/

8. X-Fonter
X-Fonter is a Windows based software that manages the fonts on your system. It supports font filtering and organizes the fonts in user-defined groups. its USP is the extremely user-friendly interface that works for a newbie too.
Web site http://www.blacksunsoftware.com/xfonter.html

9. FontExplorer™ X
FontExplorer™ X, a Software from Linotype, is a MAC OS X version font management tool. It aids in font management, sorting, purchase and searching various fonts. a free download is available at its site and they are soon coming up with a Windows version too.
Web site http://www.linotype.com/fontexplorerX

10. FontExpert 2005
Proxima Software presents this font management utility for Windows. It views previews, searches and prints fonts. it also checks your system for font errors and provides advanced font properties.
Website http://www.proximasoftware.com/