You probably have a slew of fonts on your system right now. You might not know what to do with all of them, and just where to start organizing and using your fonts. We talked it through and have whittled our list of suggestions down to the top 10 things that you can do to better manage your fonts.

1. Use a font manager.
   It seems like a no-brainer, but if you’re not using a font manager, font management is most likely a cumbersome process that gets in the way of your workflow. Installing a font manager, such as Suitcase Fusion, Font Reserve, Suitcase for Windows or any other will significantly help streamline your workflow. In addition, be sure that you update your font management and design applications to the most current version. This ensures that you’re able to take advantage of the continuing improvements and bug fixes that the product engineers have made.
2. Remove unnecessary system fonts.
   Too many fonts in your system fonts folders not only crowds up the font menus in your applications, but can potentially cause other system problems. A complete list of required fonts for the Mac OS X operating system can be found in our Font Management in Mac OS X Best Practices Guide.
3. Store all of your fonts in a single location.
   All of the single-user font managers from Extensis include a Font Vault that enables you to store all of your fonts in a single, secure location. If you’re using a server solution, store as many of your fonts remotely on the server as possible, and only subscribe to fonts as required by project. Keeping all of your fonts in a single location allows you to take care of the next recommendation much more easily.
4. Backup, backup, backup.
   Don’t rely upon that hard disk to live forever. Make backups of your font library and store them in a secure location. Remember to store a copy of your data offsite. Fires do happen, and you don’t want to get caught with your guard down.
5. Check for font corruption.
   Power failures, system crashes and other unforeseen incidents can cause fonts to lose integrity. If you are seeing unpredictable application behavior or font substitution issues, use a tool such as Font Doctor to check for font corruption. This tool will help you find, and even repair some font corruption issues. In the event that you do locate a corrupt font file, it is always best to replace the corrupt font with a fresh new original copy of the font.
6. Re-visit your font collection, and be selective.
   Fonts are tiny bits of software, and just like any other application, a font that you’ve had around for the past 20 years might not be as up-to-date as you would like. Enormous changes have occurred in the font world. Newer OpenType fonts contain much larger collections of characters, glyphs and such, and have been designed to work in cross-platform environments. Maybe that very old version of Garamond can be retired in favor of a fresh new version. In addition, be careful which fonts that you choose. Since fonts are code, and code is written by humans, it can therefore be buggy and create problems. Choose fonts from reputable font foundries that are able to provide support and respond to any issues that you may have with the font.
7. Activate only what you need.
   Work efficiently by activating only the fonts you need. This reduces the demand on your applications and keeps your font menus “manageable” by preventing excessive scrolling. Using a font manager to selectively activate, and through plug-ins activate only the fonts used in a document, can speed up the time it takes to find the fonts you need when you need them.
8. Get legal.
   Fonts are software, licensed by the foundry that created them. Using fonts you don’t own can get you in more trouble than it’s worth. If you are working in a server environment, using a product such as Suitcase Server, be sure to check your license compliancy so that you have enough licenses to cover all of your users.
9. Use metadata.
   Use your font manager to “tag” your fonts with useful info, such as the projects you used them on and which ones your clients liked. Having this searchable information, at your fingertips can be a great reference.
10. Learn about type.
    Knowing about not just the technology, but also the history of fonts can help you significantly. The more knowledge that you have, the more easily you will be able to identify characteristics of font types that like. Read the Adobe Typography Primer (PDF) to get started by learning common type terminology. Simply being comfortable with the basics will allow you to explore type in new ways.

To learn more about managing your fonts, we’ve created a Font Management In Mac OS X Best Practices Guide. This document is available free of charge.

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