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DESCRIPTION
FontAgent Pro is the world's most powerful Mac OS X font manager, combining powerful, yet simple font management with its unrivaled, award-winning integrity checking that solves font problems fast.
FontAgent Pro optimizes and organizes all your fonts and provides cutting-edge features to maintain their integrity, create custom font sets, and activate them when they are needed. You can also use FontAgent Pro's Font Player and Font Compare viewers to preview custom text strings in any font and to view and print font sample books.
WHAT'S NEW
Version 4.0.3:
- Addition of auto Activation Plugins for Adobe Creative Suite 4, as well as an Xtension for auto-activation in QuarkXPress 8.
- The Plug-in installer can now be run without navigating through the setup assistant. Select FontAgent Pro>Install Plug-ins/Xtensions from the Menu and go directly to the plug-in installer screen.
- The Plug-in installer runs automatically when a version containing updated plug-ins is run.
- French and Italian localization has been added.
- Numerous bug fixes.
REQUIREMENTS
Mac OS X 10.3 or later.
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| FontAgent Pro User Reviews (98 posts) | Write A Review |
 | Dec 2 2008 |
TONY AGUILA I think this is the first time that FAP gave the user the choice to selectively install auto-activation plug-ins for Adobe Creative Suite (all versions), as well as QuarkXpress, the first time you run it. Not sure if it will persist with the dialog if you choose not to install the first time. Very convenient. I am gratified that even before this update, they made plug-ins available for Adobe CS4, and this updated version is now even quicker with auto-activation in InDesign. Illustrator is still slow to react, but there is no more need to close and reopen the document. I own and have used ALL of the other font management programs out there, and still maintain my licenses, but FAP is definitely my first choice for managing my 7,000+ font library. The only problem discovered so far is that the update deleted all the names of my font sets. Fortunately, the contents seem to have been unaffected. My long-time gripe remains. When running Font Player, you cannot pause it. Whenever you stop/pause, it will have to start from the very beginning (or very end) of the set. Thus the reason for 4 stars for features.
(Version 4.0.3) | |
| [ Reply ] | |
 | Aug 13 2008 |
DESIGNSBYDEGREE I have been in the pre-press and design since 1991. My company has to manage over 6,000 font families which equates to to almost 20,000 individual typefaces. We handle ad inserts and national coupon campaigns for over 200 national retailers and restaurants. We have tried Suitcase then Suitcase Fusion and Font Reserve. None of them ever did what we needed. They were slow and had bugs. (One tip, to keep the font caches clean I feel that getting the Font Agent Pro with Font Smasher bundle is the ideal solution and a great value.) Font Agent Pro has been a real boost for font management in the world of OS X. It is accurate, fast and maintains fonts at a level that is unprecedented at this point. The way it even has an easy setup feature to install the font auto activation plug-ins and Xtensions is just one indicator as to how user friendly Font Agent Pro is. I wish all software worked this well.
(Version 4.0.2) | |
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| May 12 2008 |
MACLOVER1.1 Best Font management ever.. I had liked Font Reserve a lot under OS).. for OSX this is my choice. Mutliple libraries, fast font viewer, activates fonts flawlessly in Flash (which FontExplorer does not in my experience had to relaunch Flash every time I activated fonts). 4 thumbs up (using my feet thumbs as well).
(Version 4.0.2) | |
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| Jan 14 2008 |
MARK_CAIRNS I've been stung twice by FAP, both versions 2 and 3 and really can't see the point of all this "smart"ness that's built into 4. I'll be sticking with Linotype's Font Explorer, which is as fully featured as FAP but is totally free! It works perfectly with Quark 7 and CS3. Still nothing touches the simplicity of Adobe's ATM Deluxe 4.6 back in the 1990s.
(Version 4.0) | |
| [ 7 Replies - Reply ] | |
Replies:
| Jan 14 2008 |
MACSOLU You've been "stung"? Please explain.
(Version 4.0) | |
| Jan 15 2008 |
MACSTERDAM I agree that Linotype's FE is the hands down winner when it comes to interface, however, FAP has way better font handling and auto-activation. A lot of fonts that preview perfectly well in FAP, don't preview in FE at all unfortunately.
(Version 4.0) | |
| Jan 15 2008 |
SNAPJACK Back in the days of ATM everyone, yes everyone, begged for an ATM killer. Have your forgotten just how limited ATM was? There is no comparison between FAP and ATM. If you want simple use what's built into the system.
(Version 4.0) | |
| Jan 15 2008 |
MARK_CAIRNS FAP2 was slug slow to import... 35 minutes for a 1600 professional Adobe/Bitstream/FF collection. FAP3 wasn't much different with the exception of faster (to be expected) import. 3 licences & upgrades wasted on both. I'm laughing at FAP4's so-called new features: Smart Search -- which I would take it would offer fonts up as you type in the search box... LFE already has it Smart Classification -- customisable columns of information... LFE already has it. Smart Sets... LFE already has it Font sets that dynamically update as users add new fonts... LFE already has it pretty much Smart Installer... LFE already knows FAP, FontBook or Suitcase is already installed -- deactivates existing type management's stranglehold. Smart Views... LFE already has it Smart Store... no explanation to what this is? Smart Diagnostics... lifted from ATM Deluxe! (i.e. is the font damaged YES/NO). One up to FAP4 Smart Activation... fancy words for Auto Activation/Deactivation and all that it entails. They pretty much all do it now although With Unsanity's MENU-MASTER I've changed certain keyboard shortcuts to be identical to what I was used to with ATM Deluxe all those years. I've only a few small annoyances with LFE in that I can lasso fonts the way I used to in OS9 under ATM Deluxe; there's no AutoActivation for FreeHand MX (nor obviously will there be now with a dead product) and Microsoft Office 2004 is temporamental with it (PowerPoint especially) at times, but then who's fault's that... Linotype or M$? Apart from that, it's superb.
(Version 4.0) | |
| Jan 15 2008 |
MACSTERDAM I've been a FAP user since V1, and true, FAP 1 was so slow as to be unusable. FAP2 was marginally better, speed-wise that is. Version 3, however, really shone, and I found to be faster than other, including LFE. V4 is once again faster. True, FAP is catching up with LFE when it comes to features, but as nice as LFE is, when it comes to font handling, including (auto)activation, FAP is still the most reliable of all and still ahead of LFE at detecting font problems. As soon as LFE fixes these I'd switch in a heartbeat, because it's got the best gui, but until then I'm more than willing to pay an upgrade fee for FAP V4.
(Version 4.0) | |
 | Feb 6 2008 |
MACPREPRESS I was hoping that the 4.0 release would be better able to handle a couple things. *lessen the font cache corruption issue *be able to properly active the precise version of a font. From what I tested, the caches degrade about the same as version 3.X, so no improvement there. I saw it get somewhat better at recognizing some fonts. But still it had problems with common ones like Zapf Dingbats. Worse, after a bit of use, the plugin would crash InDesign. I've been testing Suitcase Fusion 12.1.7, and it's not a bed of roses either. Auto-activation seems largely disfunctional. I haven't tried Fontexplorer yet, but I guess it's time.
(Version 4.0) | |
| Apr 16 2008 |
CASTLE ROSE The real question is weather FAP is better than Linotype FEX and Fusion X. The answer is YES.
(Version 4.0.1) | |
| Nov 28 2007 |
S. SPENCER PROBLEM: InDesign and other aps aren't seeing fonts when the are activated until I reboot system. I recently upgraded to Font Agent Pro 3.3 from 2.something I think. I am running OSX 10.4.8 and InDesign CS2. Everything was OK prior to the upgrade. My reason for upgrading was a minor problem installing new fonts that the upgrade appears to have solved. BUT now much bigger problem. When I activate a font that is inactive either via auto-enabling by Indesign or if I activate it manually, my applications can't see the font (it's not in the appllications list of fonts). I can only get InDesign or Illustrator or Photoshop to "SEE" the font by rebooting my whole system. Obviously not a good longterm solution. I wrote Font Agent Pro a week ago but no response other than the automated "we got your message" one. HELP. Anyone else with this problem?? I've googled and searched and cant find anything.
(Version 3.3.2) | |
| [ 7 Replies - Reply ] | |
Replies:
| Nov 28 2007 |
MACUPDATE ADMIN Have you tried contacting the developer via the developer's website?
(Version 3.3.2) | |
| Nov 28 2007 |
S. SPENCER Yes. I sent in a request for assitance a week ago and no response from them as of yet. Was hoping someone here might have encountered a similar problem or there is something obvious that I have set up wrong.
(Version 3.3.2) | |
| Dec 5 2007 |
HEAVY_SHOWER Rebooting the entire system seems a bit drastic. I too ran into that problem, but for me, there are two remedies. If I'm in the type tool before and after switching to Fontagent to enable a font (or to re-enable it by activating the entire family), I'll switch into a different tool, or even deactivate a type layer, then switch back into the type tool -- apparently the font menu gets rebuilt (?). If that fails, I'll simply relaunch the app but not reboot the entire system.
(Version 3.3.2) | |
| Feb 19 2008 |
RONINKAI Be sure to remove all parts of all previous font managers from your system (font book is OK, leave that alone). Use a system utility (Cocktail, Onyx, Yasu, FontNuke) to delete your font caches. Reboot and see if things clear up.
(Version 4.0.1) | |
| Feb 20 2008 |
S. SPENCER Just wanted to say thanks for the reply. I kind of gave up on FontAgent Pro. The company never responded to my email or phone requests for help. I couldn't figure out why it wouldn't work. I went with Linotype's FontExplorer. I like it alot. I still have a few funky things going on (for example, I have a couple of fonts that even when it is activated in FE and I know the fonts are in the database, my Adobe apps don't see it--so far, my solution has been to find another font ;-) FE is not perfect, but I think it's more stable than FAPro and Linotype responded via email when I had a question. Best regards, Susan
(Version 4.0.1) | |
 | Mar 20 2008 |
MACPREPRESS Getting a bit off-thread here, but I've seen this too. Several version 1.0 Postscript copies of Futura Condensed Bold wouldn't show in ID CS2. Then I found another "virgin" copy of the same font. All the rest of my current library has been through some combination of FontDoctor or Smasher. The "virgin" copy from 1989 worked fine.
(Version 4.0.1) | |
| Jan 4 2009 |
RAYDMURPHY I've encountered this problem, but mainly after the update cam out recently.(to version 4.0.3) After that my system has been going haywire. After figuring out to use Smasher and killing off the preferences before reinstalling the software again the problem recurred again and again. I might try the tool changing trick that was suggested above, but it seems that for me the solution only lasts for a short while before the system feels like reverting back to the problem again. Linked with this I see that Font Agent Pro is using font files from my works network, despite the fact that I'm installing fonts from the local disk. Very strange indeed. It seems that no matter if I kill the cache or not it seems to link back to there after re-installation of the font. Very frustrating. I'm inclined to stay with the programme though as its very easy to use, its just a shame that it brings so many glitches.
(Version 4.0.3) | |
| Oct 1 2009 |
RARO Yes, it does work!
(Version 4.0.3) | |
| [ Reply ] | |
Replies:
| Sep 2 2009 |
RARO No, it does not seem so. At least it does not work on my computer.
(Version 4.0.3) | |
| Sep 30 2009 |
MUYA I have no problems with it at all. Works perfectly on both my MacPro and MacBook Pro, both running 10.6.
(Version 4.0.3) | |
| Jun 17 2009 |
ASHMADUX now this is interesting. I was finally able to get this rotten program off my machine. I had to use the version 3 uninstaller to get rid of 4. Incredible. Previously, I could not downgrade because v.4 had a file somewhere on my machine that was preventing it. After installing v.3, now my fonts show up in cs4 apps. WTF, cmon programmers, this is crap. The sad thing is that I used v.3 with absolutely not one problem for years- while everyone else was going through suitcase hell. Thank goodness that I have all my original install disks. And the nail in the coffin is that these guys obviously haven't updated even thier basic support pages- most links are dead or go to version 3 information. Since im due for a new machine, ill either stick with v3 or try out font explorer. I cant trust these guy' software with my mission critical workstation. Cmon dude, get back on the ball. Please?
(Version 4.0.3) | |
| [ Reply ] | |
| Jun 17 2009 |
ASHMADUX This program is great... As a long time user of Font Agent 3, I am inclined to re-install that old workhorse- this update has given me nothing but problems with activating in CS$ applications. I NEVER had a problem until i upgraded. right now i have 872 font that i just activated. closed out of all cs4 apps. guess what? pshop sees liek 4 fonts out of the 800+. I deactivated, then reactivated all of them, quit out opened back program, same with pshp and illustrator. illustrator is usually better at handling font being activated while the program is open, and often just updates itself. Photoshop however.... Im a designer, and my font just wont activate. Worse still, unlike version 3, when it cant find a certain font in a pshp cs4 file, instead of leaving the pixel approximations (helpful if you just want to print), it changes any font that has an issue upon opening. version 3 i still have running on my laptop, and 4 on my desktop. i have had no problems whatsoever running v. 3 in leopard. however, that machine is stuck on cs2 apps. i gotta fix this now, i cant use this machine without my fonts. sigh
(Version 4.0.3) | |
| [ Reply ] | |
| Jul 8 2008 |
BLUESTAR Actually font-auto activation often crashes Photoshop CS3 even with the latest 4.0.2 version.. just a comment on the last person's review
(Version 4.0.2) | |
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