FontBase | Font Auto-Activation

[Mr. Doodlezz]

Are there any updates on automatic font activation for font manager applications, both Mac and Windows?

There were at least two threads in the past that I could find, now archived, but there was never a real answer from Serif/Affinity as to if and when this feature would finally be integrated.

The latest news is that FontBase has tried to contact Serif on several occasions (according to a thread in their forum), but has not received any response.

I would love to be able to use this super handy feature of Fontbase, or by now almost any other font manager out there, together with Affinity Suite, but nothing seems to have happened in this area for years.

[RNKLN]

Don't know what the OP means with 'archived' but this topic is still available in the forum and can be replied to.

[Mr. Doodlezz]

1 hour ago, RNKLN said:

Don't know what the OP means with 'archived' but this topic is still available in the forum and can be replied to.

You are referring to the thread I came across. It's a thread about V1, which is most likely no longer in active development now that V2 is out.
Therefore the thread is in the »Feedback & Suggestions Feedback for the Affinity V1 products [ARCHIVE]« section.

It's archived in the sense that it's not closed, but because of the above I assume it's no longer active or moderated either.
I'm not sure if this is also a pointer, but there is no moderator monitoring this thread, at least openly visible.

I'm not a fan of duplicate threads, but I think it can't hurt to bring this topic back to the forefront and revive it for V2, as it hasn't been resolved yet (not that I know of).
There was no response from staff then (unless I missed something?), so perhaps someone can give us an update this time.

[Mr. Doodlezz]

20 hours ago, LondonSquirrel said:

Presumably it is dependent on plugins, which are not yet a thing (APhoto certain plugins excepted).

Most likely correct. In the thread mentioned by RNKLN, there is talk of it working magically for some Mac users. I was hoping for similar news for Windows users.

[Pšenda]

On 4/13/2023 at 9:32 PM, Mr. Doodlezz said:

There was no response from staff then (unless I missed something?), so perhaps someone can give us an update this time.

As a matter of principle, Serif does not respond to requests.

[Mr. Doodlezz]

22 minutes ago, Pšenda said:

As a matter of principle, Serif does not respond to requests.

Well, not to the community. (So as not to raise hopes, I suppose).

However, according to FontBase, they themselves tried to contact Serif, but didn't get a reply. I thought from one company to another there might be some mutual interests/benefits – but I guess not.

[Fcunhaster]

On 4/12/2023 at 11:11 PM, Mr. Doodlezz said:

Are there any updates on automatic font activation for font manager applications, both Mac and Windows?

There were at least two threads in the past that I could find, now archived, but there was never a real answer from Serif/Affinity as to if and when this feature would finally be integrated.

The latest news is that FontBase has tried to contact Serif on several occasions (according to a thread in their forum), but has not received any response.

I would love to be able to use this super handy feature of Fontbase, or by now almost any other font manager out there, together with Affinity Suite, but nothing seems to have happened in this area for years.

I read that too on their Forum, because I do use Fontbase. It's up to Serif to get back to them now on that matter because it would be extra helpful to be able to have Font auto-activation working properly with Affinity Suite, specially if you're "Awesome" and take adantage of the full access to Google Fonts through them.

[Fcunhaster]

On 4/15/2023 at 12:15 PM, Mr. Doodlezz said:

Well, not to the community. (So as not to raise hopes, I suppose).

However, according to FontBase, they themselves tried to contact Serif, but didn't get a reply. I thought from one company to another there might be some mutual interests/benefits – but I guess not.

Maybe Serif could make a 1st contact, would be in mutual benefit and Fontbase devs are willing and they know it already, could be a solution.

[Mr. Doodlezz]

2 hours ago, Fcunhaster said:

Serif could make a 1st contact

The lack of official response or reaction (public/forum/anywhere as far as I can tell) on this subject over the past few years somehow suggests to me that this is not going to happen any time soon, more likely never. Unfortunately. 😔

But I'd go »Awesome« in a heartbeat aswell if Affinity compatibility were ever to be achieved – it's the last thing stopping me from upgrading/switching from my outdated Suitcase version to FontBase. 🤩

[Fcunhaster]

The "Awesome" has more advantages, but that would be precious for sure.

On 4/15/2023 at 12:15 PM, Mr. Doodlezz said:

Well, not to the community. (So as not to raise hopes, I suppose).

However, according to FontBase, they themselves tried to contact Serif, but didn't get a reply. I thought from one company to another there might be some mutual interests/benefits – but I guess not.

 

2 hours ago, Mr. Doodlezz said:

The lack of official response or reaction (public/forum/anywhere as far as I can tell) on this subject over the past few years somehow suggests to me that this is not going to happen any time soon, more likely never. Unfortunately. 😔

But I'd go »Awesome« in a heartbeat aswell if Affinity compatibility were ever to be achieved – it's the last thing stopping me from upgrading/switching from my outdated Suitcase version to FontBase. 🤩

[Mr. Doodlezz]

5 minutes ago, Fcunhaster said:

The "Awesome" has more advantages, but that would be precious for sure.

 

Yeah, I know – it’s the whole FontBase package in general in comparison to other apps.

• More OS compatibility compared to RightFont.
• Affordable one time purchase compared to most other managers while still being able to sync over multiple devices via Dropbox
• Search options like x-height
• …

However, automatic font activation alone would be the last missing piece to make me switch. 😉

[Yuriy_FontBase]

Hello everyone:)

Name's Yuriy, I'm a part of the development team behind FontBase and was authorised to speak on our behalf.
Just found this thread and first of all would like to thank all of you for your thoughts and support🙏

Hoping that this post will at some point be seen by someone from Serif, I'd like to confirm that yes, we were and still are interested in working on auto-activation plugins for Affinity products, as so many people around the world use them and rightly so - they are great:)

The only thing that's stopping us right now is the absence of an SDK or any guidelines from Serif we could follow, which we hope will become available at some point in the future, and we'd be glad to discuss the possibility of implementing font auto-activation to make the lives of those using Affinity products in conjunction with FontBase a bit easier and more pleasant:)

Thank you Serif for your good work and thank you Affinity users for voicing your opinions here to help make the products you use even better with each iteration🙏 

All the best,
Yuriy
FontBase Dev Team

[Leigh]

On 10/30/2024 at 9:10 PM, Yuriy_FontBase said:

Hello everyone:)

Name's Yuriy, I'm a part of the development team behind FontBase and was authorised to speak on our behalf.
Just found this thread and first of all would like to thank all of you for your thoughts and support🙏

Hoping that this post will at some point be seen by someone from Serif, I'd like to confirm that yes, we were and still are interested in working on auto-activation plugins for Affinity products, as so many people around the world use them and rightly so - they are great:)

The only thing that's stopping us right now is the absence of an SDK or any guidelines from Serif we could follow, which we hope will become available at some point in the future, and we'd be glad to discuss the possibility of implementing font auto-activation to make the lives of those using Affinity products in conjunction with FontBase a bit easier and more pleasant:)

Thank you Serif for your good work and thank you Affinity users for voicing your opinions here to help make the products you use even better with each iteration🙏 

All the best,
Yuriy
FontBase Dev Team

Hi Yuriy! Thanks posting and reaching out - will pass the message on to our devs.

[Yuriy_FontBase]

Hi Leigh!

Thank you for such a quick reply🙏

Edited November 1, 2024 by Yuriy_FontBase

[fde101]

On 10/30/2024 at 5:10 PM, Yuriy_FontBase said:

the absence of an SDK

Just in case you missed this, there is a thread pinned at the top of the feature request forum called "Scripting" in which a Serif developer has confirmed they are working on adding support for scripting as well as an SDK for compiled plugins (they are being developed together).  The release timeframe has not been provided, likely because Serif doesn't know themselves yet, and as per their policy they probably won't comment on that until it shows up in a beta.

[Yuriy_FontBase]

Brilliant, thank you:) I did indeed miss it, sorry😅

[walt.farrell]

I'm curious whether the auto-activation issue is only on macOS, as I think it's working for me with FontBase on Windows.

[Mr. Doodlezz]

Hey all,

thanks for undeading the topic once more, @Yuriy_FontBase! 🧟‍♂️
And thanks @Leigh for replying!

@walt.farrell, unfortunately, it still doesn't work for me the way I expected or experienced it before Affinity:

1. Add Fonts to FontBase: Ensure the fonts you plan to use are added to your FontBase library.
2. Activate Fonts as Needed: Manually activate the required fonts while working on your project.
3. Deactivate After Use: After completing your work, manually deactivate the fonts. They remain in your FontBase library but are not active.
4. Automatic Activation Upon Reopening: When you reopen the project, FontBase detects the missing fonts and automatically activates them, provided the auto-activation feature is enabled.

[walt.farrell]

6 hours ago, Mr. Doodlezz said:

Automatic Activation Upon Reopening: When you reopen the project, FontBase detects the missing fonts and automatically activates them, provided the auto-activation feature is enabled.

Thanks. I was confused, thinking it referred to being able to activate fonts manually without having to stop/restart the application.