A Mac application similar to Charmap on windows

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Level 1

8 points

A Mac application similar to Charmap on windows

Hi Everyone, I recently bought a MacBook Pro (first Mac ever) and I'm trying to do some graphic design work. I'd like to see all the ligatures and other glyphs that are in a particular font. The way I work is I usually activate my fonts using Suitcase, so then I get access to them in Photoshop etc. without having to actually install them.

I understand that using fontbook I can do this easily, but it seems as though when I add a font to FontBook it installs the font, which defeats the purpose of using Suitcase. I'd hate to have to install every single font I want to use.

Can anyone help?

Macbook Pro 2.2GHz, Mac OS X (10.4.10)

Posted on Oct 11, 2007 1:03 PM

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Answer 1

a brody

Level 10

85,314 points

Oct 11, 2007 1:43 PM in response to althanis

Does

http://www.macility.com/products/popcharx/

do what you want?

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Answer 2

varjak paw

Level 10

182,668 points

Oct 11, 2007 1:46 PM in response to althanis

System preferences -> International -> Input menu

Turn on the Character pallette. You can then open that from the "flag" menu that will appear in the Menu Bar to the left of Spotlight. For a different way of looking at things, turn on Keyboard Viewer in that same menu.

Regards.

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Answer 3

a brody

Level 10

85,314 points

Oct 11, 2007 1:46 PM in response to varjak paw

But doesn't that only work on installed fonts?

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Answer 4

althanis Author

Level 1

8 points

Oct 11, 2007 1:51 PM in response to varjak paw

This is exactly the method I am currently using, sorry if this was unclear in my original post. But it only works for installed fonts, and I'm trying to avoid installing all of my many fonts for it to work.

I'm going to try out Popchar and let you know how it works, thanks for the link!

EDIT: I just saw that I need to pay for this. Do you know if there are any free alternatives?

Message was edited by: althanis

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Answer 5

varjak paw

Level 10

182,668 points

Oct 11, 2007 2:21 PM in response to althanis

Sorry, my mistake; misread/misunderstood your post.

I'm not aware of any free utility that can view all the characters of a non-installed font. All, like PopChar, are at minimum shareware.

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Answer 6

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

122,216 points

Oct 11, 2007 2:43 PM in response to althanis

As far as I know the only way to see the characters of uninstalled fonts on a Mac is to use a font editor. You can use a free trial of the stuff made by FontLab, for example, or the free FontForge.

http://www.fontlab.com/

http://fontforge.sourceforge.net/

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Answer 7

althanis Author

Level 1

8 points

Oct 20, 2007 2:38 PM in response to althanis

Hey Everyone, thanks for all the help and suggestions. I continued looking around and came across Font Explorer X, which easily allows you to view all the characters that are in a font even without installing it.

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