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Printer's Apprentice 8.1

A Superior Font Management and Printing Utility!

$24.99

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v8.1.37.1 for PC Download Trial

Platforms: Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Wndows Vista, Windows XP

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Design, Photo & Graphics Software, Printer

Design, Photo & Graphics Software, Fonts and Font Tools Software Screenshot

For those of us who work with type, such as graphic artists, publishing professionals or interface designers, accumulating a large collection of fonts is just the cost of doing business. How many times, though, have you had to install a font just to see what it looked like, only to find that it's not what you wanted? When you work with a lot of fonts, this repeated installation and removal process really takes its toll on your productivity!

Printer's Apprentice is the perfect tool to help you organize and manage your font collection! With Printer's Apprentice, you'll be able to browse, preview, and print fonts without installing them! You don't even need to copy the fonts to your hard drive - Printer's Apprentice is able to read the files directly from any storage device, such as a USB flash drive. To help you visualize how fonts will look on printed paper, the program can organize them using nine different sample sheets and eight different catalogs.

Printer's Apprentice works with all TrueType, Adobe Type 1, and OpenType fonts, and you can view every character of every font, plus see how the font looks in paragraph form - you can even compare different font paragraphs. If you do decide to install a font to your system, Printer's Apprentice allows you to intelligently install fonts with greater flexibility than you ever had with Windows Control Panel! Even better, you can assign fonts to groups, giving you the power to install and uninstall batches of fonts at once.

With full support for Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista and XP, you’ll find the intuitive Windows Explorer-style interface instantly familiar, and the toolbar ensures that you'll have easy one-button access to all of your favorite Printer's Apprentice features!

The Conversation

Features

The Fine Print

Testimonials

Review what others have to say...
“I manage the graphics department of a busy print shop. If not for Printer's Apprentice, handling the fonts for dozens of customer supplied projects daily would be an insane task. With PA I can quickly install, uninstall, and group by customer. It's priceless.”- Greg Batchelor, McCabe's Printing Group, Fairfax, VAhttp://www.mccabesprinting.com/
“Printer's Apprentice 8.0 is the latest in many highly dependable and useful versions of this very versatile software. Its as useful to professionals who need perfect control of their fonts as well as non-professionals who enjoy working with various fonts in a variety of situations. Its developer, Bryan T. Kinkel, has worked for years to produce this dependable software at a very reasonable price.”- Andrew Sherling
“I will have to say your response...was fast. Best customer service with software I've had in a long time. The software is amazing you just made my job picking fonts for clients and me 100 times better and easier. This is with out a doubt software that everyone needs.”- Paul Pack, Wolf N Cub Productions
“I've been using Printers Apprentice 8.0 for organizing my fonts for awhile. Being a student of graphic design, I have a considerable collection of fonts (over 1800), and I find that PA8 manages my substantial font collection with ease. The program's clean interface and fast load time make dealing with fonts a pleasant experience. I find the "comparative font" mode is just one of the convenient features that make PA8 such a joy to use. Also, when it comes to uninstalling a font, PA8 does the an effective job. I don't know about other people, but having Windows Vista, doesn't always allow other font managers to do this uninstallation at all. All and all, I find Printer's Apprentice to be well worth the purchase price, and I am continually impressed with the consistent version update improvements.”- Bud Lesh
“I just wanted to let you know what an awesome piece of software you have designed! I am in the sign business and use it for font comparisons and for printing font samples for customers. The software has done everything I have needed and more! The support which means as much as the programs ability to perform goes above and beyond my expectations. Any questions I have had were answered promptly and the fact that you are constantly making additions to the softwares ability is great. Thanks for a great piece of software! Sorry I haven't been able to give you as much input lately but I have been kind of slow.”- Everette Bowen, Signs of Dixiehttp://www.signsofdixie.com/
“As a graphic designer, I find Printers Apprentice a valuable tool in seeing, easily and quickly, how different words appear in different typefaces. I can then load relevant fonts for the duration of a project.”- Michael Cooper
“As a scrap booker, Printer's Apprentice is an invaluable tool for me to manager my almost 2000 fonts. Because I can organize the fonts into groups, it is easy to find a font specific to an occasion, holiday, activity or particular look. For example, if I want a font appropriate for a birthday page, all I do is go to the birthday group folder and select the one I like. Or if I want a font that incorporates a floral theme, I can go to that folder. You can name and organize the groups to suit your needs. Printer's Apprentice is a time saver for anyone who maintains a large font inventory.”- Irene

Expand All Email Updates Load 51 Older Comments

Christian User On your website :
"Why purchase a license? - A license key gives you the following benefits:
•It removes the evaluation notices displayed when the application starts.
•Additional font catalogs and sample sheets are unlocked.
•The key removes watermarks on printed catalogs and sample sheets.
•Technical support is provided by the development team.
•Free lifetime upgrades!"

On the fine print :
"Upgrades to future versions of the software will be free for minor versions only. For versions after that, upgrades will require additional payment, which will be discounted. It will be discounted only if you've purchased the last major version."

Where is the true : free lifetime upgrades or not ?

Dec 29 2017 at 2:36am Copy Link

Bryan Kinkel Hi Peter - This is something I'm still working on. -- Bryan

Lose Your Mind Development - Dec 29 2017 at 4:27am Copy Link

Bryan Kinkel Hi Christian - This is old copy. Upgrades are free. Where did you find the old copy? I searched the application and web site and could not find the old text. Thanks.

Lose Your Mind Development - Dec 29 2017 at 4:52am Copy Link

Ela S. Hallo,

Put Printer's Apprentice on my wishlist already some time ago.

Since I am not that font expert yet, anyone who can compare Printer's Apprentice with PopChar (which was offered last year at BDJ)?

Thanks for your help and best regards

Ela S.

Dec 29 2017 at 5:29am Copy Link

Kelly Hamblin I understand Printer's Apprentice is licensed per computer and not per user. So I suppose this is a stupid question but is the license for ONE computer or does it allow for installation on more than one computer? The license information on your website gives completely different information. It allows for installation on 3 computers.

Dec 29 2017 at 5:33am Copy Link

Bryan Kinkel Hi Kelly - Please feel free to install Printer's Apprentice on up to three home computers for personal use. The license key allows for multiple installations on different machines. -- Bryan

Lose Your Mind Development - Dec 29 2017 at 5:42am Copy Link

Christian User @Bryan Kinkel
"This is old copy. Upgrades are free. Where did you find the old copy? I searched the application and web site and could not find the old text"

****************
Upgrades to future versions of the software will be free for minor versions only. For versions after that, upgrades will require additional payment, which will be discounted. It will be discounted only if you've purchased the last major version.
*****************

It is in the "Fine Print" part of this BDJ offer !
If you confirm the "Free lifetime upgrades" i put an order...
Best regards

Dec 29 2017 at 6:35am Copy Link

Bryan Kinkel Ah! Right under my nose! Well upgrades to all future versions are free. I did a paid upgrade years ago and it was more work than it was worth. -- Bryan

Lose Your Mind Development - Dec 29 2017 at 8:45am Copy Link

Christian User @Bryan @Constantin,

i put an order and i stop it !
i am a french user and on my order 11$ 95 = 14 euros 06 +TVA

this day 1 euro = 1 $ 202 !!!!!
so 11$ 85 = 9 euros 94
how did you achieve this conversion of the dollars in euros ?????

Best regards

Dec 29 2017 at 9:20am Copy Link

Bryan Kinkel Christian - the base price for the software is either US$ 24.99 or EUR 24.99.

Since you are purchasing in Euro, our ecommerce partner Avangate is using the EUR 24.99 as the base price. Then converting the US$ discount to EUR which comes to roughly EUR 10.84 using the xe.com currency converter.

I don't know how often Avangate updates their conversion rates. So there is a slight difference between them and the xe.com rate.

So the issue has to do with the fact that I have both US$ and EUR base prices for the product. But I don't have the discount priced out in EUR. -- Bryan

Lose Your Mind Development - Dec 29 2017 at 9:39am Copy Link

Adolphe Hi ; can this be made high DPI-aware ? I installed the trial download from the publisher's website, and it has the familiar faulty, blurry interface. Contrary to many other programs with that defect, ticking the "High DPI" box in the Properties / Compatibility tab of the executable does not correct this. Nor does ticking the box "Run this program in compatibility mode for Windows 7".

My setup : Windows 7 64-bit, 1920 x 1200 monitor, display set at 150 % in Windows, Use Windows XP-style DPI scaling = No.

Dec 29 2017 at 10:10am Copy Link

Bryan Kinkel Hi Adophe - I've been working on high DPI support in an upcoming version. Contact me directly via helpdesk at loseyourmind.com if you are interested in being added to the beta test list. -- Bryan

Lose Your Mind Development - Dec 29 2017 at 10:33am Copy Link

Adolphe Thanks, Bryan. I might indeed drop you a line. The program seems nice, but if I reluctantly keep a few utilities with that blurry interface installed (and sometimes use them), of course it's out of the question for a font manager.

Dec 29 2017 at 10:44am Copy Link

Bryan Kinkel Please do send me a note. I need more feedback from users with high res setups. -- Bryan

Lose Your Mind Development - Dec 29 2017 at 10:51am Copy Link

KThomas @Christian: do not use the avangate conversion to EUR - chose USD and paypal (in USD, too) - so including VAT (MwSt) I paid USD 14.22.

Dec 29 2017 at 1:42pm Copy Link

Christian User @KThomas

Thanks...

Dec 29 2017 at 2:12pm Copy Link

Gary Smith Greetings Bryan Kinkel:

Back on April 14, 2017, I asked a question that never got answered, but I still would like to know the answer since it was something that had been discussed in the older comments as far back as 2011.

My question was: I have a lot of TTF files as ZIP files. Can Printer's Apprentice work with ZIP files without me having to unzip them first?

On Jan 28, 2011, your reply to another question regarding ZIP files was "Printer's Apprentice does not read fonts directly from ZIP files. This has been on my To Do list for a while, but I have not implemented it." 10 new releases and nearly 7 years have passed since your response; I am wondering how this is coming along? To me this is a serious selling point, a deal breaker for me and may be for many others since it is common that typeface files are often distributed in ZIP files. The hassle of the user having to unzip file after file just to locate a typeface would be much better solved by Printers Apprentice.

In reading through your online change log, I see that a couple of suggestion made by Avi S (from Earlier Comments) was implemented (changing keyboard and status of typeface being installed or not while looking through files). I think anyone reading the suggestions by Avi S would agree they were all great suggestions. I am also wondering what the status of the other Avi S suggestions is along with your plans for them.

Also, on April 13, 2017, in another response, you stated "At this time, this version does not have a duplicate font detection feature. That is something I'm working on for the next version." There have been two versions since then but I do not see any reference to duplicate files in the change log. What is the status of that feature?

Thanking you in advance, and I hope you have a very productive and prosperous 2018.

Dec 29 2017 at 4:29pm Copy Link

Bryan Kinkel HI Gary - The ZIP file feature has been on the list for quite a long time. But frankly I have not heard that much demand from users for it. Maybe it is because hard drive capacity has exploded and font files are typically less than 100K. So I have not pushed ahead on it. As a developer, I use ZIP files every day for backups and file transfer. But for font storage, not a bit.

If you are interested in learning more about the development of the software, please contact me directly at helpdesk at loseyourmind.com. I have a group of beta testers that are working with me on the next release. I would enjoy having you aboard and hearing your feedback. -- Bryan

Lose Your Mind Development - Dec 29 2017 at 5:28pm Copy Link

Great News! Lose Your Mind Development has agreed to extend this deal for another day - Enjoy!

BitsDuJour Admin - Dec 30 2017 at 12:11am Copy Link

Gary Smith Thanks Bryan for the response; your participation is much appreciated by me and the others that have mentioned the same. Developer participation is truly missed on a lot of these offers.

>But for font storage, not a bit.
As for your use, I doubt you would use ZIP files for typefaces; after all, a lot of your time is spent with typeface files. The same is probably true for many of the users that use your product on a daily or near daily basis. Their work is based on having a wide assortment of typefaces easily accessible for browsing and viewing. Because their Font Manager does not support ZIP file format, of course they will have them in Unzipped format; that is who you most likely hear from the most. But for many of us, including Stephane, the poster of the original question ("It does not seem to be possible to read fonts directly from archive files, is it something you are planning to implement?"), I am confident that user really wanted that feature, and I can truly sympathize with that user, because I have been looking for that very feature for over 30 years. I guarantee we are the minority when it comes to wanting this feature, but it would be so easy to implement, and as a result, it would mean that you truly have the lead on this. That in turn will bring in more customers like Stephane and myself, plus add a feature that many of your current users could take advantage of.

That original poster probably has a lot of ZIP files containing typefaces, the same as many more of us do. We don't access our typeface files as often as your heaviest users. Since typefaces are so commonly ZIPped for download, distribution on disk, or for casual archiving, including from those days when hard drive space was not so plentiful, it is common to keep them in ZIPped format, especially if they are not accessed very often. The ZIP format is important, not only as a convenience (since the files arrived to us in ZIP format), but also for the advantages of transmittal/distribution or even simple backups. Smaller files are always an advantage when it comes to copying/moving time.

Granted, most typeface files are less than 100k, but what I have the most of in ZIP format, are files that contain more than one typeface, such as a family, or just a lot of assorted typefaces, sometimes hundreds or thousands in many of my cases. When you have that many typefaces, and need to reference them very seldom, having them in ZIP files, just like they were originally distributed makes perfect sense to me. Things that aren't referenced often are perfect to be stored in ZIP files. They are very safe that way from any other software crawling (such as duplicate finders), or anything else that could accidentally alter one of the files, or delete a file. Thirty-five years ago, I was working with a lot of typeface vector files (before Microsoft ever had TrueType), and used an editor I developed to digitize and manipulate those typefaces. Ever since that time I have been collecting typefaces. I probably have more typefaces than many typeface websites have, and I am also assured that I have more than any other individual I have met that also had a lot of typefaces. Right now, I have many Terabytes of spare storage, but I know it is not enough to have all of my typefaces unzipped. Even if I had the room to have them all unzipped, I need access to them so seldom that it just wouldn't make sense. Of course having fewer typefaces would make things easier, but typefaces are one of those things that, you never know when you are going to need it, so you never delete it. Archive it, yes, but never get rid of it.

My programming work is not related to typefaces any longer, but since I also do graphics work, occasionally I have to match a typeface, or come up with one that "serves the need" just right. Those are some of the dreaded tasks for me, because there have been times when it took me over 12 hours of looking through my collection to find that perfect typeface (I usually give up by this time). Part of that hassle is having to UnZip files so that "whatever font manager I am using that day" can go through them. Every time, I think, if I weren't doing other work, I could develop my own typeface manager that would work directly with ZIP files, but by the time I get it done, someone will have already come out with that feature. To make matters worse, I would have to develop all the other features that your program (and others) already have. Implementing the ZIP feature would not be the difficult part for either of use, but you have the advantage that you already all the other features. I had much rather continue my regular work, and someone that has a nice Font Manager add the ZIP feature. To me, that program is Printer's Apprentice. You even thought about it yourself. Add the ability to not only look in ZIP files, but also to ZIP up typeface files, and you could advertise that feature for the purpose of grouping typefaces for convenience. The ZIPped format also has the advantage of being password protected, a feature that is not part of the common typeface formats. Adding this capability to your current user base, will give many of them some comfort in company asset protection. If you add the ZIP support, I assure you that you will get some nice compliments.

I am from the days of the ARC format and the introduction of the ZIP format by Phil Katz (R.I.P.), hence PKZIP, to replace ARC format, and it did it nearly overnight when Bulletin Boards (pre-Internet) quickly adopted the improved archive format (Bulletin Boards was THE source for Shareware in those days). The nice thing is that Phil made the ZIP format public before passing on. Many other ZIP archive programs evolved as a result (some silently taking credit if users thought it was their idea). Those programs were common tools from the DOS era to early Windows (WinZip was very popular in the early days of Windows), but look how things changed when Windows itself starting directly supporting ZIP file access. You could do the same for Printer's Apprentice. If you don't, some other Font Manager will, sooner or later. You have the advantage being a single developer/owner of the product. I know that it is not that difficult, and there are plenty of libraries that you could use in your product. I have worked on many large Mainframe programming projects; one that had a single database file that was so large, it was larger than any hard drive manufactured at that time could hold, but the operating system allowed for expanse over multiple drives. A file that was 96 hard drives in length was cut in half by implementing the ZIP format. That affected not only the expensive hardware cost, but also the processing time for all of their customers. The ZIP format is just not for our everyday casual use. Some of your customers might really benefit from it.

I hadn't visited the pkware.com website for several years, but I just did out of curiosity. That company is going strong with new products, employing the same basic principles of the original ZIP file for security and processing of many different types of data. From Transparent Date Encryption to SmartCrypt Appliances, wow, that company has come a long way. If you visit the pkware.com website (where it all started), you might be surprised just how important the ZIP format has become, and you might have a resurgence in your thought to implement this feature.

I beg of you to keep this in your thoughts; please implement this feature. Make Stephane happy at least. We owe it to Phil.

Dec 30 2017 at 12:40am Copy Link

Tim Parsons Just a general note - I've been a paid up user of this excellent software for some years and have never found better font management facilities. Pleased to see that development continues - when the rss feeds from the site stopped responding a while back, I started to wonder if maybe it was going away - glad to see that's not the case!

Dec 30 2017 at 12:44am Copy Link

Bruno Verschraegen How can this be a correct practice by Avangate?
"... the base price for the software is either US$ 24.99 or EUR 24.99.
Since you are purchasing in Euro, our ecommerce partner Avangate is using the EUR 24.99 as the base price. Then converting the US$ discount to EUR which comes to roughly EUR 10.84 using the xe.com currency converter... "

52% Off is 52% Off - or at least so should it be, in my eyes. It just doesn't make sense (and doesn't seem correct) to charge in one currency and then deduct a discount calculated in another currency, thereby making the end charge bigger. Wouldn't it be possible for you to have a word with Avangate about that?

Dec 30 2017 at 3:13am Copy Link

Stefan Mueller How do I change the background color for my sample text(s)?
This is important for web and graphics design, to correctly assess the visibility of various fonts on different background colors. Seems like the program is missing this essential feature?

Dec 30 2017 at 7:32am Copy Link

Bryan Kinkel Hi Stefan - in the lower right corner of the Single Character and the Character Set displays, next to the point size slider are buttons for changing the foreground and background color.

The Sample Text tab does not have this feature. But that is a great idea and will add it in a future version. -- Bryan

Lose Your Mind Development - Dec 30 2017 at 7:40am Copy Link

Bryan Kinkel Hi Bruno - I will look into the Euro conversion issue at Avangate next time we run a special.

Lose Your Mind Development - Dec 30 2017 at 7:47am Copy Link

Bryan Kinkel Tim - The RRS feeds are still working. There just has been not much updated content on the web site.

Lose Your Mind Development - Dec 30 2017 at 7:48am Copy Link

Bryan Kinkel Gary - Thanks for your input about ZIP file support in the software. Contact me directly at helpdesk at loseyourmind.com if you are interested in joining our test group. -- Bryan

Lose Your Mind Development - Dec 30 2017 at 7:49am Copy Link

Stefan Mueller Thank you Bryan,
for your quick reply regarding the BG-color of sample text. Guess I'll have to pass up this offer and wait until it gets implemented. Unless a purchase right now qualifies me to update for free to this (upcoming?) release?

Dec 30 2017 at 8:37am Copy Link

Bryan Kinkel Stefan - A purchase now *does* qualify you for future updates. -- Bryan

Lose Your Mind Development - Dec 30 2017 at 8:58am Copy Link

Stefan Mueller Thanks again, Bryan,
went ahead and bought it, hoping in good faith that the feature will be implemented in a not too-far-away future update.

Dec 30 2017 at 9:57am Copy Link