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Accessing OpenType options with software you already have on your Mac

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OpenType fonts are amazing, but you can’t get to all the awesomeness without Adobe Illustrator or InDesign, right? Wrong! Where there’s a will, there’s a way to get your hands on a bunch of OpenType features and every single glyph using just the software that comes with your Mac. I show you how in this video. (Tim Cook you can thank me later.)

Here are the written steps for accessing OpenType features via TextEdit:

  1. Open TextEdit (v1.6 or 1.7 are known to work) If TextEdit is not already in your Dock, type TextEdit in Spotlight search or find it in your Applications folder or LaunchPad.
  2. Type your word or phrase and highlight it.
  3. Select Format>Font>Show Fonts or ⌘-T to open the OSX Font Panel
  4. Select a font from the scrolling list and adjust the size for ease of viewing.
  5. Click on the gear icon at the lower left of the Fonts Window and select Typography to open the Typography window.
  6. Click the triangles to expand or condense the list of Typography features, which will vary depending on the font selected.
  7. With all or some of the text selected, begin toggling features in the Typography window while watching changes to the text. This is a trial and error process to find alternatives accessible from the Typography window.
    Tip: Try the process above with any program that has the OSX Font Panel.

When you are finished formatting your word or phrase, it can be exported via one of two ways:

  • screen capture (low resolution) : shift-⌘-4 to save a .png version to your desktop for import into another application; or shift-control-⌘-4 to save to the clipboard for pasting into another application

or

  • export as PDF (fully scaleable) : File>Export as PDF then type in name, choose location and click Save to create a vector PDF.

This PDF can be converted to SVG with the webapp Misc2SVG using the following steps:

  1. Go to http://www.network-science.de/tools/misc2svg/
  2. Click the Choose File button and navigate to the PDF you just exported and click Open.
  3. Click “senden.”
  4. Click Download.
  5. Safari: right click (or control-click) image in browser window and Save Page As, name file, select location, leave format as “Page Source” and Click Save.
    Firefox: right click (or control-click) image in browser window and Save Page As, name file, select location, leave format as “Web Page, SVG Only” and Click Save.
    Chrome: right click (or control-click) image in browser window and Save As, name file, select location, and click Save.
    This SVG is suitable for Inkscape, diecutting software, etc.

Here are the written steps for viewing and exporting vectors for all the OpenType glyphs via Font Book:

  1. Open Font Book. If it is not already in your Dock, type “Font Book” in Spotlight search or find it in your Applications folder or LaunchPad.
  2. Click on the font name to select the font you want to work with.
  3. Choose Preview>Repertoire for a preview of all the glyphs in the font.
  4. File>Print, choose Repertoire from the Report Type drop down menu. (Click the Show Details button and/or select Font Book from the pull down menu if you do not see this option.)
  5. Adjust the Glyph Size slider as desired and use the preview window to identify the page range you want to export.
  6. Enter the page range in the appropriate boxes.
  7. Press PDF>Save as PDF, then enter name and location and click Save.
  8. This vector PDF can be converted to SVG with the webapp Misc2SVG using the following steps:
  9. This vector PDF can be converted to SVG with the webapp Misc2SVG using the following steps: Go to http://www.network-science.de/tools/misc2svg/
  10. Click the Choose File button and navigate to the PDF you just exported and click Open.
  11. Enter the page number of the page you would like to convert into the box above the senden button. Only one page can be converted at a time.
  12. Click “senden.”
  13. Click Download.
  14. Safari: right click (or control-click) image in browser window and Save Page As, name file, select location, leave format as “Page Source” and Click Save.
    Firefox: right click (or control-click) image in browser window and Save Page As, name file, select location, leave format as “Web Page, SVG Only” and Click Save.
    Chrome: right click (or control-click) image in browser window and Save As, name file, select location, and click Save.
    This SVG is suitable for Inkscape, diecutting software, etc.

Pin-friendly title page for my video made using only TextEdit and the font Lavanderia:

accessotf

The other font shown in the video is Florence.

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Comments

  1. You are something else! Thank you so very much for the excellent lessons you are providing. I certainly have learned a lot by watching your videos. I had no idea all the neat things I could do with my Mac.
    You take designing to an all new level for me. Thank you, thank you Thank you for taking the time to make these videos.
    I for one will keep watching and learning.
    Best regards,
    Julie

  2. Sounds and looks pretty amazing, Kay, but…I have a PC! Any ideas I can use?

      • Thanks! I’ll be waiting….You are amazing; love your site and your tutorials! I have learned more here than I thought possible!

  5. Oh my goodness, my head is spinning! I am going to watch the video again for more comprehension and print out the instructions to sit next to me when I try this. Thank you so much for this info. You have a beautiful mind!

  6. Hi Kay,
    I have just downloaded the Samantha Font and am using your tutorial for opening the font with Text Edit on my Mac. Is there a reason that the Samantha Font isn’t showing up in my Font List in Text Edit?

    Thank you for this!!

    • If TextEdit was already open when you installed the font you might need to close and reopen it. If you have TE 1.7 you will need to install fonts in your Computer fonts instead of User fonts folder.

  8. Great tutorial, but … in the Font Book version, I get stuck at Step 4 File>Print … none of the bits that follow are available in my new/old toy (Mac Book Pro OS 10.6) … am I missing something?!?!

    • Hi Elizabeth, as noted in the tutorial…Click the Show Details button and/or select Font Book from the pull down menu if you do not see the Repertoire option.

      • I don’t know what I was doing wrong before – only getting a regular Print menu. Today I tried again, and got the PROPER print menu and so was able to proceed. Again, thanks Kay for a great tutorial!!!

      • I am a web app fanatic, as you can probably tell from my blog posts. The down side is that they come and go, move, go down for maintenance, the programmers graduate from high school, etc LOL. All of the ones I relied on have come back eventually or been replaced by something better. I’ll continue to look for alternates but recommend that anyone who relies on any one web app be prepared for eventual disappointment.

  16. Kay, is there any way to get the glyphs into the silhouette without that web app? I actually have InDesign, but it’s been a few years since I used it, and am not very versed in it – got it to create a poster, haven’t used it since. Is there a tutorial that can help me? Thanks, I love your videos, am trying so hard to learn…
    Tracy R

  17. Tracy, Google “glyph palette in InDesign (your version no.)”. You will only need limited knowledge of InDesign to use it and it will be far superior to any of these workarounds. When you finish arranging your text in InDesign, export it as SVG and you will be ready to use in in SSDE.

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