• Professional vs. Basic Font Managers.
    Basic Basic font managers–like Apple’s Font Book™ or your Windows operating system— are typically adequate if you work with fonts infrequently or on a very basic level.
    Professional If you work with professional tools like Adobe® Illustrator®, Adobe InDesign®, or QuarkXPress® regularly–there are things that your professional font manager should deliver so you can do your job.
  • Professional Font ManagersUnlike font managers included in your operating system that were not designed to meet the needs of professional creatives, professional font managers will provide the precision and control needed in your workflow. They will help you avoid content reflow and missing glyph issues because you can rely on exact font auto-activation when opening and working in your Illustrator, InDesign and QuarkXPress documents. There are many more features, like activating fonts in embedded PDF or EPS files, which are designed to help professional creatives get their jobs done.
  • Features of Professional Font Manager
  • Automatically activate exact versions of fonts—predictably, every time
  • Auto-activate (and deactivate) fonts in the latest creative applications you're using today (like Adobe Creative Suite® 4/3/2, QuarkXPress 8/7, etc.)
  • Store your fonts in a secure database
  • Easily address missing fonts or font conflicts
  • Be optimized for the latest operating systems

 

 

Do you need pro level font auto-activation?

Answer “Yes” to any of these questions and you should care about what kind of auto-activation your font manager offers.

  1. Do you care about getting the right version of a font used in your document?
  2. Can using the wrong font cost you time and/or money?
  3. Do you work with fonts in many different documents in Adobe or Quark applications?
  4. Do you share Adobe or QuarkXPress documents with other people?

 

Best Practices Guide

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Highlighted differences between professional and basic font management

  Professional Font Auto-Activation Basic Font Auto-Activation
Exact Font Matching Uses “Intelligent” font identification such as Font Sense™— uses multiple criteria, such as font type, foundry, version, etc. to ensure exact font matches. Uses “Non-intelligent” font identification—activates the first font it comes across with the same PostScript or font menu name.
Secure & Controlled Database Can choose to activate only the fonts housed in the font manager’s location, this ensures that you are activating only the clean, optimized fonts that you want to use. Activates fonts located in any folder; can be different every time.
Auto-Activation Controls Utilizes plug-in (or XTension) based auto-activation that provide important options and controls for the user, including options for auto de-activation and font conflict resolution. Professional auto-activation also allows activated fonts in Adobe and Quark Products to be available to other applications. Offers very limited or no auto-activation controls. Font Book™ activates a font only to the requesting application. The font will not show in any other application unless required by a document opened in that application. When the application quits, the font gets deactivated.
Fonts in Embedded Objects Auto-activates fonts that are in a document’s embedded objects (such as in PDF or EPS files). Will not auto-activate fonts in embedded objects.
Activate Font Families Can be set to activate an entire font family, allowing all variations (bold, italic, etc.) of the font to be available to use in a document. Font family auto-activation option is not available.
Professional Font Management Offered by Extensis desktop and server font managers: Suitcase Fusion 2 and Universal Type Server 2. Not offered by basic font managers.

Get greater detail on font auto-activation and Font Sense.