Virus Scan for Printer's Apprentice 8.1

DrTeeth What does this do that the free AMP Font Viewer does not?

Thanks

Guy

Jan 25 2011 at 6:13am Copy Link

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Louis H Hopefully the vendor can respond, Guy, in a more objective fashion. For me the main difference is the GUI. I use AMP, but having given the PA a trial run it is MUCH easier for me to manipulate the far-too-may fonts I have both installed with my system and stored away on a hard drive.

For 12$, this is one I will be picking up.

Jan 26 2011 at 5:20pm Copy Link

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Wayne Hamilton This is a great product. I've tried this against may font programs many costing a lot more money and it always does well. I'll be buying another license for my notebook.

Jan 26 2011 at 7:24pm Copy Link

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Tore Hoyem Can someone please submit a comparison with High-Logic MainType 3, which some of us purchased on BDJ earlier?

I'm guessing the two products are quite similar?

Jan 26 2011 at 11:29pm Copy Link

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Louis H My son tells me he may need to find me a room at the local retirement center as I do not seem able to keep track of everything I buy anymore! :)

I had forgotten that I had picked up MainType 3 from BDJ!!! So i started it up - installed the update - and while it is indeed a very good program - I find that Printer's Apprentice has features well worth an additional $12 to me.

(such as a slider for quickly getting a visual idea of how a font will look going from one size to another. One of the things I do is create slide-shows and often times I have the titles/captions increase or decrease in size and not every font works well in this regard. So to have an easier way to quickly determine, with motion, if a font is going to work will make my life a lot easier.) ....

.
I'll have to play around a bit more, but as far as the basics go, AMP and MainType 3 are both good programs and it may come down to personal preference regarding GUIs and specific features that make one's life a bit easier. (features which will not hold the same value for others.)

I am certain, however, that for my specific needs, I will not be forgetting that I bought this one! :)

Jan 27 2011 at 2:05am Copy Link

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Bryan Kinkel Hi everybody - My name is Bryan Kinkel, I'm the developer behind Printer's Apprentice.

I have not done a feature by feature comparison between my product and others such as AMP Font Viewer and MainType 3. But you can find a complete list of features at our web site: http://www.loseyourmind.com/pa80.aspx. The web site also has a screen shot gallery and PDFs of the printed font catalogs and font sample sheets.

I did find a pretty extensive feature comparison chart at http://font-manager-softw...views.com/.

I strive to offer excellent software with excellent support. Many of the features in Printer's Apprentice come directly from user requests. If you are interested in the software, please download a copy from our web site. You can then purchase a license key during the BDJ promotion on Sunday.

Any questions, let me know. I will watch this page for posts. Thanks! -- Bryan, helpdesk

loseyourmind.com

Lose Your Mind Development - Jan 27 2011 at 6:16am Copy Link

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Louis H Thank you, Bryan.

As I commented earlier - for $12 this one is going into my tool kit!

Jan 27 2011 at 3:30pm Copy Link

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Genie au Travail Hi,

Can I load and unload fonts (without installing them) with this tool ?

Jan 27 2011 at 11:58pm Copy Link

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Stephane M Hello Bryan,
It does not seem to be possible to read fonts directly from archive files, is it something you are planning to implement?
Thanks.

Jan 28 2011 at 1:49am Copy Link

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Bryan Kinkel Genie - At this time,no. When Printer's Apprentice installs fonts, it writes the entries to the Registry so your fonts will be installed whenever you reboot.

But Printer's Apprentice makes it very easy to temporarily install a font, use it in your application, then uninstall it when you are finished.

Stephane - 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.

Lose Your Mind Development - Jan 28 2011 at 2:59am Copy Link

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Tore Hoyem Even though I already have MainType, I guess I'll purchase PA, as well.
If only to encourage small developers with fair licensing policies :-)

Jan 28 2011 at 10:27pm Copy Link

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Bryan Kinkel Tore - Thanks for your support!

Lose Your Mind Development - Jan 29 2011 at 12:20am Copy Link

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Basil Ogger Bryan: What are the license terms, since the "Policy" statement on BDJ makes no sense at all ("per computer for concurrent use" is ridiculously nonsensical). Can 1 license be used on purchaser's several computers?

Jan 29 2011 at 5:00pm Copy Link

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Tazzie @ Louis ... "My son tells me he may need to find me a room at the local retirement center as I do not seem able to keep track of everything I buy anymore! :)" LOL ... you are truly as bad as me ... I find I have to double check before I buy, and I've scolded myself for forgetting and for the need to use what I buy!!!

@ Bryan ... I, too, am buying! Many of us place a high value on a responsive developer and a fair policy ... add to that a good program with lots of potential, and it becomes a no-brainer!

Jan 29 2011 at 5:24pm Copy Link

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Max Murkel Comparisons of font managers should include Typograf imho.
www.neuber.com

Jan 29 2011 at 7:50pm Copy Link

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Randy Martin Will this work on Windows 7 64 bit?

Jan 30 2011 at 7:17am Copy Link

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Bryan Kinkel Basil -please feel free to use one copy of Printer's Apprentice on the computers that you personally use.

Randy - Windows 7 64 bit? Absolutely. A couple of my development machines are in fact Windows 7 64.

Lose Your Mind Development - Jan 30 2011 at 7:56am Copy Link

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Stew Cam The program looks good. However, I notice it does not warn about invalid font files. For example, two other font utilities (OT1 + XFonter) pick up about 30 invalid font files in a folder with 3600 fonts, whereas Printer's Apprentice simply ignores them.

Jan 30 2011 at 10:03am Copy Link

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Randy Martin Okay. So I bought it. It woks nicely.
I selected 36 fonts for a client's project.
I would like to print out those fonts, in the sample text I've chosen, as an electronic file. Not a copy of the fonts themselves, but a copy of what the sample text looks like in each of those fonts.

I can see that in the right half under Font List. But I can't find a way to print it as a doc file or a PDF.

Can I do that? And why not?
Thanks.

Jan 30 2011 at 11:16am Copy Link

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Randy Martin Also, how do I load/view Post Script Fonts?

Jan 30 2011 at 11:19am Copy Link

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Bryan Kinkel Stew - You are correct. At this time, Printer's Apprentice does not flag invalid fonts. I'm curious though, as to how other utilities define when a font is invalid. Will have to look into that.

Randy - To generate a PDF, you need a PDF printer driver such as the "PDF Writer" that ships with Adobe Acrobat. I'm sure there are other shareware and freeware PDF print drivers out there.

Installed Postscript fonts can be viewed directly using the Installed Fonts tab. To view/print/install Postscript fonts, navigate to a folder of Postscript fonts with the Font Files tab. Make sure that the directory with your Postscript fonts contains a PFM and PFB file for each font.

Lose Your Mind Development - Jan 30 2011 at 11:24am Copy Link

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Glen Hilton Good to hear some prompt vendor feedback and a special mention of user input in development. That's great to hear. Have not heard of this app previously though after a quick trial, i was impressed enough to purchase a licence. Always happy to support small, active and responsive developers with a well priced and useful products. Thanks Bryan and BDJ for bringing Printer's Apprentice to our attention..

Jan 30 2011 at 12:33pm Copy Link

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Randy Martin are you saying the PFM and PFB files should wind up in the SAME directory/file?

I have Acrobat Professional. Is PDF writer something I have to download from the original discs?

Jan 30 2011 at 2:21pm Copy Link

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Stephane M Hi,

I just want to inform BDJ admins that after purchasing Printer's Apprentice and after receiving the confirmation of my payment I got the "Share this on Twitter" pop-up but the Twitter, Facebook and Email links have this text:

"I just bought a sweet bundle of 10 Windows & Mac compatible software apps valued at $339.73 for only $49.95"

Jan 30 2011 at 3:47pm Copy Link

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Bryan Kinkel Randy - When using the Font Files tab in Printer's Apprentice, the software looks in the selected folder for TrueType fonts via TTF files and OpenType fonts via OTF files.

Postscript/Type 1 fonts have 2 files - a PFB and a PFM. Both files have to be in the same folder together in order for Printer's Apprentice to see them.

The Fonts Control Panel window in Windows works the same way. To install a Type 1 font using the Fonts window, you drag the PFM to the Fonts window, then the OS looks for the PFB in the same folder as the PFM. The OS then copies those two files to the c:\windows\fonts folder and installs them.

Acrobat Professional ships with the PDF Writer. However it may not be installed with Acrobat by default. You should see it as a device in your Printers window.

Randy, email me directly helpdesk

loseyourmind.com and I can help out with any other questions you might have.

Lose Your Mind Development - Jan 31 2011 at 2:20am Copy Link

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Bryan Kinkel Stephane - you might want to email the BDJ folks directly about this.

Lose Your Mind Development - Jan 31 2011 at 2:21am Copy Link

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Bryan Kinkel I just want to send out a big THANK YOU to everybody who purchased a license for Printer's Apprentice. I think the promotion was a big success and I will certainly doing it again in the future.

If you have any questions about the software, please shoot me an email at helpdesk

loseyourmind.com.

I also enjoy seeing suggestions from the users. So if you have any ideas about features you would like to see, let me know.

I'm currently working on expanding and improving the documentation for the software. A copy of the documentation will also be online. Once that is finished, I will start on the next version. So get your ideas in!

Lose Your Mind Development - Jan 31 2011 at 2:25am Copy Link

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Preston Mitchell Sounds exciting! Badly need a font manager. Was about to buy High Logic Main Type font manager for over 4x the discount price of Apprentice. Can't wait to install the trial version. And will definitely report back with my evaluation.

Aug 22 2011 at 12:25pm Copy Link

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Avi S I have purchased and installed the software this morning. I like the program. Slick interface, with enough options to allow one to easily and efficiently review large collections of fonts, both regarding installed fonts as well as regarding any other directories of fonts. (Nice feature: ability to choose a directory and to then peruse, in a single list, all of the fonts in the various subdirectories under the chosen directory).
Issues:
1] My main gripe regards the lack of support for keyboard operations. I single this out in two areas:
A] The file selector has no place to directly type in a directory path. Rather, one must laboriously use the file explorer to click on the "plus" signs of the directories, one by one, until reaching the desired directory. For one whose fonts are all one level down, that is of course fine. But in the real world, people have far more complex directory structures, and most programs these days provide a text box in which one can directly type (or paste) the full path. The lack of such a box is a significant hinderance to the workflow of this program.
B] There is no "find" function! Although one can type the first letter of the font name to quickly scroll down to that area of the list (as in explorer), that is hardly sufficient, both because many of us have directories with thousands of fonts, as well as because the first character is not always sufficiently distinctive (regarding many of the fonts I've purchased, the font name includes first the name of the manufacturer, and only afterward the name of the font).
What I'd like to see is a proper incremental-search box that searches for the specified characters anywhere within the name of the files - similar to the search box in itunes, or the search box in voidtools' Everything (with support for regular expressions if the user so desires, as in Everything).
Additionally, although less critically, it also makes sense to add a "find" function which would jump down to the next instance of the specified text.
2] When browsing directories of fonts, it is very important to indicate the status of the font in terms of whether it is already installed or not. As far as I can see, there is no such indication. Rather, the only time I can get that information in the program is if I actually select the font and choose "Install" - and then, if it is already installed, it tells me, "cannot install because it is installed already". It would be much more helpful if this status was displayed on the status bar when I first select the font; or, better, if fonts that are installed would be displayed in the list in a different color, or with a prefix (such as a checkmark). Additionally, I'd like to have the option of displaying only installed fonts or only non-installed fonts from a given directory.
3] The "keyboard" tab is a wonderful feature, showing how the font glyps match to the keyboard. But as far as I can tell, it is hard-coded to a US qwerty layout! That's not very useful at all! Many people have many different keyboard layouts installed, for various languages and for various layouts, and for this tab to be useful, it must be capable of showing the layouts for each of the installed keyboard.
Ideally, I'd suggest that it use the currently active keyboard. And then, whenever the user changes the keyboard (via the MS Windows Language Bar or via any assigned keyboard shortcut), the keyboard tab should update accordingly.
If the makers of the software are listening - please update us as to whether any of these issues can be addressed in the near future.

Aug 23 2011 at 4:56am Copy Link

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Bryan Kinkel Avi - Thank you for your purchase of Printer's Apprentice this morning. And I appreciate the feedback you have posted here.

I'm always working on improving the software and I think you have some great suggestions.

In particular, I like your idea of being able to jump directly to a folder via a textbox above the Explorer tree. This is a great idea and I will see if I can't get this implemented in the next version. I don't think it would be a big deal to put in place.

Your idea for an incremental search and improved status displays for selected fonts are excellent as well. I've added them to my list of ideas to research.

As far as the keyboard goes... Yes, it is hard coded for the US English layout. Getting this to be region-aware has been on my To To list for quite a while. I will add it to the list of items for the next version.

If you have any additional comments, please feel free to email me directly - helpdesk

loseyourmind.com. I will be happy to discuss any additional ideas you have at length. -- Bryan

Lose Your Mind Development - Aug 23 2011 at 5:30am Copy Link

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Preston Mitchell Review of Printer’s Apprentice -- Best Font Manager for the Money!

There are many font managers available, including free ones, but the vast majority fall woefully short of being useful. Prior to discovering Printer’s Apprentice on Bits, I felt High Logic’s Main Type was the only professional-quality font manager.

Last night, I installed the trial version of Printer’s Apprentice on my Win 7 x32 PC. Installation went well, and Apprentice is very stable….no spyware either, of course.

Apprentice is very easy to learn. The user interface is very friendl. It has the right features needed for an effective pro-quality font manager.

Is Apprentice the very best font manager? Technically speaking, no. (However, I won’t buy Main Type over Apprentice!)

High Logic Main Type supports more font types; loads and unloads fonts a little more efficiently; provides better search functions; and offers several excellent advanced features not found in Apprentice, such as the ability to generate a HTML-overview of one’s font collection (which I think helps to identify the best web-friendly fonts).

Main Type is an expensive complicated piece of work! It is definitely harder to learn. And it costs $59!

Apprentice gets the job done very nicely. And only costs $12 today. So, it is a no-brainer for me! I am buying Apprentice now!

Thank you Lose Your Mind Development for today’s offer!

Aug 23 2011 at 9:41am Copy Link

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Preston Mitchell Bryan -- Suggestions for Improvements

I admire a developer who is committed to improving his software. I fully concur with the suggestions offered by Avis S...incorporating such into Apprentice will make it better software...and I hope you will do it. BUT may I offer a suggestion too.

Imitation might be the sincererst form of flattery...but emulation is a good way to beat your leading competitor with his own game. I suggest acquiring High Logic Main Type and studying it for what it does better than Apprentice; for what good features it has that Apprentice doesn't. I think if you can emulate the best of Main Type...without increasing the complexity of the user learning curve or jacking up the price to $60...I think Apprentice can easily take the title of World Champion Font Manager.

Aug 23 2011 at 9:55am Copy Link

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Bryan Kinkel Preston - Thanks for the suggestions. I appreciate the feedback.

In general, I have always tried to solicit suggestions from my users rather than directly copy other apps. But I will take a look at some bits of the competition and see what I learn. -- Bryan

Lose Your Mind Development - Aug 23 2011 at 11:41am Copy Link

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Roger Thomasson Apologies for the interruption!

We just switched email servers and are having a bit of trouble syncing the new with the old. If you aren't receiving your daily Bits please shoot me an email with the address you'd like us to use and I'll make sure you're added.

roger

bitsdujour.com

Now, back to your regularly-scheduled promotion :-)

-r

BitsDuJour Admin - Aug 23 2011 at 12:01pm Copy Link

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Preston Mitchell Bryan -- Irony...thanks to High Logic!

TODAY High Logic sent out AN email inviting folks to try their new version 4 of Main Type. Wow, what an elegant font manager! You really should try the evaluation version...and check out their new layout....very impressive...and very easy to use now. EVEN SO, Printer's Apprentice gets the job done as well as the new Main Type v4....just as a Chevy gets you to work as well as the Cadillac does.

I DO WISH Apprentice could export a font set as HTML so the font can be seen in a web browser....for web site developers, that is a great feature. (That is best feature of Main Type that Apprentice lacks.)

Anyway I prefer my old Dodge truck over my wife's BMW...so I am fond of Apprentice and will stick with it!

Aug 23 2011 at 11:12pm Copy Link

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Bryan Kinkel I've been hard at work on the latest version of Printer's Apprentice. If you are interested in testing the latest version, please drop me a note at helpdesk at loseyourmind dot com. Thanks!

Lose Your Mind Development - Oct 20 2011 at 1:46pm Copy Link

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riad af Does it show Arabic fonts before installing the fonts?

Aug 4 2015 at 4:48am Copy Link

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Bryan Kinkel Peter R - You should not have any problems running Printer's Apprentice on Windows 10. I encourage you to download the software first and see how it performs on your PC. Printer's Apprentice is easy to uninstall if you find that it does not meet your needs.

Lose Your Mind Development - Aug 4 2015 at 6:40am Copy Link

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Bryan Kinkel Riad af - Printer's Apprentice shows the full range of Unicode characters. So if there are Arabic figures in the font, they will be displayed.

Lose Your Mind Development - Aug 4 2015 at 6:41am Copy Link

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Tim Parsons Strangely, just yesterday I ran into a situation I needed my old copy of PA for. This remains the best program for font management I've ever found and I'm about to buy a second license just to support the developer. :)

Aug 4 2015 at 11:51pm Copy Link

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Bryan Kinkel Thanks for your support Tim!

Lose Your Mind Development - Aug 5 2015 at 9:23am Copy Link

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Bin Zhou I can't download the trial version. I am just worried about if I buy it but will still have the same problem for downloading.

Aug 5 2015 at 10:49am Copy Link

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Bryan Kinkel Bin Zhou - try downloading directly from this link -

http://www.loseyourmind.c...esetup.exe

This link is always available for our users.

Lose Your Mind Development - Aug 5 2015 at 11:02am Copy Link

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Kelly Hamblin I recently purchased a license for this app. I looked all over to for a replacement for the font manager that I had installed on my XP machine. This is the best I could find. Very happy with it. Even though I paid more than this, I still think I got a good deal. Only problem I had was communicating with the company, but this isn't the kind of program that should require any help once it is installed and registered.

Aug 5 2015 at 11:59am Copy Link

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Bryan Kinkel Hi Kelly - Thanks for your feedback. My name is Bryan Kinkel - I'm the owner/developer/programmer behind Printer's Apprentice. I apologize for the problems you have had in the past communicating with me. I try to stay on top of emails and get back in 24 hours. But sometimes things do slip by. Please feel free to contact me directly at helpdesk

loseyourmind.com if you need any assistance with the software.

Lose Your Mind Development - Aug 5 2015 at 12:07pm Copy Link

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Kelly Hamblin Hey Bryan,

The problem finally got squared away. Application is running and is registered. If I have problems after a reboot, I will let you know. I always used Font Manager on my older computer, and when I started a search for something similar I was disappointed again and again until I found Printer's Apprentice. I need to see everything. That's just how my brain works. Little boxes of text are of no help at all. With your app I can see "everything", and I can see it in several different ways, AND I can compare fonts to decide which will work best for what I'm doing, AND I can easily determine which fonts work nicely together.

Anybody who needs a font manager and doesn't grab this deal is just missing out. :)

Aug 5 2015 at 12:44pm Copy Link

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Kelly Hamblin Just wanted to say that when I was looking for a font manager, I tried every one I could find. This was by far and away the best. Grab this deal. You won't be sorry.

Apr 13 2017 at 5:45am Copy Link

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Bryan Kinkel Hi Kelly - Thank you for your post. I really appreciate it. I'm constantly working on Printer's Apprentice to add new features, etc. If you have any suggestions or comments, please feel free to email me directly via helpdesk at lose your mind dot com!

Lose Your Mind Development - Apr 13 2017 at 5:58am Copy Link

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Bryan Kinkel Hi Peter - At this time, this version does not have a duplicate font detection feature. That is something I'm working on for the next version.

Lose Your Mind Development - Apr 13 2017 at 11:49am Copy Link

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Bryan Kinkel Latest changes can always be found here - http://www.loseyourmind.c...anges.aspx

Lose Your Mind Development - Apr 13 2017 at 12:23pm Copy Link

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Gary Smith 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?

Apr 14 2017 at 3:20pm Copy Link

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Christian User @KThomas

Thanks...

Dec 29 2017 at 2:12pm Copy Link

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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