Font Sneak 1.2 is an easy-to-use font utility that allows you to peek inside QuarkXpress (3.0 and later), Adobe Illustrator and generic PS/EPS files to determine the following:
• Any and all fonts used by the document
• Any fonts used by the document which are not currently installed
• Embedded eps file font usage (from QuarkXpress files)
Plus, gives you the option of:
• Collecting all the fonts used by the document
• Or collecting only the fonts not currently installed
• Labeling -- with Finder™ labels -- collected fonts
Plus, reports to you any fonts which were not found during the collection process (not found on the selected volume(s)) and gives you the option of searching for the missing fonts on other volumes.
Key Points:
•Font Sneak is a stand alone application. You do not need to launch any other application (QuarkXpress, Illustrator, etc.) to use it.
• Unlike similar applications and extensions, Font Sneak collects *all* of the necessary fonts, not just those fonts which are currently loaded.
• Font Sneak's collection process doesn't piecemeal or orphan fonts from their parent folder. Font Sneak collects and copys the *entire* font folder.
What Font Sneak doesn't do... (Please read this!)
•Font Sneak does not *move* font folders, it *copies* them to the destination of your choice and leaves the original font folders as they were.
•Font Sneak *does not* collect fonts from the System Font Folder. (See "Proper Font Organization on the Mac" below.)
•Font Sneak expects individual font folders to be organized correctly, with all the necessary screen and printer fonts for any given font family to be properly located in one folder. (See "Proper Font Organization on the Mac" below.)
How can I benefit from using Font Sneak?
With the advent of System 7 and a much welcomed fairwell to the cryptic Font/Da Mover, loading fonts on the Mac is as quick and easy as dropping a font folder on the System folder. Presto! They're loaded! Font Sneak supplements this process by collecting the necessary unloaded fonts into a single folder so you can quickly load them via the System Font Folder procedure.
While using the System to load fonts is extremely quick and easy, the System Font Folder should be considered a *temporary* repository for fonts. Any, and all, non-System fonts (Chicago, Monaco, Geneva, etc.) should be removed after they have served their purposed. Font Sneak can also accommodate this process. Prior to collecting the fonts, simply choose a label color from Font Sneak's <Label> menu. During the collection process, the files are labeled with the selected color. Thus, if you have loaded the fonts via the System and when you're done with them, you can quickly remove them (by color) from the System Font Folder and *trash* them. (Note: The collection process doesn't *move* font folders, it *copies* them. So, tossing them in the trash will not remove or destroy the original fonts.)
Proper Font Organization on the Mac
• Permanent font collections should reside on one volume (disk) in a folder named: "My Fonts" or "Lake Group Fonts" or similar, but not in the System Font Folder -- which should contain *only* the necessary True Type System Fonts (Chicago, Geneva, Monaco, etc.) and any temporarily loaded fonts.
• Within the permanent font collection folder (named "My Fonts") should reside individual folders of complete font families; such as, a folder for "Helvetica", another folder for "Clearface", another folder for "Bank Gothic", etc. Those individual font family folders should contain *only* the screen and printer fonts for that font family; such as, "Clearface Screen Fonts", "ClearBol", "ClearBla", etc. and should *not* be sub-folderized into screen and printer fonts.
Hot Tip: To learn more about proper font management on the Macintosh, see "How to Boss Your Fonts Around", by Robin Williams, Peachpit Press, Inc. (1-800-283-9444). "This is a concise, expertly written volume that will quickly get you (and your Mac) up to speed on modern font technology and organization!"
How do I use Font Sneak?
A.) After launching Font Sneak, select a file type to open from the "Open File Type:" popup menu. Select <Open> from the <File> menu or click on the "Open" button. (If you wish to check a QuarkXpress file for embedded eps file font usage, then check the "Include font usgae info from embedded eps files" check box prior to opening a file. See "Embedded EPS File Search Limitations" below for important information regarding embedded eps files.)
B.) Navigate through the Standard File Open Dialogue and locate the necessary file. Hit the "Okay" button.
C.) Font Sneak will then "read" through the file and extract all of the font information. This information is subsequently displayed in Font Sneak's main window via the three scrollable list boxes:
Document Fonts: this list represents the total font usage for the document. Any fonts found in embedded eps files will show the font name plus the first 7 characters of the eps file in which the font was found.
Not Installed: this list represents just those fonts used by the document which are not currently installed in your system.
Missing Fonts: this list represents a post-collection list of fonts not found on the selected volume (disk). It will never have fonts in it prior to collecting.
D.) To collect fonts, select a label color from the <Label> menu (if necessary), then from the "Look For Fonts On:" pop-up menu, select the volume on which your permanent font collection is stored.
Select the radio button under "Document Fonts:" to collect all of the fonts or the radio button under "Not Installed:" to collect only those fonts not currently installed. To exclude any particular font from the collection process, simply click on the font name in the list. The bullet next to the font name is removed and the font will not be collected. Hit the "Collect" button or choose <Collect Fonts> from the <File> menu.
E.) The Standard File Save dialogue is presented wherein Font Sneak suggests a new folder name for the collected fonts. Navigate to the destination of your choice and hit "Okay".
F.) Font Sneak will create a new folder in the desired location and begin the collection process.
G.) Any fonts not found during the collection process will be displayed in the "Missing Fonts:" scrollable list. To search for the missing fonts on other volumes (disks), select the radio button under "Missing Fonts:", select another volume from the "Search For Fonts On:" pop-up menu and hit the <Collect> button. Font Sneak will bypass the Standard File Save dialogue and deposit any additionally found fonts in the previously created folder. (Note: If you need to mount (insert) another disk on which to search for fonts, select <Update Volume Info> from the <File> menu after inserting the new disk. Otherwise, the new volume will not be represented in the "Search For Fonts On:" pop-up menu.)
That's it!
Embedded EPS File Search Limitations
Font Sneak will only report font usage from embedded eps files which are located in the same folder or a sub-folder of the selected QuarkXpress document/file. The logic behind this limitation is that graphic files tend to be highly *reusable* in nature (with modified versions of the file existing in many places on the same volume and, at times, with the same filename.) Thus, a broad-based file search may encounter a same-name-graphics-file with different contents than the associated file and result in inaccurrate information.
The Future of Font Sneak
Future versions of Font Sneak may support other file types: PageMaker, Freehand, and Microsoft Word documents.
Feedback:
Please direct comments, suggestions and bug reports to:
AOL: Lake Group
Internet: deblake1@ix.netcom.com
Licensing:
For licensing and demo distribution information, please contact Deb Lake at: (212) 725-4672.
Legal Disclaimer:
Font Sneak (hereafter known as The Software) is the intellectual property of Deb Lake, Lake Group Software NYC (hereafter known as The Author) and may not be copied, transferred or reproduced, in part or in whole, for any commercial gain without the express permission of The Author. The Software is provided "as is" and The Author makes no claims or warranties regarding the reliability of The Software to perform correctly in any present or future computer operating environments. The Author will, in no event or circumstance, accept liabilty for any damage, real or implied, incurred in using The Software.
Current United States copyright laws provide protection against the unauthorized, illegal distribution and/or redistribution, in part or in whole, of any copyrighted material -- including fonts**. Neither The Author, nor any authorized representative(s) of The Software will condone or accept liabily for any such illegal misuse or abuse of any such copyrighted material.
**Contact individual font manufacturers, vendors and licensers for explicit information regarding the legal use of any such copyrighted materials.
