Stop Font List from returning to top

[JaxLindsay]

Hi, Hoping someone can help direct me to where I can adjust a setting so that when I am changing between fonts, I can return to the position of the current font in the font list, rather than return to the top of the list. It has only recently changed as I used to continue down the list rather than have to scroll back down through all the fonts to try the next font.

Thanks

[Bill Silbert · Accepted solution]

A couple of versions ago Illustrator introduced the feature of "Recent fonts" that would appear at the top of the font list. You can set in preferences in the Type section the number of fonts that you want in this list from 1-15. Since that time the way that the font list works no longer allows for the type of scrolling from where you left off that you have described. I agree with you that I liked the earlier way that it worked better and I have tried to find a way to get it to work the way that it used to but to no avail. The concept of recent fonts works counter to the "where you left off" method so that seems to be all there is. Sorry.

[JaxLindsay]

Thanks Bill, such a shame that it has to be like that! I find it so much more time consuming.

[barbara_a]

Completely agree!

[wookjean]

save my time thanks a lot!

[saltwatercolours]

🥽 Thanks for offering constructive answers.  Unfortunately they are not really solutions to the problem if you have a lot of working fonts in a project.  I work all day with fonts and have hundreds of favorites in a given set that I need to work with.  I need to try out designs with 4 or 5 fonts and compare them together.  Having to start at the top of the list, and not where I just left off, is tedious and really inefficient.  It would be nice to have the option to enter the drop down list at the last font you selected.  That makes sense.  Anyone else agree?:white_question_mark::question_mark:

[Temple Coffee Marketing · Accepted solution]

Not sure if you ever figured this out but

Go into Illustrator > Settings > Type...

Change "Number of Recent Fonts" to 0

It should stay where you left off!

[sabrinalt722]

Thank you @Temple Coffee Marketing !!!! That worked

[ricardom89239790]

Thank you so much!!!! 

[Jeff Witchel, ACI]

What you could do is mark certain fonts as Favorites and Filter your fonts to just those Favorites at the top of the Font Family popup menu.

Here's a video:

http://www.jeffwitchel.net/2013/11/applying-the-fonts-you-want-faster/

Favorites is discussed at about 3:20 into the video.

[SasserCreative]

Rats. I saw this thread and thought there was light at the end of the tunnel; I guess not. I wish I hadn't updated. It's driving me nuts. I am working on a whole cluster of logos, and I need to go down my fonts to try this-and-that on each one, and I keep getting popped right back to the top of the list. Maddening. Adobe is supposed to be more intuitive than this.

[donnapiranha]

I am really annoyed at the change to this also. I hate the Recent Fonts "feature". It's like going backwards to some old Microsoft Publisher feature or something. It's really awful. Adobe, PLEASE go back to the way it was. You are making our projects take longer because of all the scrolling we have to do now. Maybe I don't want to use a recent font! As a designer, I try multiple fonts and decide I don't like any of them, so I have to keep scrolling and scrolling over and over again. What a pain!

[SasserCreative]

Exactly right. Like a Microsoft Publisher feature. Whose bright idea was this? Really? Every time I end up back at the top of the font list, I want to pull my hair out.

[barbara_a]

This is supposed to have been fixed in Illustrator 22.1 release.

Option to disable 'Recent Fonts' feature. – Adobe Illustrator Feedback

[donnapiranha]

Yeah, I read that it was supposed to be fixed, and I just updated my Illustrator two days ago, and it's still the same! So annoying!

[barbara_a]

In Type Preferences, you can change to zero.

[donnapiranha]

That fixes one of the issues. But the other annoying issue is that if you are scrolling through your font list and maybe you stop at a font that starts with the letter S, then change your mind and want to choose another one, it doesn't start back on the list where you left off. It takes you back to the top again and you have to scroll all the way down to the S's to keep going to the next font. That's even more annoying than the Recent Font feature.

[barbara_a]

Yes, I agree. It is quite annoying and a real time waster. I am constantly experimenting with choosing different fonts and would love to be able to start where I left off.

[SasserCreative]

Right, this doesn't actually fix the problem. I mean, it fixed one lesser issue instead of the greater one. Also, I'm just now getting the 22.1 update. Creative Cloud hardly ever works for me without jumping through hoops, like repairing the installation and oftentimes uninstalling and downloading new. But that's for another thread I'm sure!

[barbara_a]

I hope that the update goes smoothly for you.

[tromboniator]

I know it's not the answer everyone is looking for, but you can type a letter in the font name field, which will take you to that place in the alphabetical listing.

[barbara_a]

Good tip to use in the interim until Adobe does a true fix for this issue.

[donnapiranha]

Yes, that's helpful....when you know what font you're looking for. I'm usually just surfing and trying things and doing that, I don't really know what name I'm looking for. I hope Adobe reads this thread so they can understand how stupid that change was.

[tromboniator]

I understand your frustration. My suggestion is intended to get you back at least to the right neighborhood to continue your surfing, assuming that you remember at least the first letter of the last font you were looking at. I make no claim to a perfect solution here.

[donnapiranha]

Oh yes! Excellent point. 🙂