Fonts Manager - Alternatives to Extensis Connect Fonts (Suitcase Fusion) for Mac 2024

[Shlomit Heymann]

Good Morning 🙂
Sometimes it's easier to ask here than to search all over for an answer especially when the search options in adobe discussions is so poor and I always prefer to hear your thoughts about it.

My favorite and so far always and forever font manager application was the discontinued FontExplorer. I moved to Extensis Suitcase Fusion even before FontExplorer was discontinued, when it started to have various problems and I didn't have time to deal with it. I never liked the way Extensis Suitcase was handling things but I could live with it.

But now I can't. Now they took away the option to keep the font linked to a folder on the desktop (I always unchecked "copy to vaults" option as I hated the vault and wanted to "Reveal Font in Finder" when needed) and "forced" me to use the vault and to store on the cloud. 

I do believe this option should be mine to decide. I did wrote to them about it hoping other will too and that will bring this option back, but perhaps there is a better alternative, which is why I'm asking for your advice.

For me, these are a must options that I would like to have in a font manger (if I didn't forget any):
1. All fonts will stay linked to a desktop folder with an option to reveal in finder,
2. Create Sets of fonts,
3. Auto activation when open any adobe application that uses fonts,
4. Ability to type a sentence and see preview,
5. Viewing font Glyphs and Info.

It looks to me like "FontExpert" by Proxima could be an answer but it's not for Mac. I wonder if they will develop one for Mac too (I just wrote to them and asked). 

If you have any good ideas for me, please write it down, or if there is already a discussion about that from the past year and you can refer me to it, I will be happy too.

Thank you,

Good day,
Shlomit

[Brad @ Roaring Mouse]

I haven't, but when it comes time, I will check it out. A plus for me is support for Type 1, even though I personally long moved on to Opentype (thankfully bought Font Folio back in the day), but there are still some practical occasions to have the old ones loadable.

[ivanm74201558]

Good point!

[Frans v.d. Geest]

I really like RightFont on the Mac.

https://rightfontapp.com

[ivanm74201558]

Hi Frans,

and may I ask you for the reasons?

[StephenVosloo]

Reporting back after using TypeFace (see post below) for 3+ months now. I can't tell you how happy I am that I found this app. It's so incredibly fast, easy to use. It just works! Hard to believe but they continue improving it as well. Give it look see, you'll be thanking me ; ) Typefaceapp.com 

https://typefaceapp.com/

[Brad @ Roaring Mouse]

Good to hear! Definitely on my list to try.

[talos72]

Mac only.  Otherwise it looks promising.

[Shlomit Heymann]

Hi Stephen,

Thank you for pointing this out. I was wondering if the fonts that are imported to the apllication are not uploaded to any cloud and remain linked to original folder (like extensid used to be).

Thank you very much! I will give it a try 🙂

Shlomit

[Shlomit Heymann]

Well, I was too quick to put my previus comment. I'm now reading that it does. 

I hope It will satisfy my need so I can finally move to a better application.

Thank you again 🙂

[hasaplan]

Hello Sholomit,

I am frustrated with Extensis no longer showing glyphs on the desktop version. What font manager did you end up with? Thanks!

[~BarbaraT]

Glad to find this discussion! Giving Typeface a try now. Bonus: available on Setapp.

[telred18]

Typeface is very good. The Pro version is reasonably priced.. I've been using it for a couple of years after getting frustrated with Extensis' offerings. The only issue I've had is fonts in placed Illustrator files not autoactivating in InDesign but saving those as PDFs fixes that.

[karinz51096101]

Thanks for that chat. I also had problems with Connect Fonts. Specially when I work abroad, although I'm good equipped with a G5 router. Sometimes Fonts will not activated as expected and this is essential - and what about working offline??. I now installed typeface and really I'm surprised about the speed. I'looking forward how the workflow will be. Thanks a lot Karin 

[Scott Falkner]

Illustrator files are PDFs.

[telred18]

… but you have to save them as Illustrator PDFs to embed fonts.

[midnightsundesign]

Thanks for the Typeface recommendation. Trying it now and it seems great so far. Sick of Extensis price gouging on their Connect subscription every year.

[Tejas_Jain5719]

Have you tried Monotype? 
Tools like Monotype Fonts (formerly known as SkyFonts) help designers manage and use fonts efficiently.

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

Have you tried Monotype? 
Tools like Monotype Fonts (formerly known as SkyFonts) help designers manage and use fonts efficiently.

By @Tejas_Jain5719

Could be wrong, but I believe Monotype purchased FontExplorer and eventually canceled the software. 

[dwspiv]

I have heard nothing but issues with Monotype's solution- but perhaps they have addressed them all by now. Regardless, they were the ones to ABANDON FontExplorer X and it's user base, so I don't trust them. I have countless hours spent organizing and classifying fonts in FontExplorer - which luckily still works. Plus, Monotype's solution exists to push Monotype fonts. I don't know if it can manage non-Monotype fonts. Does it? If it doesn't, I have a huge library that becomes useless. 

[tonks_the_auror]

I'm a fan of FontAgent, and I do still have it installed, but like Bob and Dave, I'm finding I don't really use a font manager. I think I keep FontAgent installed because I was a beta tester for it in the early days and I'm sentimental 🙂 That said, I think it's solid, relatively easy to use, and gets the job done.

[rickt38612460]

It’s worth noting that Monotype bought Extensis (the makers of Connect Fonts) back in November 2024. And Monotype itself isn’t exactly independent anymore—they were brought up by a private equity firm. That means one thing: buy up everything you can, cut out alternatives, and squeeze as much money out of the market as possible.

Monotype have been buying up many traditional type foundries—including Linotype, ITC, Bitstream, FontShop, and many others—giving it control over an enormous library of typefaces. The also own the myfonts.com platform.

And with Extensis Connect Fonts (powered by Monotype), they quietly removed local folder support. Why? Most likely to push everyone into their cloud vault so they can see exactly what fonts you have—and, conveniently, whether or not you’ve licensed them.

Plenty of designers and agencies already getting picked on.

https://www.reddit.com/r/typography/comments/18yi487/whats_going_on_with_monotype/

https://www.reddit.com/r/graphic_design/comments/1jqqlm6/monotype_just_hit_us_with_a_30000yr_font_li...

https://www.reddit.com/r/graphic_design/comments/1jftrtf/client_got_a_letter_from_monotypedont_even_...

I still use Connect Fonts for work, though I’m not sure for how much longer with their recent price increases. For personal use, I use Typeface, which has been excellent.

The world of fonts and font licensing has changed—and definitely not for the better.

[ronih7]

I'm curious, a bit more then a year after you initial post,
what font manager program did you end up using?
And do you have a a program you reccomend for Windows users?
I have an old Suitcase Fusion 9 version 20.