Manual Main Type 8

MainType 8
© 2004 - 2018 High-Logic B.V. All rights reserved.

MainType Manual
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jurisdictions.
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While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this document, the publisher and the author assume no
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document or from the use of programs and source code that may accompany it. In no event shall the publisher and
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directly or indirectly by this document.
February 2018
Contents I
Table of Contents
Part I Getting Started

1 Welcome
...................................................................................................................................
to MainType 8 2
2 What's ...................................................................................................................................
New in MainType 8 3
3 Technical
...................................................................................................................................
Support 4
4 Registration
................................................................................................................................... 4
5 Credits................................................................................................................................... 6
Part II The User Interface

1 Overview
................................................................................................................................... 8
2 Panels ................................................................................................................................... 9
Font List .......................................................................................................................................................... 9
View s .......................................................................................................................................................... 11
Tag Search .......................................................................................................................................................... 14
Font Tags .......................................................................................................................................................... 15
Groups .......................................................................................................................................................... 17
Font Inform ation
.......................................................................................................................................................... 18
Font Integrity .......................................................................................................................................................... 20
Characters .......................................................................................................................................................... 21
Sam ple .......................................................................................................................................................... 22
Zoom .......................................................................................................................................................... 23
Part III Managing Fonts

1 Introduction
................................................................................................................................... 25
2 Font Folders
................................................................................................................................... 26
3 Install,...................................................................................................................................
Load, and Uninstall 29
4 Delete...................................................................................................................................
Fonts 31
5 Export...................................................................................................................................
font resources to file system 31
6 Rate Fonts
................................................................................................................................... 32
7 Tag Manager
................................................................................................................................... 33
8 Plug-ins
................................................................................................................................... 34
9 Import...................................................................................................................................
and Export Font Data 35
10 FmsConfig
................................................................................................................................... 35
11 Registry
...................................................................................................................................
Fixer 35
12 Invalid...................................................................................................................................
Font Resources 36
13 Ignored
...................................................................................................................................
Fonts 37
Part IV Printing Fonts

1 Print Options
................................................................................................................................... 40
I
II MainType Help
2 Print and
...................................................................................................................................
Print Preview 41
Part V HTML Web Export

1 Generate
...................................................................................................................................
Web-based Font Collection 44
Part VI Customizing MainType

1 Options
................................................................................................................................... 48
Appearance .......................................................................................................................................................... 48
Font Lists .......................................................................................................................................................... 49
Preview Text .......................................................................................................................................................... 50
Text Sam ples.......................................................................................................................................................... 51
Characters .......................................................................................................................................................... 52
Warnings .......................................................................................................................................................... 53
2 Layout................................................................................................................................... 54
3 Keyboard
...................................................................................................................................
Shortcuts 56
Part VII Troubleshooting

1 Troubleshooting
................................................................................................................................... 59
Part VIII Font Reference

1 Font Types
................................................................................................................................... 61
2 System
...................................................................................................................................
Fonts 62
3 Predefined
...................................................................................................................................
Variables 63
Index 68

Part
I
2 MainType Help
1 Getting Started
1.1 Welcome to MainType 8
Welcome to a new dimension in font management.

MainType is a powerful font manager for Windows that offers a straightforward and
easy-to-use interface to help you maintain your fonts.
It includes features for novice users who just want to view and install fonts as well as
advanced features for graphic designers and typographers. In order to find the right
fonts for your needs, the software includes filter and sort functionality as well as a font
information panel that reveals important typographic data. The groups panel helps you
quickly organize your font collection.
For your convenience the character grid shows all characters grouped in Unicode
blocks. Print (along with print preview) results in outstanding reports. The HTML export
wizard is able to output font information to HTML web pages.
MainType provides immediate system-wide font synchronization, with no need to
refresh font lists or reboot the computer after installing fonts. Unlike most other font
managers, MainType works even for users with restricted rights. This eliminates the
frustrating User Access Control (UAC) prompt when managing your fonts.
Add Fonts
MainType can manage all fonts located on your file system and network drives; just add
one or more font folders. To do this, select Add Font Folder from the Library menu, or
click the icon on the main tool bar. Select Font Folders from the Library menu to add,
remove, or modify them.
Make sure you have the latest version of MainType:

http://www.high-logic.com/

Getting Started 3
Even though a font manager makes it easy to maintain your font library, please be
aware that most fonts come with license restrictions including but not limited to the
number of users and/or computers to use and install fonts. It is your responsibility to
respect any copyright and license agreements.
1.2 What's New in MainType 8
New features in this version of MainType include:

• Support for variable fonts
• New icon set (and improved High DPI / Large Fonts support)
• New font properties (Classification, Panose, Kern, and OpenType Features)
• Updated the font foundry list
• New Adobe InDesign CC plugins
• New option to open font file location in explorer
• Enhanced delete fonts functionality
• Importing and exporting tags and ratings
Other features:
• Database driven for very fast access to font information
• Font categorization and family grouping
• User interface docking system allows for a highly customizable layout
• Export loaded fonts
• Drag and drop from Windows file explorer
• Font information panel that also allows you to compare font properties
• Advanced custom views
• Automatically install fonts feature
• Support for team synchronization through keep-in-sync folders
MainType is available in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. The 64-bit version is faster
and is able to make use of more memory which is important if you have a large font
library. We consider a library with over 50,000 (fifty thousand) fonts a large library, but
some of our customers have over 650,000 fonts which they happily manage with
MainType.
A complete list of current and previous changes can be found online:

4 MainType Help
http://www.high-logic.com/maintype/history.html
1.3 Technical Support

Online User Manual
The user manual is also available online:
http://www.high-logic.com/maintype/manual8/index.html
Forum
The forum is available to you for support and information about managing and
designing fonts. This forum has become a place where all users of MainType can share
their knowledge. Membership of the forum is free. There's a good chance other people
have asked the same questions as you, so you may be able to find the answers you
need. Feedback and suggestions are also welcome in the forum.
http://forum.high-logic.com/
Frequently Asked Questions

View the most frequently asked questions (and answers) about MainType here:
http://www.high-logic.com/maintype/faq.html
1.4 Registration
Free Edition
MainType runs in Free Edition mode, so some advanced features are disabled. The free
edition can only be used by a non-commercial entity for personal, educational and non-
commercial use. The one and only exception is during the evaluation period (for 30
days from the day that you install the software) in which the software may also be used
by a commercial entity without charge.

Getting Started 5
Why Register?
We offer two additional (paid) editions in case you want to use the font manager for
commercial purposes, require more advanced features, or if you have a large font
collection. The commercial editions also include support from our developers and
buying a license helps support our efforts to develop innovative products to best serve
your needs. Thank you for your support of MainType!
The online comparison chart shows all features included in each edition.
Standard Edition versus Professional Edition

The Standard Edition incorporates all features available in the Free Edition and also
includes these additional features:
• All future versions of MainType 8.x
• Direct e-mail support from the developers
• Can be used for commercial purposes
• Up to 10000 fonts in your font library
• Export fonts
• HTML export
The Professional Edition incorporates all features available in the Standard Edition
and also includes these additional features:
• Unlimited fonts in your font library
• Font registry fixer
• Font activation plugins
• User definable views
• Auto install fonts after synchronization
To Register
The quickest and most convenient way to register is online via credit card. Other
payment methods like checks and cash are also supported. For more details take a look
at our registration page:
http://www.high-logic.com/register.html

6 MainType Help
1.5 Credits
MainType contains several unmodified libraries that are available under the MPL.
• Virtual Treeview from http://soft-gems.net/;
• EasyListView from http://www.mustangpeak.net/

Part
II
8 MainType Help
2 The User Interface
2.1 Overview
The default layout of MainType will look like the image below.
With so many panels it might be a little overwhelming, but fortunately you can move,
reposition, resize, and even hide the panels. When you have all panels in place for a
specific task, do save the layout so that you can easily switch between specific layouts
as needed.
Show and hide panels

From the main menu, select View -> Panels to show or hide a panel.

The User Interface 9
See also:
Layout
2.2 Panels
2.2.1 Font List
Font List panel

The font list is one of the most important panels as it shows the list of fonts based on
the selected view or group. When the Active view is selected, it will show all active
fonts. Active fonts are either installed or loaded, thus available to all applications. The
toolbar contains a Preview Text combo box through which you can change the text
shown in the "Preview" column.

10 MainType Help
The status of each font is represented by a colored ball in the "State" column.
The font is not loaded and not installed
The font is installed and loaded
The font is loaded through MainType and can be unloaded
The font is installed, but not loaded
The font is loaded by an external application and MainType cannot determine where
it is located. The font cannot be unloaded through MainType.
At least one font of a family is loaded (only visible when family grouping is enabled)
By default, MainType displays eleven columns in the fonts panel. If you right-click on
any column header you can change the visibility of the columns and restore them to
their original size. If the name of a column is checked, it will appear in the panel. You
can change the width of each column by left clicking on the vertical bars between each
column and dragging it either left or right. To change the order of the columns left click
on the column header and drag it to the left or right. Left-click on any column to sort
the fonts.
To change font list related settings, select Options from the Tools menu and then click
the Font Lists tab. among other things, it allows you to show the preview of fonts in
red when the font is missing any of the characters needed for the preview text. This
powerful feature quickly tells you which fonts lack characters you require.
In the Options Dialog, on the Font Lists tab, you can enable/disable the preview of fonts
in red when the font is missing any of the characters needed for the preview text. This
helps find only fonts that contain the characters you need for a specific project.
The mouse wheel can be used to zoom in or out when the CTRL key is pressed. If you
also press the SHIFT key, the cell size won't change, but the character size will change.
To rest to the default sizes, select Reset Font Sizes from the View menu.
Note: To prevent your system from running out of resources, the 32 bit edition of
MainType will show at most 50000 fonts at once in the font list . MainType can easily

manage many more fonts, so if your font library contains more than 50000 fonts, do
consider tags, views, ratings, or groups to browse subsets of your collection, or install
and use the 64 bit edition of MainType as that edition doesn't have this limitation.
2.2.2 Views
Views panel
The views panel provides single-click access to a selection of fonts based on their font
properties.
Predefined views
MainType comes with several predefined views:
Active Fonts List of fonts currently installed and loaded on the system
Library Entire list of all fonts in your library.
Recently List of fonts added (indexed) to the font library during the last 7 days
Added
Top Rated List of fonts that have a rating of more than 4 stars
Fonts
Ungrouped List of fonts that have not been categorized in groups yet.
Fonts
Unrated Fonts List of fonts that have not been rated yet
Untagged List of fonts that do not have any tags yet
Fonts

12 MainType Help
Accessed All fonts installed, loaded, and uninstalled today

Today
Recently All fonts installed, loaded, and uninstalled during the last 7 days
Accessed
Serif List of fonts that are internally marked as serif
Sans Serif List of fonts that are internally marked as sans serif
Custom views
It is also possible to define your own views so that you can view a selection of your
fonts with just a single click. To create a new view, click the "Create a custom view"
button and the View Editor will be shown:
Modify the available properties to suit your needs and click the save button to store
your view. If modifying of the properties is too slow, you can disable the auto-refresh
by clicking the appropriate icon.

For example if you want a view of all active symbol fonts; set Installed to Yes, Loaded to
Yes, and Symbol to Yes. The other fields should remain empty so that those criteria will
be ignored.
The Resource field can be tricky, as MainType only updates this field upon processing
(adding or refreshing) a font folder. So if you remove a font folder from the Font
Folders dialog, MainType won't be able to update this field for all fonts within such a
folder.
Note: The Custom Views feature is only available in the Professional Edition of
MainType.

14 MainType Help
2.2.3 Tag Search
Tag Search panel
The tag search panel allows you to quickly find fonts based on the tags you assigned to
fonts.
To begin a search, simply click on one of the balls in front of the tags (or select the item
and use the toolbar buttons or context menu). The view will now show all fonts that
contain this tag, and the Tag Search panel will be updated with only the tags still
applicable.
It is also possible to exclude a tag from a search, this way you can search for fonts that
have a certain tag, but do not have another tag. To exclude a tag, press the Control key
on your keyboard while clicking the ball, or select the tag and use the red ball on the
toolbar or context menu.
The professional edition allows you to store your search as a Custom View by clicking
the rightmost button on the toolbar. This way you can quickly repeat the search at a
later time.

2.2.4 Font Tags
Font Tags panel (GUI)
The Font Tags panel allows you to quickly add one or more tags to the current selected
font(s). To add a tag to a font, simply click on the balls to the left, or select one or more
tags and use the toolbar buttons or the context menu to add or remove them.
To add a new tag, use the Add Tag toolbar button, or use the Tag Manager.
When you have multiple fonts selected that do not all have the same tags the ball will
be green for tags that are set on all the fonts, and gray balls for tags that are set on one
or more fonts. When a ball is gray, and you want to add this tag on all fonts simply click
the ball as you would normally. To remove a tag with a gray ball, keep the Control key
pressed on the keyboard while clicking the ball.

16 MainType Help
Font Tags panel (Text)
It is also possible to add tags by using a text based editor. To hide/show the text based
editor use the toolbar button on the panel. To add new tags, simply type the new tag.
When you have multiple fonts selected that do not all have the same tags, the tag will
be prefixed with an asterisk "*". To add this tag to all selected fonts, remove the asterisk.
To remove this tag from all selected fonts, remove the tag and asterisk from the text-
editor.
To apply changes to tags entered in the text editor, simply press the Enter key on your
keyboard.
See also:
Tag Manager

2.2.5 Groups
Groups panel
The groups panel allows you to organize your fonts collection. Some people prefer to
make groups for specific projects while others like to divide their collection into groups
like Serif, Handwritten and Symbol. This and more is all possible with the groups panel.
You can load/install/uninstall fonts through the groups toolbar, the main toolbar or by
using the right-click context menu.
MainType 8 has support for two kind of groups. Both have there own benefits:
Virtual Groups
Virtual groups will not affect any fonts or folders on your system. This allows you to put
the same font in multiple groups without taking up any additional disk space. If you
don't care about the exact file location of your fonts, then virtual groups are the
recommended way to manage your fonts in MainType.
Keep in Sync Groups

Keep in sync groups are special groups that represent a folder structure on the file
system. These types of groups can't be moved, deleted or renamed from within
MainType. To perform these types of operation use your File Explorer and synchronize
the root folder in MainType. Adding fonts to such groups will actually copy them into
the corresponding folder on your computer.

18 MainType Help
Drag and Drop

The groups panel supports drag and drop operations. You can drag groups to change
their position, or drag fonts from any view into a group. The normal operation is to
copy fonts, but you can press the CTRL key while drag/dropping to move fonts.
Note: It is not possible to drag and drop Keep In Sync folders. You can however drag
fonts from any view into Keep In Sync folders to physically put fonts in those folders. If
a Keep in Sync folder is selected, you can also drag and drop font files from Windows
file explorer into the font view.
Recursive
The recursive option allows you to view fonts from a folder and all it's subfolders in a
single view.
See also:
Font Folders
2.2.6 Font Information
Font information panel

The font information panel reveals important typographic data, like font name and
weight. some fonts contain more information than other fonts, due to differences in
font types and because font designers can, to some extent, decide what information is
stored in a font.

The resources section reveals where MainType found a font on your file system.
Note: Even though the Embedding and Copyright fields give a good indication on how
you may use a font, you should always read the license agreements you received with
your fonts or contact the vendor to ensure that you do not violate any restrictions.
Font information comparison

The font information panel can also be used to compare font information between
multiple fonts (up to 5).
To add a font to the comparison, select it in the font view and click the icon to "lock"
it into the comparison. When you click another font it will be compared to the locked

20 MainType Help
fonts. To remove a font from the comparison click the icon. It is also possible to add
fonts to the comparison by dragging them from a font list onto the comparison panel.
2.2.7 Font Integrity
Font integrity panel

The font integrity panel shows hints and warnings about issues found in the font that
do not comply with the TTF/OTF/Type-1 specifications. If you are the creator of a font
that shows warnings it is highly recommended to fix them. Most common issues are
automatically fixed by just opening and exporting such font in a professional font editor
like FontCreator.

2.2.8 Characters
Character grid panel

The character grid shows all characters available in the selected font. For your
convenience, the characters are grouped into Unicode blocks. The caption bar of this
panel contains a Unicode Block combo box, two buttons to go to the previous or next
available Unicode block and a character size combo box.
The mouse wheel can be used to zoom in or out when the CTRL key is pressed. If you
also press the SHIFT key, the cell size won't change, but the character size will change.
To reset to the default sizes, select Reset Font Sizes from the View menu.

22 MainType Help
When you click on a character, a panel with an enlarged view of the selected character
will pop-up.
Glyphs
This panel also allows you to view all glyphs. To enable this, click the left "Unicode"
button on the toolbar.
Find a character
Use the search button to find a character. You can provide a code point in either
decimal or hexadecimal notation (e.g. 64 or $40 to find character @). You can also type
(or copy and paste) a single character.
2.2.9 Sample
Sample panel
The sample panel shows some sample text formatted as the selected font. The caption
bar of this panel contains a Text Sample combo box, a font size control and buttons to
change the foreground and background colors.
You can easily maintain several custom text samples. Either go to the Options dialog, or
right-click inside the text area, and select Edit Text Samples.

2.2.10 Zoom
Zoom panel
The zoom panel shows an enlarged view of the character that is selected in the
character panel. The caption bar of this panel contains a zoom size combo box and
buttons to change the foreground and background colors.
The mouse wheel can be used to zoom in or out when the CTRL key is pressed.

Part
III
Managing Fonts 25
3 Managing Fonts
3.1 Introduction
Introduction - Database
MainType is a database driven font manager. This means that most of the information
about a font such as the Font Name, Family, Style, Version and Foundry are stored in a
database. The use of a database makes accessing font information very fast and allows
for easy subselections (for example: list only the regular fonts). When you add folders
to the MainType library they will be scanned for font files and the font information will
be extracted and stored in the database. This process, called Indexing can take from a
few minutes up to several hours depending on the number of fonts.
Introduction - Vault
MainType also makes use of a so called Vault, this is a place containing a single copy of
each font you add to the library. The vault is used to ensure that you'll be able to install
and load your fonts, even if you no longer have a copy on disk.
Because we use a vault, there are several things you need to know:
- When removing a font folder, the fonts remain available in MainType, even if you
delete the folder from disk.
- When you add or edit a font in one of your font folders the changes are not
automatically picked up by MainType, you need to click the "Refresh" button.
If you have a lot of fonts, the vault and database can take up a lot of disk space. It is
possible to change the folder where the vault and database are stored through the
FmsConfig utility.

26 MainType Help
3.2 Font Folders
Font Folders
The Font Folders dialog shows a list of folders that are processed by MainType.
Within the Font Folders dialog click the Add button to add fonts to your MainType font
library. Click the Browse button to select a folder that contains (part of) your font
collection. Use the Refresh All button to let MainType look for new and edited fonts in
these folders. If you want to have groups based on the folder structure, check the
"Create groups after indexing" box. You will then get virtual groups that match the
actual folder structure on your file system, but they won't stay in sync.

Managing Fonts 27
Keep MainType Groups in sync with your File System
If you want to keep a specific folder in sync with MainType, do select the "Keep in Sync"
option. Keep in sync groups are special groups that represent a folder structure on the
file system. These types of groups can't be moved, deleted or renamed from within
MainType. To perform these types of operation use your File Explorer and synchronize
the root folder in MainType. Adding fonts to such groups will actually copy them into
the corresponding folder on your computer.
Adding/modifying Font Folders
Index recursively When checked, look for fonts in the specified folder and all
subfolders, else only look for fonts in the specified folder
Create groups When checked create a group structure of the directory layout in the
after indexing groups panel.

28 MainType Help
Keep in sync When checked create a "Keep in sync" structure of the directory
layout in the groups panel. Every time this entry is refreshed (due to
interval or manually) the current file system structure is updated to
the groups.
Synchronization Interval in minutes for refreshing this "Keep in sync" folder. A value
Interval of 0 will not automatically sync, but only via the Library Refresh
option.
Automatically This powerful feature allows you to automatically install fonts found
install all fonts... in a specific folder. If a similar font is already installed, MainType will
first uninstall it.
Smart install In combination with Automatically install all fonts this will
ensure that similar fonts are first uninstalled, before installing the
fonts from the folder.
Team Synchronization
MainType can be used to easily add fonts to several computers. You can use a shared
network folder, a Dropbox folder, or Google Drive folder. For each computer add this
folder to MainType, and make sure the "Keep in sync" option is checked. Set a
synchronization interval so MainType will continue to automatically scan the folder and
add all fonts to the MainType font library. You can also check the "Automatically install
all fonts..." option. That ensures all team members have the same set of fonts installed.
If one person updates fonts in the shared network folder, all team members will get the
updates automatically installed.
Note: You can also drag and drop a single folder from your Windows file explorer onto
the main toolbar.
Note: It is strongly recommended not to add the Windows fonts folder as "Keep in
sync", because this folder is managed by windows.

Managing Fonts 29
3.3 Install, Load, and Uninstall
Active Fonts
In MainType a font is considered active when it is either installed or loaded.
An installed font is both added to the system font table and to the font related part of
the registry. All fonts in the system font table are available to all applications. Due to the
entry in the registry an installed font is always available even after a reboot.
A loaded font (also known as a temporarily installed font) is added to the system font
table, but not to the font related part of the registry. Because all fonts in the system font
table are available to all applications, loaded fonts (just like installed fonts) are available
to all applications. However loaded fonts are no longer available after the system is
rebooted.
Select Multiple Fonts

To select multiple fonts do one of the following:
To select consecutive fonts, click the first font, press and hold down SHIFT, and
then click the last font.
To select nonconsecutive fonts, press and hold down CTRL, and then click each
font.
To select all the fonts in the list, on the Edit menu, click Select All.
Install, Load, or Uninstall Fonts

To install, load, or uninstall fonts, select one or more fonts from the fonts panel and
then select the appropriate item from the File menu or press one of the toolbar buttons
on the fonts panel. A font operation popup is shown while the software is processing
the font tasks. This is useful for several reasons:
1. Installing fonts can take some time, especially when you are installing multiple fonts
at once.
2. Some fonts might fail to install.
3. System fonts are protected by MainType and cannot be uninstalled or unloaded.

30 MainType Help
If any of the font operations fail, a warning icon will appear in the right corner of the
statusbar: when you click on the text a dialog will show why
the operation(s) failed:
When you uninstall an installed or loaded font, it will be removed from both the system
font table and the registry. As a result, the font is no longer available. In case the font is
used in an application, it will most likely show a substitute font. The original file(s) are
removed from Windows fonts folder. If "Warn when uninstalling fonts" is checked in
the Warnings tab of the Options dialog, a warning dialogue will be shown. You can
turn off this warning if you wish.
The performance of your system is affected by the number of active fonts. We

recommend that you have no more than 500 fonts installed. To ensure that you can use
as many fonts as you like, organize your fonts into groups and load, install, or uninstall
them when needed.

Managing Fonts 31
3.4 Delete Fonts
Delete Fonts
To delete fonts, select Delete from the Edit menu or press the DEL key. MainType
provides several options as shown in the Delete Fonts dialog:
Note: If you delete a font that is part of an OpenType Collection or a member of an OpenType
Variable Font, the other fonts within the same font resource will be deleted as well.
See also:
Ignored Fonts
3.5 Export font resources to file system
Export font resources to file system

Fonts that are in the MainType font library are always available through MainType. So if
one or more fonts are no longer on your file system (or you forgot where they are) you
can select the font(s) in the font view and right-click one of them to select "Export...".
You are then asked to select a folder where you want MainType to save the font files on
your file system.

32 MainType Help
Note: This export feature is not available in the Free Edition of MainType.
3.6 Rate Fonts
Rate Fonts
MainType allows you to give your fonts a rating so that you can easily sort your fonts
from good to bad or vice versa. You can also categorize your fonts based on the font
rating you assigned. The predefined view "Unrated Fonts" gives you a quick overview of
the fonts you have not rated yet.
To rate one or multiple fonts at once, select the fonts, right-click on one of the selected
fonts and choose one of the ratings from the "Font Rating" submenu. You can also
directly rate single fonts by clicking the appropriate rating star in the font overview
after you have selected it..

Managing Fonts 33
3.7 Tag Manager
Tag Manager
The tag manager allows you to manage your tags. Here you can rename, add new,
delete and merge tags.
New Tag Add a new tag
Rename Rename the selected tag. (note: tag names must be unique)
Merge Tags Allows you to merge 2 selected tags into one.
Delete Delete the selected tag(s)
Delete Unused Delete all tags that are not used on any font.

34 MainType Help
3.8 Plug-ins
MainType Plug-ins
MainType Plug-ins allow you to automatically activate missing fonts from other
programs without even having to start MainType.
You can install, uninstall and view the status of the plug-ins via the MainType plug-in
manager.
Note: The Plugins are only available in the Professional Edition of MainType.
Note: If you want specific fonts to become available in your other software, like
Microsoft Word, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Illustrator, etc, then there is no need for a
plugin. Just select the font(s) you need and click the Install button at the top of the font
view panel or if you wish to install all fonts in a group click the Install button at the top
of the Groups panel, and it will activate all listed fonts. So even without plugins, fonts
installed with MainType will become available to all your other software.

Managing Fonts 35
3.9 Import and Export Font Data
Import and Export Font Data

MainType allows you to import and export font ratings and font tags. This allows you to
share your ratings and tags between several computers.
Exporting ratings and tags is considered a partial backup. You need to use FmsConfig if
you want to make a full back of your font library.
See also:
FmsConfig
3.10 FmsConfig
FmsConfig
MainType comes with a font management service configuration utility that allows you
to make backups of the database and the vault. You can find it in Windows start menu,
but for your convenience you can also access it through MainType's main menu (Tools
-> Create and Restore Backups).
We recommend to make backups regularly; preferably not on the same hard disk.
3.11 Registry Fixer
Registry Fixer
The Registry fixer allows you to repair errors in the Windows font registry. Registry
issues can cause Windows to boot slowly, make some fonts unavailable, and it can even
cause computer crashes.
To repair individual items, select the items you want to repair and click "Repair
Selected". To repair all items at once click "Repair All".
MainType will regularly check the registry for issues and will notify you via the
Notification Bar if it has found new issues.

36 MainType Help
Note: The Registry Fixer feature is only available in the Professional Edition of
MainType.
3.12 Invalid Font Resources
Invalid Font Resources

The invalid fonts dialog lists fonts that are considered invalid. Because Windows will not
be able to use these fonts it is recommended to delete these invalid resources and get a
valid copy from the vendor.
To delete individual items, select the items you want to remove and click "Delete
File(s)". To delete all items at once click "Delete All Files".
Note: Invalid resources are not stored in the vault and these files cannot be recovered
after you delete them.

Managing Fonts 37
Tip: If the font license permits it, you can also try to fix the font with a font editor. Most
common issues are automatically fixed by just opening and exporting an invalid font in
FontCreator.
3.13 Ignored Fonts
Ignored Fonts
If you no longer wish to see specific fonts in MainType, you can select them and then
click Edit -> Ignore from the main menu. These fonts will not be deleted, but will be
added to the list of ignored fonts. If you no longer wish to ignore a font you need to
remove it from the ignore list.
Note: When you choose to ignore a font, it is removed from all groups. Also all user added
information such as tags and rating will be deleted for that font.

38 MainType Help
To unignore individual items, select the items you want to repair and click "Unignore
Selected". To unignore all items at once click "Unignore All".
See also:
Delete Fonts

Part
IV
40 MainType Help
4 Printing Fonts
4.1 Print Options

Before printing fonts you need to choose between three predefined reports. This dialog
will always appear when you choose to Print or Print Preview fonts. It has several
pages that contain several print related settings. Click the Setup button to change the
selected printer.
Print Options - General
Range Option for printing/previewing all fonts or only selected fonts.
Print What Select the report you want to print/ preview.
Print Printing fonts can require a lot of memory. Split the print job
to prevent your printer from running out of memory.

Printing Fonts 41
Print Options - Text

You can set custom text here. You can use predefined font variables.
Print Options - Margins

Sets the printing area of the page. The printer will only print within these margins.
Print Options - Headers and Footers

You can set custom header and footers here. You can use predefined page print variables.
See also:
Print and Print Preview
4.2 Print and Print Preview
Before you start printing your fonts, it might be wise to first display a preview of your
printout on the computer screen. MainType's Print Preview is extremely fast.

42 MainType Help
Print Preview
Print
Use one of the Print options:
File menu: Print
Standard toolbar button: Print
Print Preview toolbar button: Print
When you have selected the Print function, you will see a common Print dialog. Select
the printer and options you want, and then click OK.
See also:
Print Options

Part
V
44 MainType Help
5 HTML Web Export
5.1 Generate Web-based Font Collection

With MainType you can easily export font data to web pages (HTML) as shown below.
Note: HTML web export is not available in the Free Edition of MainType.
Range Option for exporting all fonts or only selected fonts.

HTML Web Export 45
Web Page Generation
Select the Select the folder where the template files are located. Usually there is
template folder no need to change this, unless you have moved the template files or
made a custom template. You can use predefined font variables in the
templates.
Select the Select the folder where you want to save the exported files.
output folder
Maximum Set the maximum number of fonts per page.

number of fonts
per page
Overwrite Ensures that exported files are saved.

existing files
(.html .gif...

46 MainType Help
Font Preview Image Generation
Width and Set the dimension of the preview images.

Height
Text The preview text. You can use predefined font variables here.
Font Size The font size used to create the preview images.
Left margin Sets the left margin of the preview text by specifying the number
of pixels.
Foreground and Use these to change the colors of the preview image.
Background
Transparent Check this when you want transparent images.
When finished Shows the main page of the font export in your default web
display in browser.
default...

Part
VI
48 MainType Help
6 Customizing MainType
6.1 Options
6.1.1 Appearance
You can customize MainType through the Options window (Select Options from the
Tools menu).
Font Display Allows you to change the quality of the previews in the fonts
list, character grid, sample and zoom panel.
Value Selects the display format for values in the character grid and
Formatting zoom panel.
Start and Close Enable/Disable the display of the welcome dialog.

Allow MainType to minimize to the system tray instead of the
taskbar.

Customizing MainType 49
6.1.2 Font Lists

To change font list related settings, select Options from the Tools menu and then click
the Font Lists tab.
Use row striping Enable/Disable row striping in the font lists
Show horizontal grid Enable/Disable horizontal grid lines

lines
Show vertical grid lines Enable/Disable vertical grid lines
Highlight sorted column Enable/Disable the current sorted column showing in

a slightly different color
Always show font type Enable/Disable the visibility of the font type icon
icon when the font type column shows the text

50 MainType Help
Append "fonts" and Enable/Disable the <n> fonts / <n> families texts on
"families" text to category rows
categories
Append "fonts" and Enable/Disable the <n> fonts text on family rows
"families" text to
categories
Show preview with Enable/Disable the preview of fonts in red when the
missing characters in font is missing any of the characters needed for the
red preview text
Use windows theme Use the windows theme colors instead of the
colors MainType theme colors for the font overview
6.1.3 Preview Text

You can customize the preview text through the Options window (Select Options from
the Tools menu and then click the Preview Text tab).

Font preview The list of available preview text items. The items are used as
text preview text in the Fonts panel. You can add or delete preview
text items and change the order in the list through the Move
Up and Move Down buttons.
Title This is the title of the selected font preview text. It is used in the
combo box located in the upper-right corner of the fonts panel.
Use this field to change the text.
Preview text This text is used as preview text in the font list. You can use
predefined font variables.
6.1.4 Text Samples

To change the text samples, select Options from the Tools menu and then click the
Text Samples tab.

52 MainType Help
Samples The list of available text samples. The items are used in the
sample panel. You can add, delete preview text items and reset
them to the factory defaults.
Title This is the title of the selected text sample. It is used in the combo
box located in the upper-right corner of the sample panel.
Sample text This text is used as text in the sample panel.
6.1.5 Characters
Select Options from the Tools menu and then click the Characters tab to view and
change character related settings.
Character Grid Make character code point and ASCII character visible in the
character grid.

Zoom Make character code point, ASCII character and character

name visible in the zoom panel.
Copy to Sets the default behavior when you copy a character from the
Clipboard character grid to the clipboard.
Copy as Image Use this setting to change the size of the image that is copied
to Clipboard to the clipboard when you copy a character from the character
grid as an image to the clipboard.
Action for Set the default action for double-click in the character grid.
double-click in
Character Grid
6.1.6 Warnings
To show, enable or disable specific warning messages or notifications, select Options from
the Tools menu and then click the Warnings and Notifications tab. MainType
provides several confirmation dialogs to prevent accidental execution of very resource
intensive actions.

54 MainType Help
Notify me of new Enable/Disable the yellow notification bar when

registry issues MainType detects a new registry issue
Notify me when Enable/Disable the yellow notification bar when

FmsProxy is not MainType detects that the FmsProxy is not running.
available (Note that when the FmsProxy is not running, fonts
located on the network will not be accessible)
6.2 Layout
The layout of MainType can be modified very easily by dragging and docking the
panels. All panels except the main fonts view can be hidden, floating or even tabbed
together to your liking. When you start dragging one of the panels a cross will appear
on the current panel indicating where the panel can be docked. If you hover your
mouse over one of the icons, a blue rectangle will show where the panel will be docked.
You can also use one of the 4 dock icons that appear on the top, left, right and bottom
of the main window, this will dock the panel over the entire width or height.

Releasing the panel on the center icon will created a set of tabs so that you do not have
the panel always visible, but can easily access it by clicking the appropriate tab. To keep
a panel floating above the main form simply release your mouse button while not
hovering over any of the docking icons.
Dock positions available while Dock icon appearing on top of the

hovering over another panel main form while dragging a panel
You can save multiple layouts which can be loaded through the view menu or via a
shortcut.
After saving a layout you can view its properties in the layout manager:
Here you can rename the layout, assign a shortcut, load or delete your layouts. Please
note that only 5 layouts can have a shortcut at a time (CTRL+ 1 through 5)

56 MainType Help
6.3 Keyboard Shortcuts

You can quickly accomplish tasks that you perform frequently by using these keyboard
shortcut keys.
Press To
Ctrl+A Select all
Ctrl+C Copy
Ctrl+F Quick Search
Ctrl+P Print fonts
Ctrl+R Refresh font folders
Ctrl+V Paste
Ctrl+X Cut
Ctrl+1 - Ctrl+5 Load user defined layout
Del Delete
F1 Help
F6 Toggle Characters panel
F7 Toggle Sample panel
F8 Toggle Zoom panel
F9 Toggle Tag Search Panel
Ctrl+F6 Toggle Groups panel
Ctrl+F7 Toggle Views panel

Press To
Shift+F6 Toggle Font Information panel
Shift+F7 Toggle Font Integrity panel
Shift+F9 Toggle Font Tags panel

Part
VII
Troubleshooting 59
7 Troubleshooting
7.1 Troubleshooting
MainType is designed to run without problems, however under some circumstances
you might receive an error message. Here you will find solutions for some known
problems:
Disk full notification

MainType requires disk space to store the font vault and the font information. If you
receive a notification that you ran out of disk space, please free up some disk space by
running the windows Disk Cleanup Utility or by emptying your windows Recycle Bin. If
you have multiple disks or partitions, you can also consider moving the font vault to a
different location by using the FmsConfig utility.

Part
VIII
Font Reference 61
8 Font Reference
8.1 Font Types

Over the years support for several different font types has been developed and evolved:
Raster Font (Legacy)

In a raster font each glyph is defined as a little bitmap designed for a specific resolution.
They are not scalable like vector based fonts. Nowadays raster fonts are hardly used,
except for specific tasks like booting your system, running MS-DOS-based applications
and onscreen display in user interface elements.
Vector Font (Legacy)

Vector fonts contain glyphs that are defined as a set of points that define line segments.
Although they can be scaled to any size, both quality and performance are poor
compared to modern font types like those mentioned below. Your system might still
contain one or two of these fonts but we strongly suggest to ignore them.
PostScript Type 1 Font (Legacy)

Adobe launched PostScript Type 1 together with PostScript Type 3 in 1984. This
scalable font technology became very popular among desktop publishers, but is now
being phased out.
TrueType Font (Legacy)

TrueType is a scalable font technology designed by Apple Computer, available since
1991 (Apple's Macintosh System 7). Apple traded the technology with Microsoft and
became available on Microsoft Windows 3.1 in 1992.
OpenType Font Collection (formerly known as TrueType Collection)

An OpenType Font Collection file is one or more OpenType fonts combined into one
file. Usually these fonts share many glyphs in common which result in a significant
saving of file space.

62 MainType Help
OpenType Font
The OpenType font format is an extension of the TrueType font format, allowing
support for PostScript font data. Technically there are two OpenType Font flavors;
TrueType based (contains glyph outlines made out of lines and quadratic Bézier curves)
and PostScript based (contains glyph outlines made out of lines and cubic Bézier
curves). OpenType was developed jointly by Microsoft and Adobe to produce a hybrid
between Type 1 and TrueType fonts, with additional features that work on Macintosh
and Windows computers. OpenType fonts can include OpenType Layout Feature tables,
which allow font creators to design better international and high-end typographic fonts.
OpenType Color Font

In 2013 color support was added to the OpenType specification. There are several color
formats, and FontCreator is the first commercial font editor with support for the new
multi-color font extension which Microsoft added in Windows 8.1.
OpenType Font Variations (also known as Variable Font)

In 2016 support for font variations was added to the OpenType specification. It allows
multiple font faces within a font family in a single font resource, thus for example thin,
regular, bold, and heavy along with condensed and expanded can be included in a
single font file, and additionally, it allows for continuous variation along the included
design axes.
8.2 System Fonts

System fonts are critical for your system, without them your system might become
unstable. Within MainType you are not allowed to uninstall, unload or delete active
system fonts. Although Microsoft has no public list of such fonts, MainType identifies
these fonts as system fonts:
Font Family
Arial
Calibri
Cambria

Font Reference 63
Font Family
Consolas
Courier New
Georgia
Marlett
Segoe MDL2 Assets
Segoe UI
Segoe UI Emoji
Segoe UI Historic
Segoe UI Symbol
Tahoma
Times New Roman
Verdana
8.3 Predefined Variables
Common font variables

These variables can be used in several places where variables are supported, including
preview text, print, and font export.
Variable Content of the variable

{FONT_NAME} The name of the font, for example Times
New Roman Bold Italic
{FONT_FAMILY} The font family name of the font, for

example Times New Roman

64 MainType Help

{FONT_STYLE} The style of the font, for example Bold Italic
{FONT_VERSION} The version of the font, for example Version

2.90
{FONT_TYPE} The font type, for example OpenType font

with TrueType outlines
{FONT_EMBEDDING} The font embedding, for example Installable.
{FONT_WEIGHT} The font weight, for example Bold
{FONT_WIDTH} The font width, for example Condensed
{FONT_FILE_SIZE} The size of the font file, for example 48 KB.
{FONT_FILE_SIZE_BYTES} The size of the font file in bytes, for example

3662.
{FONT_GLYPHS} The number of glyphs
{FONT_CHARS} The number of characters
{FONT_FOUNDRY} The font foundry
Additional font variables for Print and HTML Export

These variables can also be used in print and font export.

{FONT_PANOSE} The font PANOSE value in hexadecimal
format, for example 2B66222324
{FONT_CLASSIFICATION} The classification as defined by the font

designer
{FONT_COPYRIGHT} The font copyright information

Font Reference 65

{FONT_COPYRIGHT_100} The font copyright information, limited to
100 characters, at most
{FONT_COPYRIGHT_150} The font copyright information, limited to

{FONT_TRADEMARK} The font trademark information
{FONT_TRADEMARK_100} The font trademark information, limited to

{FONT_TRADEMARK_150} The font trademark information, limited to

{FONT_DESIGNER} Link to the font designer
{FONT_VENDOR} Link to the font vendor
{FONT_GROUPS} All groups containing this font separated by

a "-". Excluding the parent groups
{FONT_GROUPS_FULL} All groups containing this font separated by

a "-". Including the parent groups
{FONT_TAGS} The tags assigned to this font
Predefined web export variables

These variables can be used in template file mainpage.htf.

{FONT_COUNT} The total number of fonts in the web export
{GEN_DATE_TIME} The date and time that the web export was
initiated
{NAV_ALPHABET} Displays a navigation bar
These variables can be used in template file fontpage.htf.

66 MainType Help

{CUR_SUB_COL} Display the current navigation id
{FONT_COUNT} The total number of fonts in the web export
{FONT_LIST} A list of fonts that is composed with

template fontitem.htf
{TITLE} The title for the specific page
{NAV_ALPHABET} Displays a navigation bar
{NAV_SUB_PAGES} Displays a navigation bar for sub pages
Variables used in template fontitem.htf include the predefined font variables mentioned
earlier as well as these variables:

{FONT_PREVIEW_REL} The relative URI of the font preview image
{FONT_TYPE_REL} The relative URI of the font type image
{WEB_EXPORT_FONT_ID} In the scope of the web export, this is a

unique id. In the default template it is used
as anchor name
Predefined page print variables

All date and time variables use the corresponding date and time formats set in the
Windows configuration on the computer on which you are running MainType.

{DATE_TIME} The current date and time
{DATE} The current date
{TIME} The current time
{PAGE_NUMBER} The number of the current page

Font Reference 67

{NUMBER_OF_PAGES} The total number pages
{TITLE} The title of the selected report

68 MainType Help
TrueType Font Collections 61
Index Uninstall
Unload 29
29
Vector 61
-B- -G-
Backup 35
Groups 17, 26
-C- -H-
Characters 21, 52
Code point 21 Hexadecimal 48
Comparison 18 HTML Export 44
Credits 6
Custom Views 11
-I-
-D- Indexing 25
Invalid Font Resources 36
Database 25
Decimal 48
Delete Fonts 31 -K-
Keep in Sync 17, 26
-F-
Features 2 -L-
File location 18 Layout Manager 54
Find
Character 21
Folder Refresh 26 -M-
Folders 26, 48
Font Integrity 20 MainType
Font Tags 15 Buying 4
Font Types 61 Editions 4
Fonts 9, 49 Getting Help 4
Active 29 Manual 4
Color 61 User Interface 8
Drag and Drop 17 Manual
Export 31 PDF 4
Install 29 Margins 40
Load 29
OpenType 61
OpenType Font Collections 61
-N-
Raster 61 New Features 3
System 29
Temporarily 29
TrueType 61

Index 69
-P- -W-
Panels Warnings 53
Characters 21 Web Export 44
Font Information 18 Welcome Dialog 48
Font Integrity 20
Groups 17
Hide 8 -Z-
Sample 22
Zoom 23
Show 8
View 11
Zoom 23
Plug-ins 34
Predefined Variables 63
Preview 9, 50
Print 40, 41
Print Preview 41
-R-
Rating 32
Register 4
Registry Fixer 35, 37
Remove Fonts 31
-S-
Sample 22, 51
Search
Character 21
Shortcut 56
Support 4
System Fonts 62
System Tray 48
-T-
Tag Manager 33
Tag Search 14
Tagging 14, 15, 33
Tags 14, 15, 33
Team Synchronization 26

Manual Main Type 8

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MainType 8

© 2004 - 2018 High-Logic B.V. All rights reserved.

© 2004 - 2018 High-Logic B.V. All rights reserved.

MainType is a trademark of High-Logic.

Part I Getting Started

Part II The User Interface

Part III Managing Fonts

Part IV Printing Fonts

© 2004 - 2018 High-Logic B.V. All rights reserved.

Part V HTML Web Export

Part VI Customizing MainType

Part VII Troubleshooting

Part VIII Font Reference

© 2004 - 2018 High-Logic B.V. All rights reserved.

1.1 Welcome to MainType 8

Welcome to a new dimension in font management.

Make sure you have the latest version of MainType:

© 2004 - 2018 High-Logic B.V. All rights reserved.

1.2 What's New in MainType 8

New features in this version of MainType include:

© 2004 - 2018 High-Logic B.V. All rights reserved.

1.3 Technical Support

Frequently Asked Questions

© 2004 - 2018 High-Logic B.V. All rights reserved.

Standard Edition versus Professional Edition

© 2004 - 2018 High-Logic B.V. All rights reserved.

© 2004 - 2018 High-Logic B.V. All rights reserved.

2 The User Interface

Show and hide panels

© 2004 - 2018 High-Logic B.V. All rights reserved.

Font List panel

© 2004 - 2018 High-Logic B.V. All rights reserved.

© 2004 - 2018 High-Logic B.V. All rights reserved.

© 2004 - 2018 High-Logic B.V. All rights reserved.

Accessed All fonts installed, loaded, and uninstalled today

© 2004 - 2018 High-Logic B.V. All rights reserved.

© 2004 - 2018 High-Logic B.V. All rights reserved.

2.2.3 Tag Search

Tag Search panel

© 2004 - 2018 High-Logic B.V. All rights reserved.

2.2.4 Font Tags

Font Tags panel (GUI)

© 2004 - 2018 High-Logic B.V. All rights reserved.

Font Tags panel (Text)

© 2004 - 2018 High-Logic B.V. All rights reserved.

Keep in Sync Groups

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Drag and Drop

2.2.6 Font Information

Font information panel

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Font information comparison

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2.2.7 Font Integrity

Font integrity panel

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Character grid panel

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© 2004 - 2018 High-Logic B.V. All rights reserved.

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© 2004 - 2018 High-Logic B.V. All rights reserved.

3.2 Font Folders

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Keep MainType Groups in sync with your File System