Hallo. Since changing to el capitan (I'm not sure I'd call it an upgrade), fontexplorer recognises fonts only when located in [user]/Library/Fonts. How can I change this?
(It's of course unacceptable and in my case simply impossible. I realise apple is going consumer and abandoning professional users more and more, but this just won't do.)
Thanks
Mac Pro, OS X El Capitan (10.11.6)
Font Explorer is not written by Apple. You need to ask its developers:
how to fix whatever problems you are experiencing with it.
C.
Hello, thanks both of you. What do you see in the macfaq section there? I see no indication concerning the matter.
I'm not convinced this is a font explorer issue. It seems this is an issue all font managers are subjected to in el capitan. And as I said: once copied to the location el capitan sees fit and then re-added to font explorer (linotype font explorer 1.2.3, btw.), they work fine there, too. I can't imagine how the same font explorer that had no trouble using its own font library in 10.9 suddenly would be unable to do so in 10.11—unless that very 10.11 is stopping it. Can you?
So the question remains open: How to disable this restriction.
FWIW, instead of musing on what may or may not be the problem, why not ask the developers as was suggested earlier?
Ok, one never knows. So, here's what they say: "Due to security measures in OS X 10.11 (El Capitan), PostScript Fonts need to be located somewhere in your Users directory, such as /Users/[username]/Font Folder in order for them to work properly in some graphic applications…" That's the problem. Now, I realise security is a good thing, so I'd like to know what risk this measure really tackles and then, if I decide I'm willing to take it, how to turn off that restriction.
There were some early font issues in El Capitan, and with font managers (third party and Font Book). But those have been cleaned up one way or the other.
"Due to security measures in OS X 10.11 (El Capitan), PostScript Fonts need to be located somewhere in your Users directory, such as /Users/[username]/Font Folder in order for them to work properly in some graphic applications…" That's the problem.
That was a problem and no longer is, as long as you're running at least 10.11.3. The bug was not PostScript itself since OpenType PostScript fonts worked fine. What you couldn't do is put Type 1 PostScript or older legacy Mac TrueType fonts in the root /Library/Fonts/ folder. They just wouldn't work from there and had to be in the Fonts folder of your user account. That has been fixed.
The remaining bug (haven't checked to see if it's been fixed in 10.11.6) is that fonts won't always release when disabled. The test is to open any fonts, type with them in any app and then disable the fonts. Any app should then tell you the fonts you were using are not available and change the fonts in the app to something that is. Which they would do - the first time. Re-enable those fonts and type again. Disable them again. The second time, nothing happened. The fonts would still show in the app and you could keep adding to your text as if they were still available. Only closing the document and reopening it would cause the app to finally tell you the fonts weren't active. The folks at Extensis checked and found that yes, the fonts were really disabled, but it appeared El Capitan was still working off of font cache data that wasn't being updated to match what was open. This is/was a fault you could duplicate with any font manager, including Font Book.
Anyway, I use Suitcase Fusion 7, and it works fine. I've also tested the current version of FontExplorer X Pro. It also works as expected.
To start with something simple, shut down all apps, including FEX and Font Book, if the latter is still on your system. In the Preferences folder of your user account, put these two files in the trash and restart:
com.apple.FontBook.plist
com.apple.FontRegistry.user.plist
One keeps track of Font Book's basic preferences and which fonts are active. The other, which fonts have been disabled in its interface, so you may not find both.
Nikolai Franke wrote:
Ok, one never knows. So, here's what they say: "Due to security measures in OS X 10.11 (El Capitan), PostScript Fonts need to be located somewhere in your Users directory, such as /Users/[username]/Font Folder in order for them to work properly in some graphic applications…" That's the problem. Now, I realise security is a good thing, so I'd like to know what risk this measure really tackles and then, if I decide I'm willing to take it, how to turn off that restriction.
I would not recommend disabling SIP (System Integrity Protection.) Certainly not as a operational fix—for diagnostic reason, making a informed known change—and enabling SIP is recommended for security purposes and OS X integrity.
[PostScript Fonts and OS X 10.11 Compatibility Issues
Due to security measures in OS X 10.11 (El Capitan), PostScript Fonts need to be located somewhere in your Users directory, such as /Users/[username]/Font Folder in order for them to work properly in some graphic applications.]
Hello. Thanks for all your patient and insightful answers despite my initiating rant. And no, disabling security certainly would be means out of proportion. I was hoping for a way to disable the particular feature concerning the fonts, but from what I read, the way to do that doesn't seem exactly public knowledge.
Now, I did as advised, shut down everything and deleted com.apple.FontBook.plist and com.apple.FontRegistry.user.plist, with no apparent changes. And since I experienced the behaviour described above (font operational only if sited in [user]/Library/Fonts (or probably one of the other recommended locations, all on startup disk) under 10.11.6 exclusively (went there from 10.9.5 directly), it seems the problem persists in some way, rather than being a matter prior to 10.11.3.
Additionally, I discovered another problem, namely some fonts that worked fine in 10.9.5—PostScript fonts as well—aren't recognised anymore at all, regardless of their location.
So maybe the cause here is a bit more complex. Or it's a number of unrelated issues combined. I can't tell. Any
fonts location in el capitan
