Activating fonts without restarting

[vectordoctor]

I am on the latest build of Illustrator CC. I recently updated my MacOS to Sierra but have discovered an issue

Previously when I activated a font in Font Explorer it would immediately appear in Illustrator. Now it requires that I restart Illustrator to make the new font appear in the font menu.  This has never been a requirement and seems like a step backwards. It worked in El Capitan, Mavericks and every version of osx as far as I can remember. I could add anywhere from 1-60 fonts at a time and they were instantly available for use.

I am using an old version of Linotype Font Explorer v1.2.3. Is that the culprint? I dont' want to spend the money to upgrade Font Explorer if that does not solve the issue. Or perhaps another Font organizing program will work better? Currently all newly added fonts get added into my documents folder as a default.

Any ideas what to change to make it behave as before? The only other change is that with Sierra the documents folder in my user directory is in the cloud.

[Mike_Gondek]

Try flushing your font cache. Font explorer can do that for you it has a command.

http://www.everythingmacintosh.com/tech-notes/clean-your-font-caches-with-fontexplorer-x/

[vectordoctor]

Thank you. I tried that but the results did not change after a system restart. Perhaps it is because the software is so old. I have reverted to using OSX built in font manager FontBook and when I activate fonts they appear immediately in Illustrator CC. It may be time to get rid of that old software and either stick with Fontbook or upgrade Explorer

[Mike_Gondek]

You could download the current  font explorer trial and then you would know for sure. They are on version 6 now, so  you are really out

[S_Gans]

Additionally, these font management apps require the use of plugins for auto-activation for various versions of their software in combination with the Illustrator version. The way they often get people to upgrade is to stop updating their plugins, so people need to buy the new version of their apps. I have to imagine that FontXplorer (which has change quite a bit since your version) also requires new auto-activation plugins...

[vectordoctor · Accepted solution]

Thank you to everyone that has provided some solutions. I guess that I have hung on to this old software too long. I will see how well Fontbook works for my needs and will try the latest Explorer if that does not work out

[Mike_Gondek]

Make sure to check out the font book preferences, as that is where you will find the often overlooked auto activation.

I do not like that when you add fonts to font book it copies them and opens them. Let us know you experience, as I have not used Font Book  except in fixing there peoples computers as my employer always has a font manager.