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Help site FontLab 8

FontLab has been the go-to app for pro typeface designers to make smooth and consistent curves, comfortably tweak, space and kern a typeface, and then export technically solid fonts in any format. New FontLab 8.3 has 400 improvements over FontLab 8.0, 800 improvements over FontLab 7, and 1,300 improvements over FontLab VI. It’s easier to learn and use, it’s better, and it’s faster. Used by thousands of font professionals worldwide, FontLab 8 is our biggest upgrade ever! See what’s new in 8.3!

New With FontLab 8, we’ve revised and modernized every aspect of our powerful, versatile font editor. Discover the new dark UI theme, adjustable Stroke and Brush sketching, polished drawing and editing, non-destructive transformations with Delta, visual and numeric measurement, glyph building with Skin and variable components, spacing and kerning with mouse and trackpad, batch font export and Actions sets, revamped color and gradients, plus support for .glyphs 3, FontForge, COLRv1, and Python 3.

New In FontLab 8.3, we’ve gone even further! Just starting? Switching from another font editor? Widgets give you familiar, clean and easy access to the essential properties of a glyph, component or selection. Each contour, element or layer is just a hover glance away. Busy drawing? Unit grid helps you find your bearings in high zoom. Snapping is instant or relaxed, as you wish. Your italic angle gets full respect as you center or align. New Mac? Enjoy massive up to 2× speedups. FontLab expert? Match Moves shifts one point on all masters. Your glyph can repeat in multiple places, and ǵét́ś á (truly variable) ḿáŕḱ preview. You can open and export sources in Git-friendly .glyphspackage format. Export post-processing can re-organize the files, run QA checks, build extra files, and push to Git!

What’s new in FontLab 8 New

New UI, adjustable sketching, polished drawing & editing, non-destructive transformations, better measurement, better glyph building, spacing & kerning, batch font export, gradients, .glyphs 3, Python 3…

FontLab 8 tutorials New

Learn FontLab 8, polish your typeface design skills and pick up font making tricks with tutorials by Dave Lawrence. If you prefer to watch rather than learn, we have an extensive collection of video tutorials as well!

FontLab 8 manual

First, check the in-app Help system. Hold F1 over any UI item to read Quick Help. Tap Shift+F1 to open the context-sensitive Help panel. For in-depth knowledge, read the extensive FontLab manual.

Extend FontLab 8

Supercharge your FontLab 8 with TypeRig and other scripts. Get going with your design or get inspiration from our free GetGo template fonts: they’re carefully curated, they’re great as a starting point, and they’re all open-source!

Try FontLab 8

Download the free fully-functional 10-day trial of FontLab 8 for Mac and Windows, and start making fonts today!

Buy FontLab 8

Buy your FontLab 8 license! We have discounts for users of FontLab VI–7, FontLab Studio 5, Fontographer 5, TypeTool 3, RoboFont or Glyphs, for academic institutions, teachers and students.