Managing Layer Content

Copying data between masters is a deliberate source edit. Decide whether you want identical values, corresponding structures, or only selected categories of content. Those are different tasks, and the available commands have different scopes.

Synchronizing Data across Masters

Edit > Copy to Masters (Cmd+Y on macOS, Ctrl+Y on Windows) copies supported selected content or metrics from the current editing context to other master layers. In a Glyph window, select the contour content, elements, anchors, pins, or guides you intend to propagate before invoking it.

Newly drawn contours are not automatically reproduced in every master merely because matched editing is enabled. Copying a new contour to the other masters provides a common starting structure; you must then reshape it appropriately in each design.

The command is context-sensitive. In the Font window and in metrics editing, it uses the current layer's metric data rather than acting as a general “copy all selected glyph drawings” command. Metric copying can propagate expressions and values, so inspect the resulting sidebearings and widths before continuing. Locked or otherwise ineligible layers are not an unconditional target.

Copy a value rather than a whole drawing

Several interfaces provide narrower Copy to masters controls:

• Fields on Font Info > Family Dimensions and Font Info > Font Dimensions can copy their values to other masters.
• The Anchors & Pins panel can copy horizontal or vertical expressions/coordinates to same-named attachment points, creating the corresponding data where supported.
• The Guide inspector can copy a named glyph or font guide’s properties to existing same-named guides in other masters. Create missing counterparts first and inspect the receiving guides after copying.
• Match Parameters on Font Info > Parameters ensures that names declared in one master are also present in the others.

After Match Parameters, switch through the masters and review their values. Existing values can remain different, and newly supplied values need to suit each design: matching the list does not mean every parameter should have the same number in every master.

Use the narrow control when only one relationship should become consistent. Copying an anchor's horizontal expression does not require replacing the target's outlines or deliberately different vertical placement.

This is the operational side of family-properties and font-properties from Naming Fonts and Families and Font Metrics and Glyph Metrics. Copy to Masters holds shared values identical where required. It is also appropriate for per-design values such as caps height or italic angle when they should agree; leave them different when the design calls for it. Synchronization sets source values; interpolation later calculates supported intermediate values from those sources.

The Font Info > Overview table provides a broader surface for comparing and transferring values between masters and open fonts. Copy/paste can also take tabular data to and from a spreadsheet. Preserve row labels, column identity, units, and master order when using that route. A spreadsheet's column position must still correspond to the intended master when pasted back.

Selective removal of layer data is an Actions workflow; see Actions.

Copy Layer and Paste Special

Edit > Copy Layer puts a complete layer representation on the clipboard. From a Font-window selection, it can copy a layer from each selected glyph. Decide how those source entries should map to destinations before pasting.

Plain Paste interprets the clipboard content as a whole and can create a new layer or merge content according to the copied data and destination. It is not a selective transfer of one category. Check naming conflicts and the resulting layer list after a test paste.

Edit > Paste Special lets you choose what to transfer. Its options include:

Category	Typical purpose
Contours and images	Transfer drawing content.
Anchors and guides	Reuse attachment or construction data.
Fill and stroke	Transfer appearance.
Left/right sidebearing and advance width	Transfer selected spacing values.
Mask	Transfer reference content.
Color flag and tags	Transfer organization data.
Hints, TrueType instructions, and kerning classes	Transfer specialized data when the destination is prepared for it.

Options that replace, append, or align data have different consequences. Read the selected modes rather than assuming that enabling a category always adds it harmlessly.

Paste Special separates the data categories. This capture is an overview, not the anchor-only setup below: clear unrelated categories before a selective transfer.

Copy anchors without replacing outlines

1. Make the finished source layer current and choose Edit > Copy Layer.
2. Switch to the target master or select the intended destination glyphs.
3. Open Edit > Paste Special.
4. Enable the anchor category and disable drawing, metrics, and other categories you do not intend to change.
5. Review the anchor replacement/merge choices and glyph-mapping options, then apply.
6. Inspect the target anchors against that master's drawing and test the resulting attachment.

When transferring several glyphs, use name-based mapping if the intended correspondence is by glyph identity. Otherwise, verify selection order and clipboard count. Do not assume two visually similar Font-window selections have identical ordering.

For sidebearings, choose the relevant metric categories and alignment behavior carefully. A sidebearing change can move the drawing relative to the origin or change the advance width. Inspect both the shape's position and its spacing, even when contours were not selected as a transfer category.

Hints, TrueType programs, and kerning classes require the structural context taught in Glyph-Level PostScript Hints, Visual TrueType Instructions, and Preparations. Their presence in Paste Special does not mean that arbitrary source instructions or classes will be suitable for a different master. Keep those transfers separate from a simple anchor or metric task.

Merging Layers

Merge visible layers in the Layers & Masters panel combines the content of layers marked visible. The eye controls therefore determine the input set; the current layer alone does not describe everything that will participate.

Before merging, save the layered source if those separate states remain useful. Mark only the intended layers visible, invoke the merge control, and review its scope for the current glyph, selected glyphs, or font. Inspect the resulting layer and its elements afterward.

This can consolidate artwork into one layer, including a color composition whose parts need to become an element stack. It is not a way to average masters into an instance. Merging brings content together; interpolation calculates corresponding values between source designs.