Customizing Tools and Functions

Preferences change how FontLab interprets input, presents data, and performs operations. Find the page that governs the observed behavior before changing unrelated settings. The map below identifies the decisions; the exhaustive control-by-control Preferences reference belongs to Volume Two.

File Handling

Open Fonts governs reconstruction from non-native files: naming, curve conversion, node detection, composite handling, zone tagging, and layout/table decompilation. These choices can change the editable source produced from the same binary; recall decompilation in Authoring OpenType Layout and composite reconstruction in Building Composites by Hand.

Save Fonts governs native save behavior, destinations and overwrite handling, embedded workspace/session information where supported, JSON formatting or parallel-save choices, and recovery settings. Saving and export-profile compilation remain different operations.

Review import settings before opening a third-party source whose structure matters. Changing a preference after import does not necessarily rebuild the already-open font from its original file.

Glyph Set Management

Font Window controls the glyph-cell environment: default filters and encodings, captions, colors, indicators, placeholders, scrolling, and Unicode display notation. Under Cell > Proportions, choose Narrow, Normal, Wide, or Extra wide using the four buttons. Applying the preference updates open Font windows and saves the choice for later sessions. These buttons are no longer on the Font window’s Status Bar; Columns and the Flex cell-size controls remain there.

Glyph Names & Unicode controls the default naming scheme and active mapping data, including the selected .nam file. Rename-propagation choices determine which dependent names, features, kerning records, recipes, or expressions are updated.

A display setting does not change glyph identity merely because the cell shows another caption. A rename setting, by contrast, can affect dependencies throughout the source. Keep those scopes separate.

Drawing, Editing, and Operations

Glyph Window controls the drawing display: nodes, coordinates, names, curves, fills, masks, backgrounds, and geometry visualizations.

Editing controls interaction: selection, marquees, live preview, tool continuity, joining, dragging, transforms, and activation behavior.

Paste & Duplicate governs offsets, appearance transfer, and artwork color/fit choices. Inspect these settings when the same imported drawing arrives at an unexpected scale or with different colors.

Operations supplies defaults for new-glyph construction, curve conversion, mark-generation scope, power guides, and optical separation or recognition. An automatic glyph-generation preference can determine whether a newly created cell is blank or already contains a construction.

Distances controls hit and snap distances, keyboard steps, precision dragging, and related interaction timing. Zoom controls zoom defaults and response. Cousins controls nearby-glyph reference display.

Change one relevant setting at a time and try it on representative content. A large hit radius or snap tolerance can improve one task while making close details harder to select in another.

Design Aids and Validation

Grid, Guides and Hints governs the grid and non-contour overlays, including slant relationships, snapping, colors, and opacity for guides, dimensions, hints, and zones. Hints use FontLab’s guide mechanism.

FontAudit determines which supported checks run, their tolerances, and how findings appear. Disabling a test hides that class of finding; it does not repair the underlying geometry.

Use tolerances that match the project. A deliberate irregular stem and an accidental irregularity can produce similar measurements, so keep the design decision alongside the checker setting.

Spacing, Text, and Variations

Texts and Default Texts maintain reusable samples and starting strings for proofing surfaces, stickers, and the Sketchboard. Keep useful project test strings available instead of reconstructing them for every session.

Spacing governs Metrics/Kerning/Text behavior, navigation, mode appearance, autospacing methods (Optical, Neural, Tight, Custom), autokerning choices, and audit thresholds. These settings affect how you work and, for generation operations, can affect the resulting source values.

Variations controls master/instance display, location inference, supported rounding behavior, and matched-edit propagation. Check those settings when a source edit unexpectedly reaches other masters or a preview appears to use the wrong location.

Other Preferences

Code Editors supplies shared editor typography and indentation settings. Scripting controls script-related behavior, including permitted URL execution where offered. Keep those roles distinct even when a particular build groups related controls nearby.

Autohinting governs the relevant PS/TT generation behavior. Digital Signature configures an optional production-signing workflow. Aidus configures the beta AI integration; setup and external-access distinctions are taught in AI-Assisted Automation.

Record project-critical settings with the source or release profile. A preference stored only on one workstation is an undocumented dependency for the next person who builds the font.

The active .nam mapping and standard.nam are covered in The User Data Folder and Customizable Data Files. Artwork-fit choices recall Tracing a Source Image; related-component preferences recall Building Composites by Hand.