How do you see all your fonts?

dodgeladee

dodgeladee

New member
Hi everyone,
I love fonts! However, I have a hard time seeing what fonts I have. How do you see what your text will look like and choose a font? Do you have a shortcut you use? I would love to hear it!
 
I've used a free program called Font Base for years and love it.

Here is the link to it:
FontBase — a Free, Beautiful, and Fast Font Manager

Also a screenshot of how I can see my fonts in Font Base. I leave this program open on my computer and then I can use any of the fonts in Photoshop, Word, email, etc.

128143293_10224061067263945_6723766273944823525_o.jpg
 
OMG!!! Thank you so much for this!!! This is suuuccchhh a HUUUGGEEE help! I find that I use the same fonts over and over and over again because I don't want to search through all of those!!! Thank you!!!
 
Thanks a lot for the link. A wonderful font library for any occasion. And the main thing is that you can make unique pictures, and not cram the same set of beautiful fonts everywhere.
 
Do you need to install the chosen font into Photoshop in order to use it or can it be done automatically somehow if you have Font Base open on your computer? I'm not keen on having hundreds of fonts installed in Photoshop. Any hints on how to use it effectively? Does anyone know which fonts are essential in Windows10? I would like to delete some but a bit scared to do so in case it causes a problem in the works.
 
Hi Jill,

I open Font Base before I open Photoshop. If I open Photoshop first, and then Font Base, PS doesn't pull in any of the fonts in Font Base into PS.

I just checked my actual Fonts Folder (I'm on a PC running Windows 10) and in my Control Panel > Fonts Folder, I have a total of 196 Fonts (none that I've installed, but came installed on the laptop.) The screenshot that I did a few weeks ago, shows in my Font Base, I have 4,791 Fonts available to choose from. It has been a while, but I believe when I first set up Font Base, it asked if I wanted to have Google Fonts pulled in. If I recall correctly, at that time, I don't believe PS had access to Google Fonts like it does now. If the program did, I certainly didn't know how to pull them up to use them in PS, so I indicated that I wanted them pulled into Font Base and mixed in with the Fonts I had downloaded, so the 4,791 number, includes 3,045 Google Fonts. :)

I have a folder that I created inside my Documents Folder. Each time I download a new font, I unzip it and put the font files into this folder so they are all in one place on my computer. When I set up Font Base, it asked me what folder(s) I wanted Font Base to pull in, and that folder is the one listed in my screenshot that say "Fonts - CU or..." and at the beginning of December when I did the screenshot, I had 1474 font files inside that folder. Each time I add a new font to that folder in my Documents Folder, I go over to Font Base, wait about 10-15 seconds and it pulls the new fonts into Font Base and they show up under "Inactive" right under Active. I click on Inactive, and there is a circle in front of each new font family, and if you click on each one, it moves them to Active and they are ready to use.

Before I knew about Font Base existing, on a prior laptop, I would actually install the Fonts into the Windows Font folder, which slowed my laptop to a snail's pace, so I was thrilled when I ran across Font Base, as those 1474 + 3045 Google Fonts are not "installed" on my laptop, but by having those pull into Font Base, and then Font Base opened before I open PS, all of those fonts are available to me in PS, Word, Email, etc., without having them installed on the hard drive of my laptop. What is super nice, is having all my downloaded fonts in their own folder in my Documents, as I know those are all fonts I've download (and aren't essential for Windows 10 to function), so if I work with a font I've downloaded and for one reason or another I don't like it, I can easily delete it from that folder, without worry if it is an essential font for Windows to operate.

You could create a folder on your computer and only put fonts in it that you like to use in PS, and then have Font Base check only that folder on your computer for new fonts. If the option to pull in Google Fonts is still available, you could tell Font Base that you don't want to pull in Google Fonts, as that would help to streamline how many fonts you'd have available in PS.

Hope that helps a little!
 
Thank you for sharing, I have used a font manager in the past but I think the one I use is out of date - it’s rather slow. I am going to try this one!
 
thanks for tip - will have to try this one - currently use amp font viewer but it locks up all the time.
have tried other free ones that have been recommended in past that allows you to load fonts ( nexus font and others ) but i have not been able to figure out how to use them.

dont think i tired this one so will give it a go.
 
Hi Everyone!

I just found this video tutorial on You Tube, that might help you with Font Base.

How to use Font base | a Free PC font manager for organizing fonts - YouTube

At around the 13:10 mark, is how I installed my initial folder of fonts. I believe the option is different now than when this video was recorded, but ADD at the bottom of Font Base and then choosing FOLDER should let you pick your font folder from your computer. I found this to also be the quickest and easiest way. :) A good portion of the beginning of this video is putting all of your fonts on an external hard drive and then pulling them into Font Base from the external hard drive. The only thing I can see that may not work doing it that way, is if you don't keep your external hard drive attached to your computer, I don't know how Font Base could pull in the fonts, as it was my understanding, Font Base doesn't store the fonts in the program when you close it, so if the external hard drive isn't attached to your computer when you open Font Base, I don't know where it would know to go get your fonts.

I back up my font folder every few weeks to 2 external hard drives and that folder is also pulled into my automatic cloud backup of my laptop, which runs on my computer 24/7. So if my computer would crash, I have my fonts folder in 3 different places outside my computer. I've had external hard drives go bad, so that beginning step she talks about putting all her fonts on an external hard drive and then deleting them off her computer, is something I wouldn't do, but if it makes sense for you, that is great.

Hope this video is helpful!
 
I haven't really found a font viewer that I am in "LOVE" with, but I do use this site a LOT, it shows my installed fonts and you can type in a word or phrase to see exactly how it looks. You'll have to open it in Chrome now that flash is gone though!
https://wordmark.it/
 
Thank you Ginger for this link.

I've been using AMP font viewer. I have it installed on one of my drives. I can view all the fonts I have in a folder and install them temporarily into Photoshop. If I close the program, then the font goes away.
m
 
I use NexusFont and I have my fonts put in folders and I just click on the folder I need and it opens them in Nexus. Once they are open in Nexus I open my text dialog in PS and chose the font I want and go to work. It has been a life saver since I have hundreds of fonts and don't want to download them all.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top