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New in FontLab 8: Bug fixes

FontLab is smooth & stable.

New With numerous fixes for issues reported by users, FontLab 8.2 achieves a new level of reliability, and enhance the editing experience across the board. You can work with peace of mind knowing FontLab 8.2 has your back.

Crash reporter

New If FontLab crashes and you restart the app, a crash reporter dialog appears.

If you see the crash reporter dialog, please:

  1. Fill in some details about the crash.
  2. Provide your email address.
  3. Click the button to send the report to us. This will send us a simplified crash report.

After you’ve submitted the simplified crash report, please also go to our Support page and provide us more details about the crash, and include example files and screenshots/video recordings.

We highly appreciate if you take the time! Problem reports help us make FontLab better.

Bug fixes

FontLab 8.0

  • Many more bug fixes are documented in the subsequent release notes.

  • Fix If you undo an operation, FontLab now undoes just the last operation. Previously, FontLab sometimes undid additional operations.

  • Fix If you export an OpenType+CBDT font, FontLab now exports a correct CBLC table. Note: if you’re exporting an OpenType+CBDT font for Windows, you need to include at least one traditional outline font.

  • Fix If you open a font that contains glyph names which start with a digit, FontLab adds an underscore (_) at the beginning of the name to ensure compatibility with the Adobe glyph name requirements.

  • Fix If you turn on Glyph > Auto Layer, you can now undo the operation, and FontLab correctly restores the content of the glyph.

  • {$bug} In the italic font, if View > Italic Angle > Apply to Metrics is on and you perform Edit > Paste Special and turn on Contours and Metrics, FontLab no longer shifts the pasted contours as if View > Italic Angle > Do Not Apply was selected.

  • {$bug} When you change the font UPM value and choose to scale glyphs and metrics, FontLab now correctly scales the Stroke thickness.

  • Fix If you use the arrow keys in the Thickness tool to change the thickness of a Brush or Stroke, you can now correctly undo the change.

  • Fix If you turn on Preferences > OT Tables > Decompile to XML in Tables panel, you remove some or all table tags from the field below and open an OpenType font, FontLab now correctly decompiles all tables into the TTX-compatible XML notation. Previously, FontLab failed on various tables and reported errors like Table 'GSUB' decompile error: name 'TTFont' is not defined.

  • Fix Generally, if you double-click one or more Font window cells, FontLab opens a new Glyph tab/window that show the glyphs you had selected in the Font window. However, if Preferences > Font Window > Open single glyph in existing Glyph window is turned on, and if you double-click a single Font window cell, FontLab will not open a new Glyph window if a Glyph window for that font already exists. Instead, FontLab will show the glyph in the existing Glyph window. If you have multiple fonts open, FontLab will now re-use the Glyph window only if it was showing glyphs from the same font as the Font window where you’ve double-clicked the cell. Previously, FontLab re-used an existing Glyph window even if it was showing glyphs from a different font.

  • Fix If you open a Glyph window with a glyph from another font, the Glyph window no longer becomes empty.

  • Fix If you enter a transformation value into the Transform panel and press Enter, FontLab now applies the transformation only once, just like clicking Apply. Previously, pressing Enter caused the transformation to be applied repeatedly.

  • Fix If you drag-drop PDF files that have fractional coordinates into the Font window of a font that has Font Info > Family Dimensions > Round coordinates turned on, FontLab shows the dialog that asks you to decide whether to keep fractional coordinates or round them only once.

  • Fix Fixed a problem with activating the Glyph window while the TrueType Hinting tool is active.

  • Fix If you turn on Soft Pencil in the Pencil toolbox, and you hold or release Alt during drawing, FontLab now correctly draws curves (without Alt) and lines (with Alt). Previously, Soft Pencil produced unwanted artefacts at the transition between a line and a curve.

  • Fix If a glyph is monochrome and you apply the Engrave action to it, FontLab no longer marks the glyph as “colored” in the Font window sidebar Properties section, which no longer triggers the export of additional color font formats.

  • Fix If you open a .glyphs format 3 file, FontLab now correctly imports OpenType features, and correctly imports .glyphs exports ad predefined instances.

  • Fix In Preferences > Glyph window > Quick measurement if End lines is turned on and Precision is Round, Quick measurement now shows integer values at the end lines.

  • Fix If you have a class that includes some glyphs that are not present in the font, the Classes panel sidebar highlights that class in red, as it did in FontLab 7.

  • Fix If you use keyboard arrows to move the thickness control points in the Thickness tool, you can now undo the changes.

  • Fix Fixed an issue with exporting “outlined” contours into OpenType TT (.ttf).

  • Fix If Font Info > Other Values > Unfill looped corners is turned on, FontLab treats looped corners (triangular loops outside the filled area of a contour) as transparent. If a part of such a looped corner is inside the filled area of a second contour that has the same direction as the first contour, FontLab now correctly renders that part of the looped corner as truly transparent. Previously, it unfilled the overlapping portion of the second contour.

  • Fix If you close the Pencil toolbox, you can now double-click the Pencil toolbar icon to open the toolbox again, just like the other toolboxes.

  • Fix FontLab now renders the True Fill of a Power Brush correctly.

  • Fix FontLab now correctly calculates italic sidebearings in italic fonts if a glyph contains an element that has Stroke.

  • Fix You can now import custom export profiles exported from FontLab 7.

  • Fix If you’re using the dark UI theme, the format icons in the Export Profiles and Export Font As dialogs now appear correctly.

  • Fix If you cut a portion of a contour with Edit > Cut or CmdX or CtrlX or you delete it with Del or FnBkSp then FontLab no longer converts some smooth nodes into sharp nodes in the remaining contours.

  • Fix If you cut or remove a line segment in a triangular contour, FontLab now keeps the remaining arms of the triangle as expected, as it did in FontLab 7.

  • Fix If you make the Variations panel wider, the List view shows round knobs that you can use for anisotropic interpolation (set different axis locations for X and Y to produce an instance). These controls are also used in Font > Generate Instance. The Y control is now working correctly if the X control is at 100%.

  • Fix Fixed problems that occurred when you disconnected external monitors when the computer was hibernated.

  • Fix Fixed other problems reported by users, including some crashes.

  • Fix Fixed a crash when you quit FontLab while the app is saving or exporting a font.

  • Fix Fixed a problem with adding a Text Shape to a glyph.

  • Fix Cosmetic fixes to some icons.

  • Fix The Outline filter in Actions now works correctly if the thickness value is negative.

  • Fix FontLab no longer fails to delete nodes in TrueType curves.

  • Fix Undo is now much faster in situations when the Output panel has reported many errors (for example with invalid expressions).

  • Fix When you use Font > Add Variation and then undo, FontLab correctly undoes the operation. #6930

  • Fix When you copy-paste or append one or more glyphs, FontLab no longer loses the original OT glyph class (Unspecified, Ligature, Mark etc.), and correctly sets this glyph property in the destination font. #6909

  • Fix When you use Tools > Actions, the History panel now shows which actions were performed. #6896

  • Fix UFO3 font format: Import/export of the slanted guidelines was improved to provide more precision. #6352

  • Fix When you save preferences from the ☰ menu in the Preferences dialog, FontLab now correctly saves the content of the Default Texts page. #6130

  • Fix If you add or remove instances in Font Info > Instances, the sidebar instantly updates the number of instances. #5938

  • New The Font > Rename Glyphs > Suffix… dialog no longer puts .smcp in the suffix field every time. Instead, it now remembers the last custom suffix you entered. #6036

  • Fix If View > Character Placeholders is turned in the Font window, the blank glyph cells show the placeholder grey images. These placeholder images are now also visible in blank glyph cells after you’ve applied a color flag to them. #6199

  • Fix If you turn on features in the Preview panel and set the panel content to Context, FontLab now applies the features to the entire text. #5841

  • Fix If the Contour lever toggle is turned on in the Contour toolbox, and you select several segments and then hold CtrlAlt and drag the selection, or if you turn on the Nudge toggle in the toolbox and then drag the selection, the handles of the curve segments adjacent to the selection nudge. #6636

  • Fix If you go to Font Info > Other Values and use the copy / paste buttons at the bottom to copy the data between fonts, FontLab now correctly pastes the copied data. #6746

  • Fix Undoing of a single Paste Contour operation in the Glyph window might revert all changes to other glyphs to the beginning of session. This is now fixed. #5242

  • Fix If the Features panel is closed, and you open the Glyph window sidebar, and there you click the Compile button in the Features widget, FontLab now compiles the features as expected. #6698

  • Fix If you use the ↑/↓ arrow keys in the Fonts panel to switch between opened fonts, FontLab now correctly updates the Preview panel if the panel’s content is Echo text. #5807

  • Fix If you collapse the Pairs & Phrases panel, you can now click the Open phrases file and import a text file in one of the supported formats. This is the same as clicking the Open phrases file button from inside the phrases editor. Previously, the button in the collapsed panel did not work. #6712

  • Fix When FontLab exports to the .glyphs format, it now exports PS links (hints linked to nodes) as linked hints. #6231

  • Fix If you ShiftAlt-double-click on an end node of an open contour, FontLab no longer creates a smart corner there, to keep it in sync with the GUI. #6640

  • Fix If you rename a glyph via the Glyph > Rename Glyph dialog, FontLab now correctly renames the glyph in metrics links that use =glyphname expressions. #6617

  • Fix If you are in Font window and its Cols setting is Flex, and you print, FontLab no longer enlarges the cell size after printing. #6602

  • Fix If you have contours that are inside some filters like Power Stroke, and you perform Element > Separate Contours to Elements, FontLab moves each contour to a separate element. FontLab now also reapplies the filters to all the new elements. #6580

  • Fix If you use the Transform panel in the Glyph window when the Contour tool is selected and there is no selection, FontLab now applies contour transformation, not element transformation. #6556

  • Fix If you use the Transform panel in the Font window and the glyph layer content is not used as a component or element reference, FontLab now applies contour transformation, not element transformation. #6556

  • Fix A UI problem with the Zone Deltas section of the TTH Zones Panel dropdown has been fixed.

  • Fix If Preferences > Operations > New glyphs > create auto layers is turned on and you double-click an empty Font window cell for a composite glyph, FontLab now creates an auto layer as expected. Previously, FontLab built a manual composite glyph. #6527

  • Fix FontLab now correctly opens OpenType+CFF2 fonts that are not variable.

  • Fix If you open a OpenType+COLR (version 0) font, FontLab now correctly imports all color elements. #6509

  • Fix If you hover over a UI item, a tooltip now appears after a short while. Previously, you often needed to click the UI element like the panel for the tooltip to appear. #6362

  • Fix Font window cells no longer clip glyphs that don’t have nodes at extremes. #6484

  • Fix After you fix the FontAudit Irregular Stem error, Quick measurement now instantly shows the correct stem thickness. #6477

  • Fix If you set the Preview panel to show Text Waterfall and you resize the panel, FontLab no longer renders incorrect letter-spacing. #5908

  • Fix If you open a variable TT font with post.italicAngle set to –90°, FontLab no longer crashes. #5896

  • Fix If you save a VFJ, FontLab preserves the public.markColor imported from UFO. #5915

  • Fix If the Font window is active, and you select Glyph > Flatten Glyph menu command with the Alt key pressed, FontLab now flattens all layers/masters of the selected glyphs, not the current layer/master. #5765

  • Fix If you collapse a contour into one point so that all nodes have the same coordinates, FontLab no longer makes the result invisible. Overlapping nodes remain visible in the glyph canvas. #5902

  • Fix FontLab no longer occasionally shows a 1-unit discrepancy between the advance width in the Metrics Table and the advance width in the canvas. #5879

  • Fix If you try to open an invalid Mac Type 1 font, FontLab no longer crashes but opens a dialog where it reports the problem. #6344

  • Fix If you export the font to .glyphs format, FontLab no longer writes a final semicolon. This was causing problems with the Python glyphsLib package. #6236

  • Fix If you type the glyph name partially in the New Glyph dialog box and then select name from the pop-up list of predefined glyph names, FontLab creates new glyph with that selected name correctly. #6322

  • Fix FontLab no longer allows to open both the context menu with the list of panels and the main menu. Leaving the context menu open might cause the crash under some circumstances. #6317

  • Fix FontLab no longer crashes if you search in the Features panel with no feature selected. #6314

  • Fix If you use the Font > New Glyph dialog, FontLab now always uses the glyph name you supplied. Previously, if you typed in uni0457_uni0457, FontLab would use the friendly names instead so it created yukrcyr_yukrcyr. #5830

  • Fix If you turn on Preferences > Digital Signature > Digitally sign exported fonts and specify certificate and key files, FontLab now correctly includes the DSIG table when you export OpenType fonts. #5404

  • Fix If you have a font with TT stems or zones and you add a font master from another font to it, and you then open the TT stems or TT zones popup in the TrueType Hinting tool, the popups now show the correct information regardless of which master is current, and FontLab no longer erroneously removes this information. #6040

  • Fix Undo for Auto space using the Glyph panel is fixed. #6259

  • Fix Crash when using the Find Outline dialog is fixed. #6225

  • Fix The Font Info > Unicode Ranges page listed all ranges of the Unicode standard, each with one checkbox. One bit in the OS/2.ulUnicodeRange1–4 OpenType fields could correspond to several checkboxes, so turning on or off a particular checkbox was ambiguous. Now, the Unicode Ranges page lists only one Unicode range per each bit. #6148

  • Fix FontLab no longer resets the color and the locked status of the font guides if you close the Font Info dialog. #6129

  • Fix If Font Info > Family Dimensions > Round Coordinates is turned on (so you are are working in integer coordinates), and you choose the Make Node command at the contour intersection, FontLab no longer creates a node with fractional coordinates but makes the coordinates integer as expected. #6127

  • Fix If you enter some glyph info in the Glyph panel and save the file without clicking outside the panel, FontLab now correctly saves the newly-changed glyph info. #6111

  • Fix If you use Font > New Glyph, FontLab no longer lets you create glyphs with invalid names. #6103

  • Fix If you use Tools > Link Hints to Nodes, FontLab no longer mistakenly converts a ghost hint to a link. #6094

  • Fix If the name of a node contains a space and you save the font as VFJ, and you open that VFJ, FontLab no longer fails to read the node name correctly. #6081

  • Fix Element > Nonspacing > Detect Nonspacing now works correctly for stacked diacritics based on breve. #6046

  • Fix If you import SVG images into a font, save the font as VFJ, and you then open the VFJ, FontLab now correctly reads and shows the SVG images. #6037

  • Fix If a glyph layer contains overlapping looped corners and you turn on Font Info > Other Values > Unfill looped corners, FontLab now correctly unfills the outside looped corners. #6035

  • Fix If Font Info > Other Values > Unfill looped corners is turned off for a particular master and you export the font to DesignSpace+UFO, FontLab no longer removes the inner looped corners, regardless of the Remove looped corners profile setting. #5773

  • Fix If you have data in the Lookups panel and you save the font as VFJ, FontLab now writes a syntactically-correct JSON without duplicate brackets inside the lookups element. #6033

  • Fix FontLab no longer slows down operations if a glyph contains more than 1, 000 points in an element. #6029

  • Fix If you add several glyphs to the kerning class and some of these glyph already belong to another kerning class on the same side, FontLab present the dialog box allowing you to move glyphs to the new class. FontLab no longer leaves glyphs in both classes if you click on Move. #6023

  • Fix You can now rename nodes in the Source panel. #5901

  • Fix If Preferences > General > Non-English keyboard is turned on, FontLab on Windows works as expected again: single-key shortcuts for activating tools work even if your keyboard layout is set to, for example, Russian, Arabic or German. This does not affect text input, only keyboard shortcuts. #5892

  • Fix If you open a TrueType-flavored OpenType font, FontLab no longer shows the Cordinates Rounding dialog. #5890

  • Fix If you export an UFO on Windows, FontLab no longer uses ANSI encoding when writing the feature definitions into features.fea. FontLab always uses UTF-8 now, as expected. #5888

  • Fix If you have multiple glyphs in the Glyph window and if Edit > Edit Across Glyphs is turned on, when you use Contour > Create Parallel Contour, FontLab now puts the parallel contours in the appropriate glyphs, and no longer puts all parallel contours to the current glyph. #6265

  • Fix If multiple glyphs are selected in the Font window, and if the OT Glyph Definition Class in the Glyph panel is set to Ligature, when you change the number of ligature components there, FontLab now correctly updates this field for all selected ligature glyphs. #5878

  • Fix If you switch the current layer in the Glyph window and try to make a marquee selection, FontLab occasionally moved a nearby segment. This no longer happens. #5876

  • Fix The guide context menu command Slant to italic angle now slants the selected guide more precisely. #5871

  • Fix If you open an OpenType+SVG font, FontLab now correctly renders the Font window glyph cells. #5870

  • Fix If a contour intersects a flat curve segment of another contour and you Remove Overlap, FontLab now correctly removes the overlap. #5868

  • Fix If you use the Smaller text / Larger text buttons in the property bar to change the text size of the Metrics or Kerning mode of a Glyph window, FontLab now correctly updates the numerical value of the text size in the Glyph window sidebar. #5862

  • Fix If you have an element that has the smart Filter applied to a contour, and you add nodes to the contour with the Pen tool, FontLab no longer corrupts the element. #5860

  • Fix If you have an element with 100% black fill and other elements have different colors, and you save the VFC and open it, FontLab no longer swaps the colors of the non-black elements. #5856

  • Fix If you use File > Export > Encoding… to save an encoding based on the current font’s glyph set, FontLab for Windows now correctly saves the .enc file even if your Documents folder contains non-ASCII characters. #5854

  • Fix If you click Forget history on the History panel, and you then add a component to the current glyph, FontLab no longer crashes. #5848

  • Fix If glyphs contain anchors, and you create new masters using interpolation, FontLab no longer inverts the order of anchors in the interpolated master. #5817

  • Fix FontLab no longer exports to the .glyphs format metrics expressions that the .glyphs format does not support. #5837

  • Fix If you activate the Brush tool, change the zoom level and then Ctrl-drag to resize the brush, FontLab correctly takes the new zoom level into account when resizing the brush. #5832

  • Fix If you turn on the service property for a master layer, FontLab excludes the layer from interpolation as expected. #5829

  • Fix If you turn off all view details (Pixel Grid, Pixel Centers, Pixel Preview, and Hinted Outline) in the TrueType Hinting mode, and then you click a single link, and you change the stem assignment in the hint properties panel, FontLab correctly re-assigns stem. #5815

  • Fix FontLab correctly saves and re-opens unfilled contours. There were problems with the Smart Fill filter in the previous build. #5812

  • Fix If Preferences > Open Font > Panels is turned on, and you open a VFC/VFJ file that contains corrupted information about stored panels, FontLab cleans up the workspace and no longer shows the invalid panels. #5811

  • Fix FontLab for Windows can now open files from shared Linux (WSL) drives. #5798

  • Fix The Tools > Remove Glyph Guides command no longer removes PS hints. #5795

  • Fix If you add a text sticker to a glyph, FontLab no longer changes the color of existing elements. #5791

  • Fix If you change the name of the glyph l or r, FontLab no longer corrupts the functions l() and r() in metrics expressions of other glyphs. #5788

  • Fix If you duplicate a font master in the Font Info dialog, FontLab no longer shows duplicates entries in the Parameters tab of the Font Info panel. #5780

  • Fix If you select some nodes, activate Free Transform (CmdT), use the Rotate controls in the property bar and then Undo, FontLab now correctly undoes the rotation. #5771

  • Fix If your U+0061 glyph has a custom name such as LtnSmA, when you press / to find the glyph, and type a as a synonym, FontLab now finds the glyph. #5762

  • Fix If you print the glyphs chart from the Font window and the window width is set to 24 cells, FontLab no longer leaves the first row of cells blank. #5757

  • Fix If you cut a segment or a node in the contour, FontLab no longer changes the order of contours in the element. #5709

  • Fix FontLab no longer changes tangent nodes to corners when you remove the adjacent node on the straight line. #4866

  • Fix Numerous additional fixes for problems reported by users.