Does the Discovery Engine work with all font formats?
No, the Discovery Engine will only process OTF and TTF font files. All other formats will not receive similarity, pairing, or classification suggestions.
The Discovery Engine initialization is taking a while. Can I stop the initialization and start again later?
You can stop the initialization process at any time and your progress will be saved. When you start the initialization again, the process will resume from where it was stopped.
Why am I not seeing similar fonts or pairing suggestions?
There are a few reasons why this could occur: the Discovery Engine has not been turned on, there are no matches, or you have selected more than one font (the Discovery Engine only matches individual fonts). Also, matches are not provided for fonts managed through the server. Each reason should display a unique message in the UI to explain why this is happening.
Whenever I try to activate a font other than one of the the System Fonts, the font will not activate.
With Mac OS 10.6 Apple introduced a method to the System, that monitors the System Font Folder and checks whether all "protected" System Fonts are still in place. If not, they will be copied back into the System Font directory. If for any reason the responsible process is unable to perform this task, ATS (Apple Type Services) will run on a read-only database and will only activate available System Fonts.
Please note: With FontExplorer X Pro 2.5.2 we have introduced a feature to the "Tools" Menu to disable the System Font Protection and to replay the original System Fonts into the System directory. Please download and use the latest version to solve this problem. If you are - for any reason - not able to do so, please follow the process described below.
There are two ways to solve this problem:
a. This method is the preferred way to restore your System Font directories to its original state:
If possible copy all fonts that you removed from System/Library/Fonts and from the protected folder (/System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/ATS.framework/Versions/A/Resources/ProtectedFonts/) back to these directories. Use the System Font Cache cleaning function from the FontExplorer X Pro Tools menu and restart.
b. This method is for experienced users only and will permanently switch off the font protection functionality of the System:
Please use this at your own risk and be aware that there is a good reason why Apple introduced this functionality. Some Applications will no longer start if they don’t find one or more specific system fonts activated.
Quit all running applications.
Open the Terminal application and enter the following after the prompt:
atsutil fontprotection -off
[enter] This switches off the fontprotection and should return:
ATSProtectRequiredSystemFontsSetting disabled
atsutil databases -removeUser
[enter] This removes the font cache database for the current user and should return something like:
Removing: /private/var/folders/g7/g7JKcw83HeW1qlFfciQeVH0JJe
/-Caches-/com.apple.FontRegistry
atsutil server -shutdown
[enter] This stops the ATS server, creates a new instance and should return:
ATSServer shutdown
atsutil server -ping
[enter] This pings the server and should return:
ATSServer is running
I get an error, "No fonts with the specified format(s) were found in the selected files or folders." when importing fonts
There are a few reasons why this error message could appear:
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You have selected Windows PostScript fonts which are not compatible with OS X
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You have selected a folder that doesn’t contain any fonts
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You are attempting to import fonts from a folder where you do not have read permission. You can check this by clicking on the font folder and selecting "Get Info" from the File Menu in the Finder. Expand the "Sharing & Permissions" section at the bottom of the window. If you do not have "read" permission, you can change this for the folder and apply it to all enclosed items via the action popup menu. (Authentication is required to change permissions.)

When I restart my system the activated fonts are no longer active although the setting in the preferences is “Never Deactivate”. What is wrong?
If you are running under OS X 10.4 and have updated from FontExplorer X 1.2.3 there may be a problem with the database file which records which fonts to automatically activate upon system startup. Please contact customer support. They will be able to repair this file for you. Alternatively, the file can be automatically repaired after upgrading to FontExplorer X Pro 2.5. You can download the current version of FontExplorer X Pro on the trial version page.
I get the message "Loading Resources" when I opened FontExplorer X Pro for the first time and it does not disappear. What can I do?
This message appears on every startup of FontExplorer X Pro and usually should disappear. However, there may be some instances after initial install of the software that this dialog message remains. If the message persists, Quit or Force Quit FontExplorer X Pro. Now in the Finder navigate to /Users/[YourUserName]/Library/Application Support/Linotype/FontExplorer X/
Important: The following steps will reset FontExplorer X Pro by deleting certain files. Please note that deleting the db (Data Base) files will also erase all sets, settings, fonts, etc. This is only recommended when installing the software for the very first time. Delete the FontExplorer X.fexdb located in this directory, and launch FontExplorer X Pro again, (this will initiate the setup routine again).
Certification issue: What version(s) of FontExplorer X do I need?
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If you are running the latest version of the client (6x for Mac, 3.5.4 for Windows) or the Thin Client, and server (3.0.3 for Mac, 3.0.4 for Windows), you will be unaffected.
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If you are running version 4x or 5x of the Mac client, you can update those versions for free.
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If you’re running version 4x of the Mac client, you can update to version 4.2.4 for free.
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If you’re running version 5x of the Mac client, you can update to version 5.5.2 for free.
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If you are running version 3x or older of the Mac client, you have two choices:
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If you are running an older version of the Windows client, you can update the client to version 3.5.3 or 3.5.4 for free.
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If you are running a version of the server, you can update it to versions 3.0.3 for Mac, or 3.0.4 for Windows for free.
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If you are not currently using the updated versions, FontExplorer X will stop working for you when the application re-launches.
You must update to the latest version(s) immediately to avoid issues.
Visit www.FontExplorerX.com/download to download and install the latest versions.
Certification issue: Does this affect both Mac and Windows versions of the software?
Yes, both the Mac and Windows versions of the client and server software are affected by this.
Certification issue: What happens if the license expires before I can update?
For the client:
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On system reboot or application restart, the client will revert to trial mode.
For server customers:
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The server application itself will continue to work until the application or server is restarted.
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However, customers running primary-secondary server configurations have scheduled restarts to sync the primary and secondary. This could be set to sync daily, which would cause the server application to restart daily, causing the failure.
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Also, even if the server application doesn’t restart, if the customer is on an older server-client setup (i.e., client versions 4 or 5), the client applications will fail when the client is restarted.
Certification issue: How do I update the client version of the software?
You can either check for updates within the software or
Click here to get the update.
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Version 3 or older of the Mac client can either:
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Version 4 or 5 client only users can update to newest version of 4 or 5 at no cost.
Certification issue: How do I update the server version of the software?
Follow these steps:
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Launch server and look for update, either via notification or manually.
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Click “yes” to perform update.
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The update process checks for OS compatibility.
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The new server version installs.
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Installation and reboot should only take a few minutes, but clients also need to be updated.
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Enterprise customers would need to coordinate server update and client roll out.
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All server settings will be maintained.
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When the server is down, the client may continue to work depending on server side settings.
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There is a setting in the server that allows the clients to continue to work without a connection to the server.
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The admin can change this setting in the server configuration before initiating the update, if they hadn’t already.
Certification issue: I have both the server and client versions of the software. In what order should I update them?
We recommend updating the server first, followed by the clients.
Certification issue: Updating the server version of the software will take some time and testing for my organization. Is there a workaround I can use while we undertake that process?
Certification issue: What if I’m running other software on the same server that I host FontExplorer X, I’m not able to update my servers quickly? Is there anyway I can configure FontExplorer X to continue running normally on that server?
Not at this time.
Certification issue: If I’m an enterprise customer running off the server version of FontExplorer X, and I’m not able to update the server version by the deadline, what can I do to ensure I still have access to the fonts I need?
If you’re not able to update server version before the deadline, you can activate all the fonts you need through the client and define how long you’ll need access to those fonts before you’re able to update your server version of FontExplorer X.
Certification issue: I use the server version of FontExplorer X in offline mode. Will I still need to update?
Yes, you will still need to update the software to ensure that it works normally.
Certification issue: I use the software, but my IT department has locked down software updates by end users. What do I do?
Please get in touch with your IT team to alert them to the need to update the software, or to ask them to lift the lockdown so you can update the software.
Certification issue: If I’m not able to update my FontExplorer X by the deadline, will my webfonts be impacted?
In most cases, no. The only way that webfonts would be impacted is if FontExplorer X and the web server were hosted together.
If that is the case, please contact our support team at:
http://www.fontexplorerx.com/contact/.
Certification issue: I see that this is related to a security certification. Is my data at risk?
No. The current security certification is simply expiring. This is not related to a security vulnerability.
Certification issue: If I update, will I have to reconfigure everything I’ve set up before? Will I need to download my fonts again?
No. The update process is simple and once the new version is installed, you will not have to reconfigure all of your settings or purchase/download your fonts again.
Certification issue: Why didn’t I receive a notification of the update in FontExplorer X?
When an update becomes available, the software becomes aware of the update when the user opens the application. FontExplorer X when shows the user a notification to update.
However, any client user can disable notifications, and server administrators can turn off notifications for the server and all connected clients.
You or your server admin likely disabled update notifications at some point.
Users can manually check for updates within the software.
After updating to Mac OS X 10.11 (El Capitan) I cannot see any PostScript fonts in Adobe InDesign CS6 or QuarkXPress font menus. How can I fix this?
Due to software security measures in OS X 10.11 (El Capitan), PostScript fonts now need to be located somewhere in the users directory of the logged in Mac account in order for some applications to access them. In some cases the PostScript fonts may appear in the font menu but the document text does not appear properly. To resolve these problems you will need to move the PostScript fonts to a folder under /Users/[username]/any folder. The fonts should NOT be placed in /Users/[username]/Library/Fonts/ as this will activate all of these fonts for the System.
If you need to continue working with Adobe CS 6 applications you should not update to OS X 10.11 (Adobe supports CS6 up to OS X 10.8). Alternatively you can consider updating to Adobe Creative Cloud applications or update your fonts to TrueType or OpenType format. These are not affected by the OS X 10.11 security measures