Annotating Project Sources

Keep decisions and unfinished work with the objects they concern. A useful note explains what needs attention, why it matters, and how to recognize completion; it does not merely say that something looks wrong.

Documenting Workflows and Results

A font project carries workflow, version, and review information as well as outlines. The textual note tiers share Markdown-formatted entry, so the same simple structure can follow an issue from the overall project to a specific drawing. Use annotations at several levels: master notes for the design's overall state, glyph notes for character-specific work, element notes for a local construction, and stickers for a position on the canvas.

Those annotations serve both your future self and collaborators. Record a test string, master, size, or feature setting when it is needed to reproduce a problem. Keep a distinction between a proposed change, a completed change, and a verified result.

Tags and color flags complement notes by making a set of glyphs easy to find. A flag can mean “needs spacing,” while a note identifies the exact pair or condition that still needs review. Document the project's flag meanings so they do not become private shorthand.

Master Notes

The Note page in Font Info belongs to the selected master. These are freeform Markdown notes, and different masters can carry different notes. There is no dedicated master-note copy command; copy shared text deliberately where needed. Check the master selector before editing and copy shared instructions deliberately rather than assuming that every master shows one global field.

The Note page sits among master properties. The master list at the lower left helps identify which design’s note you are editing.

A main-master note can supply an Important Font Note on open. Put the marker on its own line:

!!! ---

Text below that marker is rendered as Markdown in the Important Font Note dialog; text above it remains ordinary note content. Use the section for source-use instructions, project status, or essential handoff information. Keep it concise enough to be useful whenever the source opens.

The ‘font note’ is the main master's note, not a separate font-level field; it provides the font-level read-me behavior. Preserve the main-master choice when relying on the opening message.

VFC/VFJ and supported UFO/.glyphs source exchange can retain notes. Notes and stickers are development annotations excluded from normal production-font output. A source note is not a replacement for the font's legal name records or the license supplied with a release.

Glyph Notes

Edit a glyph note through the Glyph panel or Edit Note in the relevant context menu. Confirm the glyph selection before applying a note to several glyphs.

Use basic Markdown for readable structure: # Heading, **bold**, *italic*, or ***bold italic***, with plain detail beneath. The full supported subset belongs to the note reference. Shift+Return provides a line break in the note editor. Commit the edit with the editor's normal finish action or Cmd+Enter where supported; Escape discards the current edit.

In the observed layer-editing workflow, switching the selected layer before editing can leave distinct notes visible in different layers. Treat this as a reason to control the editing layer rather than assuming one edit synchronizes every note.

To keep one note for the glyph, always edit it from the same layer. The Layers & Masters panel shows note icons on layers that hold their own note. Inspect those layers before clearing or consolidating text; do not assume clearing the current display clears every layer’s note.

Keep batch notes specific to the selected group. Replacing notes across a selection can erase useful individual history; use tags for shared status when the per-glyph explanation should remain intact.

Element Notes

Use the Elements panel's note field for a particular component, imported graphic, or live construction. Examples include the source artwork revision, the reason a filter remains live, or the part that must be redrawn before release.

Element content can be shared through references, so inspect where a shared note appears before using it for an occurrence-specific instruction. Put host-glyph instructions in a glyph note when that is the intended scope.

Stickers

A sticker marks a place in the Glyph window. Use Glyph > Add Sticker or the sticker controls available with the Guides tool.

The sticker widget provides shape choices and an editable label. This example uses the text Improve.

Simple stickers include arrows, circles, squares, plus signs, lines, and stars. Use their circular handle to adjust size and rotation. Size can be remembered by sticker type; Alt provides the default-size alternative when placing one.

Text stickers provide a resizable box with editable text and up to six drag-out arrows. Click the text box to edit it, drag an unfilled handle to resize it, or drag a filled handle to pull out an arrow. Double-click a filled handle to remove its arrow. Set the starting text in Preferences > Default Texts. Point the arrows at the actual details to be reviewed rather than obscuring the outlines with the box.

For simple stickers, change the outline color in the last column of the Elements panel; circles, squares, and stars also take a fill from the Color panel. For a text sticker, use the Color panel for the box color and the Elements panel for text and arrow color. Keep the annotation visually distinct from the drawing. These colors are source-review aids, not color-font output.

Use View > Layers & Glyphs > Stickers to hide or show them. Glyph > Remove Stickers removes stickers from the current layer. Fit Content ignores sticker bounds, so a distant annotation need not expand the fitted drawing view.

Choose a glyph note when the instruction should be discoverable from the Font window; choose a sticker for a local visual comment while drawing. Keep durable project history in the notes or project files rather than relying only on marks on one canvas.