Blinky2004

Just read about this is some other board, and thought i'd share it...

If you have any specific types of fonts you like to use -- like say dingbats & wingdings -- and you really only ever use them when you're in PS doing something... then read on...

...yes... read on...

...i said yay brotherin... continue to read on...

Uninstall those hefty fonts from your operating system, and instead, move them into the FONTS folder found at this location on your harddrive:

CProgram Files\Common Files\Adobe\Fonts
(PC specific path here... Mac will be different of course)

Any fonts within this "Adobe specific" folder, will be loaded into Photoshop, just as if they were actually installed on your OS. But they aren't! Now that's a space-saving tip! [righton]

Why would one wish to do this?
Well... i myself rarely ever use all my "image" fonts for anything other than PS stuff. And those fonts, being primarily images, can eat up a LOT of HD space and use a fair bit of resources also. So knowing that i can still use them in PS without having to install them... is a great bit of knowledge to have.

Oh ya and i also just learned something else new!
If you want to use a font in ANY program, but do not wish to install it, for any reason, just go to where the font is stored, double-click it to open the preview window of it, then start up the app you want to use the font in. But leave the font preview window open while you do this.

What this does is make the program you started use the font as if it were installed. When you're done messing with it, close the app and close the font preview window. And all returns to how it was.

I tested this in XaraX and it does indeed work! Coolio Daddio! B7

Well isn't that some great info! [shocked]

Thanks a lot Mark [righton]

gymmie

GREAT info, Mark!

I can't find anything like the Common files/Adobe/Fonts thing on the Mac, but I'm still looking in all the usual places. It could well be called something else.

I use Suitcase myself to manage fonts; I have so many that it would be insane to actually install them all in the system's fonts folder. But your way is an excellent alternative.

I'm gonna test out the open preview thing on the Mac later. That, too, is extremely useful [righton]

Blinky2004

Not sute Julie... but in general, most folks will install PS on the default drive, which is C:. I however did not... mine is on my D: drive, and thus Photoshop had to make a special folder on my C: to hold all of the "Common" files shared between it's programs.

I'd suggest you check within your program folder also for this 'special' fonts folder. Or... just do a search on your system for all "FONT" folders. [excited]

Rick

Wouldn't the font take the same amount of HD space, regardless of what folder it was in?

gymmie

Ahhhhh, found it! For Mac users (OS 9 & earlier) the Adobe font folder is in System Folder/Application Support/Adobe/Fonts/Reqd/Base

I'm not at my own computer right now; I'll check in OS X tomorrow.

Blinky2004

Ya it would Bob... but if it's not installed on your system, it's not using "memory" space.

STRICKEN FROM THE RECORD CUZ MARK NEEDS MORE SLEEP... [oops] [sleepy] (the stuff about using HD space)

Space? You say...
Yes... even though these are just fonts, i have TONS (almost 100) 'image' type fonts. And because they're between 50 - 250 kb each... they can definately eat up some space for sure, and suck up some valuable memory resources when loaded all the time.

And that's more specifically what i was getting at Bob. [excited]

Sanby

Kewl, thanks for the tip. I have lots of fonts and it would be useful to do this.

Sanby

wbiss

Excellent tip Mark! Thanks for sharing!!!

Joy Foraker

Mark -
This is probably a dumb question but can I just go to Window explorer and drag the fonts from window/fonts file to common shared files you are talking about? or how's best to move fonts?

Joy