Comprehensive tool for managing font files. PA7 includes these exciting features: elegant, Explorer-style interface for looking at fonts on your system, view fonts from any media without installing them, view character sets and keyboard layouts on screen, font groups help manage large font collections, batch font install, batch uninstall, shows copyright and other information embedded in TrueType fonts, use drag and drop to manage fonts, view and print font related information from the Windows registry, print eight different font catalogs and nine different font sample sheets, customizable headers and footers, can print entire contents of a disk or CD, etc.

Features:

В· Supports Windows XP "Visual Styles" and themes.
В· Extensive online help system and "What's This?" help for all dialogs and screens.
В· Professional setup gets you up and running quickly. When needed, the uninstaller removes the application and all DLL files.
В· Installed DLL, OCX and other support files are fully disclosed and documented.
В· Familiar Windows Explorer-style interface for quickly viewing installed fonts or browsing uninstalled font files on any media.
В· "Preview without installation" function supports TrueType, Adobe Type 1 and OpenType* fonts.
В· Many dialogs have been redesigned so fewer steps are required to complete common tasks.
В· Toolbar provides fast and convenient access to frequently used features.
В· Single character, character set, sample text and keyboard views are all integrated into the main interface via tab across the top.
В· Character set display can be displayed using a grid in a 2x2, 3x3, 4x4, 5x5, 6x6, 7x7, 8x8, 9x9 or 10x10 configuration.
В· Keyboard display shows you where symbol and dingbat characters are on a standard PC keyoard.
В· Easily examine copyright and other information embedded in TrueType font files.
В· Use easy drag and drop operations to install, uninstall, copy and move TrueType, Adobe Type 1 and OpenType* font files.
В· Any number of fonts can be installed or uninstalled at once.
В· Uninstalled fonts can be previewed, printed and installed from any media (CDR, Zip drive, SuperDisc, floppy, etc).
В· Uninstall Wizard removes fonts from Windows, deletes font-related Registry entries and can optionally move font files to another location for backup.
В· Font Registry Viewer lets you view, save and print TrueType font related information from the Windows System Registry.
В· Organize your TrueType, Adobe Type 1 and OpenType* collection any way you like by storing them into to groups.
В· Font group list is integrated into the main Printer's Apprentice window for easy browsing.
В· Font groups are managed and navigated using the standard Windows Explorer style tree interface.
В· Easily install and remove entire font groups with a few mouse clicks.
В· Fonts stored in groups can be viewed and printed just like installed fonts.
В· All printed catalogs and sample sheets are available for font groups
В· Easily print many sample sheets or catalogs for multiple fonts at once
В· Customizable sample text, headers and footers
В· Font catalogs print multiple fonts per page customized point size.
В· Font file name, path location and KB size are optionally printed for each font.
В· For printing many fonts in a listing, Printer's Apprentice has 10 different professionally designed catalogs. Layouts include Basic 1, Basic 2, Basic 3, Two Column 1, Two Column 2, Three Column, Four Column, Bar Divided, Three Up, Six Up
В· For single font printing (one per page), Printer's Apprentice includes eight customizable font sample sheets including Sample 1, Sample 2, Sample 3, Sample 4, Font Info Sheet, Character Set, Keyboard Chart, ANSI Chart, 72 Point Set


What's New in This Release:

В· Printer's Apprentice determines what OS you are running on and uses an interface based on the OS. Menus, toolbars, icons, etc. either use the XP style or the traditional style. You can also change the UI setting via the Options dialog box.
В· Added horizontal splitters so the panels on the Uninstalled tab, Both tab and Font Groups sections can be resized. The splitters have "gripper" bars to indicate where resizing is enabled.
В· The Options dialog box has been completely redesigned. The dialog box is also now resizable.
В· Redesigned the Font Information tab for easier reading. Text is now black on a white background.
В· The progress dialog box used when reading a folder full of now has a cancel button.
В· When reading folders of font files, additional feedback is provided.
В· Great improvements to the printing engine. We ran "torture" tests on a variety of commercially available font CDs to make sure Printer's Apprentice could print the entire contents of these CDs without error.
В· Core routines for reading TTF/OTF files are greatly improved.
В· If the Installed Fonts list has the focus, pressing the DEL key now triggers the "Uninstall Fonts" dialog box.
В· If the Uninstalled Fonts list or Font Groups list has the focus, pressing the DEL key now triggers the "Uninstall Fonts" dialog box.
В· The Notes dialog box is now resizable and has a "gripper" in the lower right hand corner.
В· Uninstall operations are faster.
В· Added an option to turn the font information tooltip on or off.
В· Added Support for reading installed TrueType Collection (TTC) fonts, mainly used in Far Eastern versions of Windows. These fonts can also be uninstalled.
В· When printing font catalogs, the Print dialog now shows more feedback with "Printing font xx of yy" messages.
В· There is now a checkbox option for not printing the "Font group and folder titles" when printing from the "Print All Fonts In Path" or "Print Font Groups" menus. This new option can be found at the bottom of the Font Catalogs tab of the Options dialog box. (Tools > Options).
В· Fonts added to the GDI temporarily for rendering (previewing uninstalled fonts for example) are now *not* visible in other applications. (Win2000/XP only)
В· Updated the default sample paragraphs. The original sample paragraph was from the introduction to the Windows 95 User Guide. To me, that seems a bit dated. So now the default text is some standard "Lorem Ipsum" text generated using the tool at http://www.lipsum.com>.
В· Fixed a major issue with using the "Uninstall All Fonts In Group" entry on the font group context menu (right click). It was not uninstalling Type 1 fonts.
В· Fixed a startup problem. If the root of your Font Groups folder contained any fonts, you would see a "Reading fonts..." popup message flash by very quickly. This has been resolved.
В· Fixed some issues with the Registry entry written when installing OpenType fonts.
В· Fixed issues with the drive labels in the Font Files tab.
В· Fixed some nagging bugs with the mousepointer cursor.
В· Fixed a bug that could cause the application to crash when switching to the Keyboard tab.
В· When browsing OpenType fonts via the Font Files tab, a problem prevented the font name from being displayed in the font list. This has been fixed.
В· Fixed a bug in the Sample Text tab - carriage returns embedded in this text are now saved and restored correctly from the PA.INI file the next time you start PA.
В· Fixed messages on the Uninstall fonts dialog when copying/moving fonts to a font group. Regardless of whether you were copying or moving the fonts, the status message always read "xx fonts will be uninstalled." This message was incorrect and has been fixed.
В· Fixed some bugs in the font file renaming functions. Type 1 and OpenType font files can now be renamed.
В· Fixed an issue with deleting font groups. If you right clicked on a font group whose folder had the "read only" flag set, Printer's Apprentice would not delete it. This has been fixed.
В· When using the "File|Print All Fonts In Folder" option, fixed an issue that mangled font names with special characters in their names, such as TM, in the Print dialog box.
В· Fixed a problem in the font copy routine that resulted in a "0 fonts copied" message.
В· Fixed a problem in the printing engine - if a bold/italic/etc font was selected before printing, the regular (non-bold, non-italic) version of the font would not be printed correctly.