Navigating the Glyph Window
Zoom to inspect a curve, pan to reach another part of the drawing, and switch glyphs without losing the text context. These actions change your view or the current glyph; they do not scale or move the outlines themselves.
Zooming
Use View > Zoom > Zoom In or Zoom Out, or their shortcuts:
| Action | macOS | Windows |
|---|---|---|
| Zoom in | Cmd+Plus | Ctrl+Plus |
| Zoom out | Cmd+Minus | Ctrl+Minus |
| Actual Text Size | Cmd+1 | Ctrl+1 |
| Zoom 100% | Cmd+3 | Ctrl+3 |
With the canvas accepting editing shortcuts, Z zooms in and X zooms out. When you are typing in Text mode or a text field, ordinary letter keys can enter text instead; use the menu commands or modified shortcuts for zooming.
Hold Option on macOS or Alt on Windows while scrolling the mouse wheel to zoom. Point at the area you want to inspect before using pointer-based zoom. Keyboard and wheel zoom speeds, and pinch-gesture zoom, are configurable in Preferences > Zoom.
Font size and canvas zoom
The text's font size and the canvas's zoom are independent. Font size specifies the sample's point size. Zoom magnifies the canvas so you can examine the sample or its outlines more closely.
Actual Text Size restores the view appropriate to the sample's set font size. Zoom 100% uses the reference chosen under Preferences > Zoom > Glyph window zoom; the default fits the line height. It is a drawing-view reference, so it need not look like the sample at its actual text size.
The Zoom widget, at the bottom-right of the canvas, provides Actual Text Size, Zoom 100%, and interactive zoom controls. Show it with View > Widgets > Zoom.
Zoom to a particular area
Hold Cmd+Space on macOS or Ctrl+Space on Windows to activate interactive zoom temporarily. You can also use the interactive zoom button in the Zoom widget.
While interactive zoom is active, click to zoom in, or hold Option/Alt and click to zoom out. Drag behavior follows Preferences > Zoom: a marquee lets you enclose an area and zoom to it, while drag zoom changes magnification continuously as you drag right or left.
If macOS handles Cmd+Space before FontLab receives it, press Space first and then Cmd, or use the widget. Release the temporary shortcut to return to the previous tool.
Scrolling and Panning
With a drawing tool active, hold Space and drag to pan the canvas. Release the key to resume the tool. Panning changes the visible area while keeping the outlines at their font coordinates.
The mouse wheel scrolls vertically; hold Shift while scrolling to move horizontally. Scrolling behavior and speed can be adjusted in Preferences > Glyph Window.
The same key is also used for Quick Preview (Space) and True Fill (Shift+Space); distinguish those display gestures from navigation. In Text mode, a space can be text input, so select a drawing tool before using the held-Space editing gesture.
Navigating Between Glyphs
There are two different sequences you can browse: the font's glyph order and the text currently displayed in the window.
| Move through | Commands | Default shortcuts |
|---|---|---|
| The font | Glyph > Previous Glyph, Glyph > Next Glyph | Cmd+[ / Cmd+] on macOS; Ctrl+[ / Ctrl+] on Windows |
| The displayed text | Text > Previous in Text, Text > Next in Text | [ / ] while the canvas accepts editing shortcuts |
Browsing the font changes the glyph being shown or edited in the current text context. Browsing the text selects another existing glyph in that sequence. Missing-glyph placeholders are skipped by bracket navigation; create a missing glyph by double-clicking its placeholder if you need to edit it.
The comma and period keys also provide previous/next glyph navigation in editing contexts. In text entry they can be punctuation. Use the menu commands when keyboard focus or the active tool makes a single-key shortcut ambiguous.
Choose a glyph directly
Press / in the editing context to open the glyph-name lookup. Enter the name and confirm it to bring that glyph into the current context. Use # for the corresponding codepoint lookup. These commands can replace a glyph in the displayed sequence; they do not merely scroll to an occurrence while promising to preserve the text unchanged.
The glyph chooser pairs previews with names, helping distinguish related forms while navigating.
In Kerning mode, the ordinary name lookup addresses the second glyph of the active pair. Shift+/ addresses the first. Check the pair after choosing a replacement.
Edit > List Related Glyphs offers alternatives related to the current glyph. Edit > Find Glyphs provides a broader search when you do not know the exact name. Selecting a result lets you work with it without returning to the Font window.
Browse with the wheel
With glyph browsing by modifier-scroll enabled in Preferences > Font Window, Cmd+scroll on macOS or Ctrl+scroll on Windows changes the current glyph. On Windows, the pinch-zoom preference can change the use of Ctrl+scroll; if it zooms instead, use the glyph navigation commands or adjust the zoom preference.
Keep the current glyph visible
View > Center Glyph or Pair controls how eagerly the canvas follows a glyph change. With it on, FontLab scrolls to center the current glyph or pair when possible. With it off, the view moves only as needed to bring the new current glyph into view. Turn it off if automatic recentering interrupts a comparison; turn it on if you want the active drawing to stay central while browsing.