I did it! I deleted all of my fonts!

[faerywings]

No worries, I backed them all up first.
I don't know how I ended up with a lot of the fonts that were in my Windows Font Folder. I have been collecting/hoarding (tomato/tomahto) since the early 2000s when I first started doing hybrid paper and computer scrapping. Each time I have gotten a new computer over the last 20 years, I kept all of them and then added more and more. It is time to start weeding out all of the ones I don't use.
I had ~500 fonts installed, so I copied them to a different drive and then hit Ctrl-A Delete, That was rough! All of the protected fonts are still there but I created a System Restore point just in case I botched things up.
Now I am working from the Drive that I copied them to. I am viewing them in Font Base, deleting the ones that I will never use and moving the ones I will use to a third hard drive. That is where I keep all of my uninstalled fonts. (Please don't ask how many there are there, it is in the thousands) I have them separated into folders by Type/Style but sometimes I can't decide is it a Script font or a Signature Font? This is going to take a long time!

Have any of you ever done this? Would love to hear how all of you fontaholics organize your fonts too. Are they scattered all over your computers too?

 

[Cherylndesigns]

You got grit, girl! No, I have never done this, but I need to - I have a ton of them and wish I could give them organized. I used to print pages out that showed what each font looked like. I'm not that organized now. LOL

 

[scribler]

When I moved to Windows from Mac in late 2020 that pretty much required me to start over. I just wish I could find a good font orgranizer. I pretty much resort to searching for a new font whenever I don't want to use one of my favs even though I have tons of fonts.

 

[AZK]

Quite a few years ago I went through all my fonts and took the time to check and see if I had ever actually used each one. If I did I kept it, but if not I deleted it. I also uninstalled them all and just moved the ones I wanted to keep to a folder. I use Nexusfont to organize them, which works well enough for me. I can tag a font as a Script font, Signature font, AND Brush font if I can't decide which style it is. I haven't organized my fonts in a few years, though, so I know I have some newer fonts that need sorting.

I really really HATE that all the system fonts show up in PSE by default. I wish there was a way to make them go away, lol.

 

[Susan - s3js]

Hmmmm, have you been visiting my computer, @faerywings ? I know I have thousands, too. MANY of them are still zipped! Yuo know, I've worked with computers since I was 18 (a LONG time ago) and I have not been able to figure out font viewing/use software outside my programs. Tutorial anyone?

 

[VickiStegall]

WOW! I'm impressed!

 

[Jam-on-toast]

Fonts are a mess... I have TONS but kep using the same ones over and over... deleting them all seems drastic, but it's not really... sometimes (aka often) f I need a font - like typiwriter style, dymo, handwritten, swirly... I'll just download a new one for PU - it takes about 30 seconds... and then it's there in my collection but more often... though I often forget I have it so I ed up downloading yet another one..

 

[tjscraps]

I have never done this and the thought terrifies me lol

 

[seniorgal]

I keep my fonts in Nexus Font under different categories. I am in the process of cleaning them out
and have a page with lots of journaling and a title and try the fonts out on that. If they are not easy to read I delete them. It is taking forever to go through them all.
I've come to the conclusion you only really need about 3 fonts!

 

[Kythe]

@AZK I hear you about being able to get rid of the default fonts in PSE. There are so many that look the same to me. I have limited the ones I have installed on PSE as they make the program work slower. I find the same thing with the organizer so I have limited what I put in there to mainly masks, graffiti and CU products. NO photos no elements. I am still at close to maximum capacity. Yikes.

 

[Madi]

never deleted fonts, but the last time we had to get a new laptop I only reinstalled my favourite ones.
and of all the fonts that are still there, I only use a few!

 

[LSlycord]

Walk away from digital scrapping for about 10 years...I really need to find out what that number is....and switch computers lots of times in the middle...and you don't have a fonts problem. LOL Not really an approach that I recommend. But I did have to go find some fonts a couple of months ago. And, it does allow me the luxury of looking for new fonts whenever I scrap.

 

[VickiStegall]

Walk away from digital scrapping for about 10 years...I really need to find out what that number is....and switch computers lots of times in the middle...and you don't have a fonts problem. LOL Not really an approach that I recommend. But I did have to go find some fonts a couple of months ago. And, it does allow me the luxury of looking for new fonts whenever I scrap.

I can't say I recommend that approach lol! I'm so happy you're back!

 

[LSlycord]

I can't say I recommend that approach lol! I'm so happy you're back!

I am so happy that I'm back too! I can't thank you enough for letting me return!

 

[marijke]

T hat was my intention when installing my new macbook ... but because I could install via time machine everything transferred smoothly .... and until now I have not had the courage 'yet' to empty the folder of the fonts ...

 

[marijke]

I can see that my list of fonts in ps is getting infinitely long ... spring is the time for big cleaning ...

 

[LSlycord]

I can't say I recommend that approach lol! I'm so happy you're back!

Ok...guess what I just found? An external hard drive that has lots of scrap stuff and photos from 2007. Stuff from you (Your Glitzy Green Alpha...I loved that!), Amanda, Nina, Sue... What a rabbit hole I went down! I love everyone here now but, at the same time, I miss the folks from the past. Anyway, I guess maybe I didn't get rid of everything after all!

 

[Kythe]

To those who have culled fonts.....You are brave souls!

 

[vickyday]

Oh, MY! I had over 4,000 fonts at one time! I've got even more now! But I cannot make myself clean up the mess! Hello, my name is Vicky and I'm a fontaholic!

 

[Susan - s3js]

@vickyday I resemble that remark, many not even installed yet. I have an organizer/viewer app but have no idea what to do with it and how to get the fonts to PPSC. I can usually make a computer do almost anything - except organize and manage my fonts (alphas, too, and paper, and...)!

 

[timounette]

No I didn't. But I need to clean up my fonts too.

 

[bcgal00]

I use NexusFonts for organizing and viewing fonts. I have been slowly purging as I find that I don't use many of them, maybe only about 50 or so, on a regular basis so I feel good about keeping around 400 which I feel is more than I will ever use.

 

[Vicki Robinson]

When I moved to Windows from Mac in late 2020 that pretty much required me to start over. I just wish I could find a good font orgranizer. I pretty much resort to searching for a new font whenever I don't want to use one of my favs even though I have tons of fonts.

I’m using this one - Wendyzine recommended it. it’s inexpensive and I love it.

Typeface - Your favorite font app for Mac

Typeface is a wonderful font manager for macOS that helps you pick the perfect type for your designs. A minimal interface and total focus on your fonts makes browsing your collection a delightful experience. And Typeface 3 lets you effortlessly organize even the largest collections with new...

typefaceapp.com

 

[faerywings]

Oh oh oh!! I meant to start a new thread about this. I started to use the free version of Main Type. I will do that as soon as I start today's Dialy Ooos thread!