Searching the Glyph Set
The Font window’s Search field builds a view from a condition you enter. It normally appears in the Property Bar, but moves to the right of a docked compact horizontal Toolbar when space permits. It is useful when a named encoding or Sidebar group is too broad: you may need a suffix, a particular tag, or glyphs whose width exceeds a chosen value.
The first decision is what you want the search to produce. A focused view and an explicit selection are related, but they are not the same result.
Search retains its text and filtering behavior when it moves. The Toolbar uses the active window's Search field, so activate the intended Font window before typing. Returning to regular toolbar mode or narrowing the Toolbar returns Search to the window's own bar.
Search as Filtering
A search filter is a font filter constructed through the Search field. As you type, FontLab offers interpretations of the text. Choosing one applies the corresponding filter to the Font window.
For example, entering a name fragment can offer a name-based condition. The same text may also identify a tag, an encoding, or a character property. Choose the intended criterion rather than assuming that the first offered interpretation is the only meaning of the input.
To apply a search filter:
- Give the Font window focus and click Search in its Property Bar or on the compact Toolbar.
- Enter the text or value for the condition.
- Choose the matching criterion from the offered results.
- Inspect the filter label, displayed cells, and Hide unfiltered glyphs state.
The result is a display condition. It does not mean that every matching glyph has been selected for editing. To select the matching cells, turn on Hide unfiltered glyphs, give the glyph grid focus, and choose Edit > Select All. Check the selected count before applying an editing command.
Find Glyphs and Quick Find
Edit > Find Glyphs, with Cmd+F on macOS or Ctrl+F on Windows when the Font window has focus, provides a separate results view. You can inspect its matches, select results, and confirm them to transfer the selection back to the Font window. Its internal result filtering should not be confused with applying a new persistent Property Bar filter.
If a requested result is hidden by the current Font window filter, FontLab can offer to reveal unfiltered glyphs so the result can be reached. That changes the presentation needed to show the selection; it does not make the two search tools equivalent.
The slash-key Quick Find popup is a shorter route to a particular glyph by name. It is useful for navigation rather than for maintaining a working filter. Keyboard focus still matters when a text editor or another panel is receiving the input.
Find Outline is different again: it searches for drawing structure and can support replacement of that structure. A metadata match does not inspect a contour, and repeating an identical contour detail across letters is not automatically an optical improvement. Use structural replacement for a defined task, not as a general substitute for judging consistency.
Search Criteria
Choose a criterion according to the property you intend to inspect. These groups cover the principal name, character, organization, and measurement searches.
The search chooser offers several interpretations of the same input, including glyph-name matches, Unicode-name matches, and text.
Names and synonyms
Name searches include starts with, contains, and ends with relationships. They answer different questions: a name containing acute need not begin with it, while a suffix condition concerns the end or suffix portion of the name.
Use a suffix criterion when the target is an alternate family such as .ss01. A compound suffix can place that particle within a longer name, so choose the criterion that matches the relationship you intend rather than treating every occurrence of the same text identically.
Synonym search consults recognized names from standard.nam, introduced in Managing Glyph Names and Codepoints, as well as relevant Unicode-derived forms. It can find a glyph whose working name differs from the one you typed. This is useful in exchanged sources, but it does not rename the result or change its character assignment.
Unicode values and properties
Codepoint searches work with hexadecimal values, including starts-with and contains forms. They inspect character assignments rather than the pixels in a glyph image.
Unicode-name search matches the character's standardized descriptive name and category name. It can combine space-separated fragments: a query such as la ca can narrow the result to names containing the relevant fragments of “Latin Capital.” This is distinct from searching the glyph's development name.
Category and Unicode range are separate criteria. A category describes a kind of character, such as a letter or mark. A range identifies a block in the Unicode allocation. A script criterion concerns a writing system. Choosing an offered category, range, or script applies the corresponding filter; it is not simply another spelling of Unicode-name search.
Encodings and codepages
You can locate an encoding or codepage by its name in the offered search choices. Selecting it applies that collection as a filter, including prospective positions where the filter defines them.
An encoding-name search finds a defined glyph collection. It does not search for the same text inside every glyph name. A codepage choice tests a legacy repertoire through its Unicode equivalents; it does not rewrite the font's encoding data.
Measurements
Measurement criteria include advance width greater or less than a value, and drawing top or bottom greater or less than a value. The comparisons use the font's design measurements, not the pixel dimensions of the preview cell.
Advance width describes the horizontal space assigned to a glyph. The drawing's top and bottom describe its extent. A very wide advance can therefore match a width condition even if the drawing is narrow or absent. The criterion tells you which stored measurement is being tested, not whether that measurement is a design error.
Use these searches to assemble candidates for inspection. A result that exceeds a threshold may be intentional, particularly in a font containing several kinds of marks or symbols.
Tags, flags, and layers
Tag criteria match custom labels and the virtual classifications maintained by FontLab. Use the intended tag name. Where wildcard matching is offered, a pattern such as review* can include several related labels rather than just review.
Flag criteria match the assigned color or hue. A flag is a workflow mark; the search does not infer whether the glyph is finished from that color.
A layer-name condition finds glyphs containing a named layer. It concerns the layer's identity, not the style suggested by the glyph name. The condition becomes useful when working with alternate drawings or multiple designs within glyphs; the full layer name is required because this criterion does not support partial matching. See Layers and Masters.
Anchors and other structural properties
Anchor-name search can identify glyphs with an anchor whose name contains the requested text. An anchor is a named attachment position used in glyph construction or mark placement; the search finds that stored position by name, not a visually similar point in the outline. Anchors are taught in Anchors for Positioning.
Use structural criteria when you understand the property they inspect. Merely finding an anchor or a layer does not establish that its position, contents, or relationships are correct.
Enumeration-Based Search
Some useful collections have no shared property. You may have chosen several glyphs by looking at them and want to keep that exact group in view. An enumeration supplies the members directly instead of asking a condition to infer them.
To build that view from a selection:
- Select the glyph cells you want to collect.
- Choose Text > Copy Text As > /Names.
- Paste the copied list into the Font window’s Search field, in the Property Bar or compact Toolbar.
- Choose the Text interpretation when offered and inspect the resulting filter.
The explicit names allow the list to include unencoded alternatives and ligatures. This is preferable to copying ordinary Unicode text when the distinction among those forms matters.
A Unicode string can also enumerate characters. FontLab can use the corresponding character mappings to find glyphs, but the string does not identify every unencoded variant you may have selected. Choosing between names and characters is therefore a choice about what identity the saved list should retain.
An enumeration filter gathers the available listed glyphs in the current font; it is not a command to create missing glyphs. Saving the result as a bookmark makes the collection reusable, while an encoding file can turn an ordered name list into a portable prospective target. For those workflows, see Saving and Reusing Filters.