Typeface 4.5.1 (macOS)

The Notes field in the Info tab is new in version 4.5 — a plain text area where you can jot down why you picked a font or which project it belongs to. The overview now searches that field, so notes aren't buried.

Preview and compare fonts

Select any installed font — system or custom — and cycle through preview sizes and sample text. Side-by-side comparison mode puts two faces next to each other for a straight choice between similar weights.

Organise by collections and tags

Fonts live in custom collections and can carry multiple tags, so one typeface can appear in a 'headings' group and a 'brand' group at the same time. Families group automatically.

Inspect metadata

The Info tab shows copyright, designer, version history, tags and groups. The new Notes field sits there too. A Last Activated column sorts by the date you last used a font — useful for cleaning out the dead wood.

Forgetting Typeface works with all installed fonts

A few things tend to trip people up when they start with Typeface. The first is forgetting it works with all installed fonts, not just the ones you import yourself. System fonts from Adobe or the OS appear alongside your custom library, so don't be surprised to see dozens of faces you didn't add.

Another mistake is ignoring the side-by-side comparison until after you've already settled on a typeface. Opening two panels early saves flipping back and forth through the list. Beginners also tend to overlook the tag system — dropping a font into one collection and forgetting you can assign it to several groups at once. That means you end up hunting through collections instead of searching a tag.

More than a few people have imported the same font twice because they didn't check the overview first. The new search-for-notes in version 4.5 helps if you've noted which fonts you already added. Finally, some never touch the Last Activated column until their list is unmanageable — sorting by that date once a month keeps your active set tight.

Overview sorted by last activated fonts

You've just finished a rough layout for a client's brochure and need a headline face. Open Typeface and the overview shows every font on the machine, sorted by last activated — the ones you used yesterday sit at the top. You type the project name into the search bar; it checks font names and, now, any notes you entered. A few results appear, including one you added a note to: "used for client XYZ, approved for body copy."

Select that font and switch to the Info tab to check the designer and licence. Then flick to the glyph panel: the special characters are there — accented letters, ligatures, the lot. You switch to side-by-side comparison, pull the candidate next to a similar sans-serif you've been curious about. At default text size they look close; at 72 pt the differences in the 'a' and 'g' are clear. The candidate wins.

Before you close, you tag the winner with the project name and add a brief note to the Info tab: "headline for brochure, paired with [other font]." The last-activated timestamp updates automatically. Next week, sorted by that column, this font is right at the top.

Leaves system fonts alone unlike Font Book

Typeface sits somewhere between the heavyweight organisers and the simple preview apps. It doesn't try to activate and deactivate fonts on the fly like Font Book does — it shows everything that's installed and leaves the system alone. That makes it less intrusive but means you manage your font library through macOS rather than through the app itself.

Compared to something like RightFont, Typeface is lighter on automation but stronger on the inspection side. RightFont handles auto-activation for apps; Typeface focuses on the preview, comparison and metadata detail — the Info tab and glyph view are more thorough. It also has the Google Fonts import built in, which RightFont doesn't offer directly.

Another alternative is FontBase, which runs as a standalone service and has its own activation engine. Typeface is simpler: it doesn't need a background service, and it doesn't try to replace macOS's font handling. For someone who wants to preview, compare and annotate without changing how macOS loads fonts, Typeface does that without extra infrastructure.

• Adds a Notes field for fonts in the Info tab.
• Adds search for notes in the overview.
• Adds a Last Activated column and sorting by last activated date.
• Adds support for .otc font files.

• macOS 12 or later
• Apple Silicon or Intel Mac
• Interface languages: English, German, Dutch, French, Czech, Japanese