About Font File Helper

"Font File Helper" is a free Mac OS utility from Tiger Technologies.

The program looks at each of the font files and font suitcases in your Fonts folder (inside your System Folder) and merges most of them into one or two font suitcases.

Doing this will help you to work around the increasingly common Mac OS problem of "too many files open," or error -42. (Alsoft has a description of the problem and offers a free utility to show you which files are open.)

Merging your fonts helps because versions of the Mac OS up to 8.6 only allow 348 files to be open at the same time. This sounds like a lot, but recent versions of the OS keep many files open for their own use, making it more likely you'll run into the 348 file limit.

Since each separate font in your Fonts folder uses an open file, you'll save one open file for every font you can merge. If you merge 100 fonts into one suitcase, you'll be able to open 99 more files before hitting the limit. A typical installation of Mac OS 8.6 has about 40 font files that can be merged.

 
How Does it Work?

Font File Helper is a relatively simple AppleScript utility to safely merge fonts for you. It creates a new Fonts folder by working on a copy of your fonts (not the originals). When finished, it places your original Fonts folder in the trash can, but doesn't empty the trash.

Font File Helper only merges screen font files and font suitcases; it doesn't move or delete other items in your Fonts folder, such as Postscript fonts.

Although it requires that you restart your computer after using it, Font File Helper is not a system extension and does not put anything new in your System Folder. The restart is required to make your computer notice the new Fonts folder.

 
Couldn't I Do This Some Other Way Instead?

Sure; you could do the same thing by hand. Font File Helper just makes it easier and takes the tedium out of the process, saving you from dragging dozens of items around in the Finder, one at a time.

In addition, although it requires a restart, Font File Helper doesn't require that you quit all open applications before using it — you can leave other applications running while it does its thing.

There are other ways of minimizing the number of open fonts, too: software such as Suitcase 8 from Extensis allows you to open only the fonts you're currently working with, for example. A program like Suitcase is probably a good choice if you have hundreds of fonts.

 
How Do I Use It?

Font File Helper does its magic by asking the Finder to move and copy various items. Just open the icon named "Font File Helper" and let it run. As it does its work, you'll see progress windows appear and disappear — just sit back and watch until you see a message telling you that it's finished, then restart your computer for the changes to take effect.

Assuming everything is working fine after you restart, you can empty the trash to delete the old Fonts folder (although it wouldn't be a bad idea to keep a copy of it; smart computer users always have a backup!).

In the unlikely event you experience any difficulties, simply move the new Fonts folder from your System Folder to your desktop, then move the old Fonts folder from the trash can back to your System Folder. Restart again and your computer will be exactly the way it was before you merged the fonts.

 
Sock It To Me!

Just click to download Font File Helper 1.1 (50K Binhexed Stuffit 5 document).

 
What Was New in Version 1.1?

Version 1.1 makes two changes.

First of all, the original version wouldn't work if you had more than 16 megabytes of total fonts, because a single font suitcase can't be larger than 16 megabytes. (Thanks to Dejan Ilic for pointing this out.) Version 1.1 will create multiple suitcases if necessary, all smaller than the 16 megabyte limit.

Secondly, this version doesn't merge certain "reserved" fonts like Charcoal and Geneva. Merging those fonts resulted in an annoying problem where the final "Merged Fonts" suitcase couldn't be modified afterwards (because font suitcases containing reserved fonts can't be changed).

 
What Else Do I Need to Know?

Font File Helper is copyright ©1999 Tiger Technologies.

This program is free, but it may not be redistributed. If you feel the urge to redistribute it, use a link to our Web site instead.

We've tested this program, and it's been downloaded hundreds of times with no reported trouble except the items described above, which have been fixed in version 1.1. However, we still can't guarantee it will work as advertised, or even that it won't cause any problems on your computer. As with any new software, be sure you've backed up your data before using it.

If you find this program useful, check out our Mac shareware programs, including Holiday Lights (to decorate your Macintosh for any holiday) and the famous Window Monkey (which adds patterns to your Finder windows).