Glyphs 3 is a professional Mac application for creating OpenType fonts.
It allows you to draw, edit and test letterforms in the context of words, and helps you manage all aspects of modern font production, including the efficient reuse of recurring shapes and the creation of large font families.
You can extend the functionality of Glyphs with plug-ins and Python scripts, many of which are freely available and accessible from within the application.
As an alternative to the pro version, there is a slimmed-down and more affordable version of the application called Glyphs Mini.
It lacks some features of the pro app, notably interpolation and extensibility, and has a narrower range of export formats.
The Glyphs Mini handbook is available at glyphsapp.com/learn.
Glyphs is also a vibrant community.
On our website you will find many ways to get involved.
We encourage you to use the Forum to ask questions and discuss issues with other users and the developers.
The Learn section has a large collection of tutorials, screencasts, online classes and other educational material.
Keep an eye out for workshops, conferences, and the latest updates in the News section.
If you are planning a workshop, organizing a Glyphs-related event, or releasing a plug-in you have developed, we will be happy to share your contribution on glyphsapp.com.
If the application crashes, submitting the crash report dialog that appears the next time you launch the application will help us troubleshoot the problem that caused the crash.
If you can, please describe steps for reliably reproducing the issue in the forum.
The most likely cause of a crash is an incorrect interaction with a plug-in.
You can disable plug-ins by holding down the Option and Shift keys when the application starts.
An issue you encounter may have been fixed in the latest beta version of the application.
See Updates for details.
Glyphs shows the Start Window when opened without documents:
The right side contains information about the Glyphs version and links to the Glyphs website.
Uncheck Show window on startup to hide the window on future launches.
The left side shows a list of recently opened documents.
Double-click a document to open it.
Open the Start Window anytime from the menu bar: Window → Start Window.
Tip:
Control-click or right-click a document and choose Show in Finder from the context menu to reveal the file in Finder.
Click the plus 
button to create a new Glyphs document.
The Start Window then lists a set of scripts.
These scripts are also shown when there are no recent files.
Click a script and include it in the new document by toggling No to Yes in the top-right of the window.
Included scripts appear with a colored icon in the list.
Customize the included glyphs by toggling the respective checkboxes on the right side.
Search for scripts by name using the search field in the top-right corner of the window.
Create a document containing empty glyphs for all selected scripts using the Create Document button in the lower right:
Save the document with File → Save (Cmd-S).
Give the file a name and pick a folder in which to save it.
Glyphs offers three file format options.
See Source Formats for details, or pick the default Glyphs File for a start.
Create a new document at any time with File → New from Glyph Sets…
The list remembers the previous selection of scripts and glyph sets.
Quickly create a new document with the basic ASCII glyphs by choosing File → New (Cmd-N).
See the Getting Started tutorials on the Glyphs website for an introduction to working with Glyphs.
Choose Glyphs → Settings… from the menu bar (or press Cmd-Comma) to open the settings window.
On macOS versions before macOS 13 Ventura
, the menu item is called Preferences.
The Updates section controls how Glyphs is updated.
Check for a new version of Glyphs by clicking on the Check Now button.
If one is available, Glyphs will offer to download the latest version and show a list of the new additions and changes.
Automatically check for updates will look periodically for new updates.
We recommend leaving this option selected.
Choose Show cutting edge versions to download beta versions of Glyphs.
Beta versions are released frequently, providing bug fixes and early feature releases.
Because of their frequency, beta versions are not as thoroughly tested as release versions.
Therefore, we recommend working with copies of font files when trying a Glyphs beta.
Revert to the latest stable version of Glyphs by re-downloading it from glyphsapp.com/buy.
Downloading a new version or reverting to an old version of Glyphs will not reset the settings.
The Appearance section defines the visual appearance of Font View and Edit View.
Display Unicode Value controls whether glyphs with Unicode values show a simplified Unicode icon or display the code point in the bottom-right of the glyph cell.
Always use Light Mode is available for both Font View and Edit View.
These options allow Glyphs to run using the dark appearance of the system (configurable from System Settings) while still displaying the window content with a light appearance.
Text View Width controls the line length of text in Edit View.
The value is measured in thousandths of an em.
It is independent of the units per em (UPM) of the font.
Handle size controls the size of the points, such as on-curve nodes, control handles, and anchors.
Smaller sizes present a cleaner user interface; larger sizes are easier to see and click-select.
Display Mark Cloud shows a superimposition of the combining marks of a glyph.
A mark cloud
appears for all glyphs when an anchor is selected.
The glyph info database defines the marks shown for a glyph and its anchors.
Disable this option to suppress the display of mark clouds.
Various colors can be configured for both the light and the dark system appearance.
Available customization options are the color of corner nodes 
,
smooth nodes 
,
alignment zones 
,
the color of strokes on the foreground layer 
,
the background layer 
,
and other layers 
(made visible by clicking on the eye 
/
icon in the layers list),
the color of the Edit View canvas,
and the kerning indicator colors (by default light blue 
for negative kerning and yellow 
for positive kerning).
Clicking the Standard button resets all colors to their default values.
Keep Glyph Names from Imported Files maintains the names of the glyphs when opening a file in Glyphs instead of forcing the default naming scheme.
This option is useful for workflows that rely on a particular naming scheme, such as exchanging files with other apps.
Disable Automatic Alignment for Imported Files disables the automatic positioning for all components when importing a font.
See also Automatic Alignment.
Disable Localization keeps the user interface language of Glyphs in English, rather than the localization set in System Settings.
Glyphs needs to be restarted after toggling this option for the change to take effect.
Use Versions employs the Versions file saving method.
Versions automatically saves files when closing a document and allows browsing previous versions of the file.
Enable this option to match the behavior of other Mac apps like Pages, or disable it to prevent autosave modifications when opening and closing a file.
The Sample Strings preference stores short pieces of text—sample strings—that can quickly be inserted into Edit View to review and edit glyphs.
Sample strings are organized into groups.
Click the plus 
button to add a group, and click the minus 
button to delete the selected group.
Each sample string is written on a separate line in the text field to the right.
The text field is Unicode-savvy and accepts all diacritic marks and non-ASCII characters.
Write \n (a backslash followed by a lowercase n) to include a line break in a sample string.
Specify a glyph by typing its character or writing / (a forward slash) followed by the glyph name and a space character.
This is useful for glyphs without a Unicode value or glyphs that are difficult to type.
If multiple glyph names follow each other, the space character may be omitted.
Use /Placeholder to insert a glyph that mirrors the currently selected glyph.
So, to write ¡Hola followed by a placeholder glyph, !, then a new line, and the text second line write the following line of text into the field:
/exclamdown Hola /Placeholder/exclam\nsecond line
Click the Default button to reset all sample strings to the default values and delete all custom groups.
See Entering Text: Sample Strings to find out more about the use of sample strings.
Glyphs can stream the current Edit View to a second display such as an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch.
Choose Enable External Preview and download the Glyphs Viewer app from the App Store or search for Glyphs Viewer.
The Mac running Glyphs and the iOS device need to be connected to the same network.
Open the iOS app and select the Mac with which to connect.
On the selected Mac, Glyphs will ask to confirm the connection.
Tap and hold anywhere on the app to return to its menu.
Glyphs Viewer displays the active Edit View.
Pinch to zoom with two fingers, and pan around with a single finger gesture.
Any change made to the glyphs is reflected immediately on the iOS device.
If the Glyphs Viewer app cannot find the Mac, make sure both the Mac and the iOS device are connected to the same wireless network.
If the problem persists, restart both devices and try again.
If they still cannot connect, try using a different network, or correct the router settings.
If the Mac and the iOS device communicate to the router with different wireless standards, Glyphs Viewer cannot connect to the Mac.
This issue can happen if the router is set up to simultaneously use multiple modulation standards (for example, g and n).
Setting the router to either 802.11 g only or 802.11 n only may help in such cases.
Once a connection has been established, a Reset button is added to the Sharing settings, which resets the list of trusted devices.
Glyphs can be extended with plug-ins, scripts, and modules from the Plugin Manager.
The Addons settings control how these extensions work and which extensions are available.
Most Glyphs plug-ins and scripts require Python.
Select the version of Python that Glyphs should use for plug-ins and scripts from the Python version field.
Note that Glyphs requires Python version 3 or later.
If no Python version is selected or the currently selected version does not work with the installed scripts and plug-ins, go to the menu bar and choose Window → Plugin Manager → Modules and install Python.
Switch back to the settings window and choose the Python version labeled (Glyphs)
.
Relaunch Glyphs for the Python version change to take effect.
Use system console for script output directs the log output of plug-ins and scripts to the system console instead of the Macro Panel console (Window → Macro Panel, Cmd-Opt-M).
Select this option for debugging a plug-in or script when the Macro Panel is inaccessible.
A plug-in repository defines a set of plug-ins, scripts, and modules that can be installed from the Plugin Manager.
In Glyphs, there is a main plug-in repository that is accessible to all Glyphs users.
It provides some of the most popular Glyphs plug-ins, scripts, and modules.
Define alternate plug-in repositories in addition to the main repository by adding URLs pointing to plug-in repositories in the Alternate Plugin Repos text field, one URL per line.
Alternate plug-in repositories are helpful to distribute preview versions of extensions or for private scripts and plug-ins shared within a company.
For the file structure, reference the main plug-in repository.
A repository definition file must follow this structure:
{
packages = {
plugins = (
{
titles = {
en = "Some Plugin";
};
url = "https://github.com/example/plugin";
path = "Some Plugin.glyphsPlugin";
descriptions = {
en = "A description of the plugin.";
};
screenshot = "https://example.org/image.png";
},
...
);
scripts = ( ... );
modules = ( ... );
};
}
See the main plug-in repository for all available fields.
Only the lists currently in use must be specified.
For example, when only distributing scripts, the plugins, and modules values may be left off.
The titles and descriptions fields can offer multiple languages.
See the package index website for a list of language codes.
Glyphs requests the screenshot URL with an Accept-Language HTTP header, allowing the server to respond with a localized screenshot.
The Shortcuts settings allow recording keyboard shortcuts for frequently used actions.
Invoke a shortcut by pressing one or more modifier keys (⌘ Command, ⌥ Option, ⌃ Control, ⇧ Shift) and a regular key like A, 5, Return, or Escape.
Click Record shortcut and press a shortcut on the keyboard to add the shortcut to the selected action.
Keep the current shortcut by clicking the curved arrow 
icon, or click the cross 
icon to remove the current shortcut from an action:
Shortcuts are shown using key symbols:
Use the buttons at the top of the Shortcuts settings window to filter the actions list. All shows all actions, Customized lists only the actions with a changed shortcut, Menu shows all actions accessible from the menu bar at the top of the screen, and Commands shows actions within the current selection.
Actions are grouped into sections.
Click the disclosure chevron 
next to the title of a section to collapse and expand the section.
Filter the list of actions further by searching for actions with the search field in the top-right.
Edit glyph outlines, spacing, kerning, mark-positioning, hinting, and more in Edit View.
Edit a glyph by double-clicking it.
Open multiple glyphs in Edit View by selecting them and choosing View → New Tab (Cmd-T).
In Font View, a selection of glyphs can also be edited by double-clicking the selection or pressing Cmd-Down Arrow.
A Glyphs window can contain multiple Edit View tabs.
Switch to a tab by clicking its tab title.
Press Cmd-Opt-2 through Cmd-Opt-9 to switch to the respective tab.
Cmd-Opt-1 switches to Font View, which is always the first tab in the window.
Switch to the next or previous tab with View → Navigation → Show Next Tab (Ctrl-Tab) or Show Previous Tab (Ctrl-Shift-Tab).
Close a tab by moving the mouse cursor over its title and clicking the close 
button or choosing View → Close Tab (Cmd-Shift-W).
Close all tabs except for the current one by holding down the Option key when clicking the close button.
Restore an accidentally closed tab by holding down Option and choosing View → Reopen Last Closed Tab (Cmd-Opt-Shift-W).
Edit View has two modes: text mode and edit mode.
Use text mode to insert and remove glyphs from Edit View, or adjust the spacing and kerning between glyphs.
Choose the Text tool 
(shortcut T) to enter text mode.
See Entering Text and Spacing & Kerning for more details.
Enter edit mode by choosing a different tool or by double-clicking a glyph.
Or, press the Escape key to edit the glyph located after the text cursor.
Draw outlines with the Draw tool 
(shortcut P as in Pen
or Path
).
Click anywhere on the canvas to place a node.
Placing multiple nodes connects them to a path.
Click and drag to create a curved path segment.
Dragging extends two handles from the placed node.
The length of the handles controls the curvature of the segment.
Hold down the Option key to change the handle of the next segment only, and keep the handle of the previous segment as it is.
Hold down the Command key while dragging to change the length of only the next handle while keeping both handles at the same angle.
When dragging, hold down the Space bar to reposition the node.
Click on the first node of a path to close the path.
A node can either be a smooth node or a corner node .
Smooth nodes always keep both of their handles in a straight line.
They appear round and green.
Corner nodes appear square and blue.
Their handles may form a straight line, but they can also form any non-smooth corner.
The size and colors of nodes are configurable in the settings.
Handles (also called Bézier control points or off-curve points) control the curvature of their path segment.
They are displayed as small circles and connected to their node with a thin gray line.
In open paths, start and end points are displayed as short perpendicular blue lines.
The start point also features a blue triangle, indicating the path direction.
Points are stored in path direction order, which is significant for some path operations.
See also Controlling Path Direction.
Toggle the display of nodes with View → Show Nodes → In Foreground (Cmd-Shift-N).
The Pencil tool 
(shortcut B) offers a quick way to draw freehand curves, especially when using a drawing tablet.
This includes drawing with Apple Pencil on an iPad using Sidecar.
The resulting paths will need some cleaning up (see Editing Paths) because Pencil paths usually contain too many nodes in an attempt to reproduce the pencil drawing faithfully.
Glyphs offers rectangles and ellipses as built-in primitive shapes.
Click the Primitives tool 
/
, or press F to activate it.
Click and hold the Primitives tool icon or press Shift-F to switch between the two shape options.
Alternatively, use Draw Circle or Draw Rectangle from the context menu to switch between the two modes.
Click once on the canvas to create a primitive by entering its measurements with the keyboard.
Click and drag to draw it directly into the edit area.
Hold down Shift for a perfect square or circle.
Hold down Option to draw the shape from its center.
Click and drag with the Select tool 
(shortcut V) to select nodes and handles inside a rectangular selection area.
Hold down the Option key to ignore the handles and only select on-curve nodes.
While dragging a selection, hold down the Control key to change the selection angle.
Release Control to resize the selection at its current angle.
Slanted selections are particularly helpful for italic designs.
Click a point or a segment to select it.
Hold down the Shift key to extend or reduce the selection.
Double-click near an outline segment to select the complete path.
Choose Edit → Invert Selection (Cmd-Opt-Shift-I) to select all unselected points, or Edit → Deselect All (Cmd-Opt-A) to cancel the selection.
Handles can be selected independently of the nodes.
Shift-select handles to create a non-contiguous selection.
When a single node or handle is selected, press the Tab key to select the following point on the path, or Shift-Tab to select the previous point.
Use the Lasso tool 
(shortcut V or Shift-V) to draw a non-rectangular selection.
This is particularly useful for glyphs with many points, where a rectangular selection would not be precise enough.
Activate the Lasso tool when it is not displayed in the toolbar by clicking and holding the Select tool and choosing Lasso Select from the menu.
Alternatively, press Shift-V until the Lasso tool icon is shown.
Move the selection using the mouse or the arrow keys.
Moving nodes will move the attached handles, even if they are not selected.
Hold down Shift for increments of 10, and Command for increments of 100.
Hold down Option to move only the selected points and not the attached handles.
While moving one or more nodes, hold down both Control and Option (or add Option after starting to drag) to nudge
them, that is, to proportionally adjust the surrounding unselected handles at the same time.
Left: Original glyph outline with two selected nodes.
Center: Move selected nodes, handles stay the same.
Right: Nudge selected nodes, handles are adjusted.
Move a handle by dragging it with the mouse or pressing the arrow keys.
If multiple handles are selected, they all move simultaneously.
Moving one or more handles while holding down the Option key preserves their angles.
When using the keyboard, add the Shift key for increments of 10 or the Command key for increments of 100.
While moving a handle of a smooth node, hold down Control and Option simultaneously to reproduce the length and angle of that handle to its matching one on the other side of the node.
Drag a segment to move both connected nodes and their handles.
Option-drag a segment to change the length of the handles but keep their respective angles.
Convert between smooth connections and corners by double-clicking a node or selecting one or more nodes and pressing Return.
When converting from corner to smooth, 
handles are added on either side of the node, possibly distorting the outline to keep the handles level.
Hold down the Option key while double-clicking or pressing Return to maintain the current outline.
The Path → Tidy up Paths command (Cmd-Shift-T) applies heuristics to set the appropriate mode for all nodes at once or a selection of nodes.
It also removes superfluous points, for example, handles on a straight segment or an on-curve point exactly on the line between two others.
Hold down Option to choose Path → Tidy up Paths for all Masters (Cmd-Opt-Shift-T), applying the command on all masters of the selected glyphs.
Option-clicking a line segment converts it into a curve segment, and handles are added to the two bounding nodes.
Convert a curve back into a line segment by selecting and deleting one or both of its handles.
Nodes located exactly on a vertical metric line are highlighted with a beige diamond 
.
Inside an alignment zone, the highlighting assumes the shape of a circle 
.
This helps to control the position of nodes even at small zoom scales.
The attributes of the current node selection are shown in the Info box (View → Show Info, Cmd-Shift-I):
Tip:
In all number input fields in Glyphs, use the up and down arrow keys to increase or decrease the value.
When multiple nodes are selected, scale and move the selection by changing the coordinates (X and Y) and the dimensions (
width and 
height) in the Info box.
Set the transformation origin with the reference points 
on the left.
Close the lock 
symbol to scale width and height proportionally.
Open the lock 
to scale width and height independently of each other.
Use the Up and Down arrow keys to step through the numbers.
Hold down Shift for increments of 10.
When multiple points are selected, the solid square 
indicates the number of selected points.
The number next to the outlined square 
represents the total number of points on the current glyph layer.
Rotate and scale the selection manually with the Rotate tool 
(shortcut R) and the Scale tool 
(shortcut S).
With one of these tools active, click anywhere on the canvas to set the transformation origin, and then click and drag to transform the current selection.
Hold down the Shift key to rotate in steps of 90° or to scale proportionally.
When multiple nodes are selected, a bounding box is displayed with transformation knobs on all four sides and corners.
Drag a knob to scale the selected points with respect to the opposite knob.
Hold down Shift to scale proportionally, and hold down Option to use the center of the box as the transformation origin.
Toggle the display of the bounding box with View → Show Bounding Box (Cmd-Opt-Shift-B).
More path transformations are possible via the Palette.
Choose Path → Align Selection (Cmd-Shift-A) to quickly align all selected points.
The command aligns nodes, handles, and anchors.
Glyphs will automatically choose between horizontal and vertical alignment, whichever is smaller for the current selection.
The Align Selection command respects the transformation origin of the transformation palette:
Align Selection for different transformation origins.
Alternatively, set the width or the height value of two or more selected points to zero in the Info box.
Align an anchor horizontally above a point with the Align Selection command while exactly one anchor and one path point are selected, or center an anchor between two points while two points and one anchor are selected.
Glyphs respects the italic angle when aligning anchors to nodes.
Using the Align Selection command while exactly one point and one component are selected will align the origin point of the component to the selected node.
The node keeps its position.
The origin point is where the baseline crosses the left sidebearing if the italic angle is zero.
If the component glyph contains an origin anchor, its position is used as the origin point instead.
Applying Path → Align Selection on a single node will try to move the node over the nearest node in the background.
Align partial paths, complete paths, or components to each other using the Transformations section in the Palette (Cmd-Opt-P).
Quickly duplicate the current selection by holding down Option while dragging a copy of the paths into their new position.
Alternatively, copy (Cmd-C) and paste (Cmd-V) the selection.
Option-dragging partial paths will duplicate the selected segments.
This can be helpful when replicating glyph parts like serifs or spurs.
Select a node and press the Delete key to delete it.
Alternatively, choose the Erase tool 
(shortcut E) and click a node to delete it.
Glyphs will keep the path closed and will try to reconstruct the same path segment without the node:
Press Opt-Delete to break the path by removing the node and both path segments surrounding the node:
Delete a single segment between on-curve nodes with the Erase tool by Option-clicking it.
Delete all selected segments by pressing Opt-Delete.
Alternatively, select a handle and erase its segment by pressing Opt-Delete.
With the Draw tool (shortcut P), click a node to open the path at the node position.
Short blue perpendicular lines mark open path endings.
Drag the path ends apart using the Select tool (shortcut V).
Close a path by dragging an open line ending on top of another with the Select tool.
Select two path endings and choose Connect Nodes from the context menu to add a connecting line segment between the nodes: 
→ 
.
Choose Close Open Paths to close the selected paths fully: → 
.
With the Knife tool 
(shortcut E or Shift-E), click and drag a line across a path to cut the outline into two separate outlines.
Glyphs will close the two resulting paths along the cutting line.
Cutting across several overlapping paths will rewire the segments with each other.
Tip:
When multiple tools share one icon in the toolbar, such as the Knife and Erase tools, add Shift to the tool shortcut to toggle between the tools.
Activate the Knife tool by clicking and holding the Erase tool and choosing Knife from the menu.
Alternatively, press Shift-E.
Open corners and reconnected nodes offer finer control and allow manipulating path segments independently of each other.
This control also makes interpolating between masters easier.
Open a corner node into two nodes by selecting it and choosing Open Corner from the context menu:
The top-left corner of the counter is opened with Open Corner.
Opening corners only works on corner nodes.
Choose Reconnect Nodes from the context menu to the two nodes of an open corner to get back to the original corner node.
Select an even number of nodes and apply Reconnect Nodes to reconnect each node with its closest neighbor:
The size of the created overlap will be approximately half the first values entered for vertical and horizontal stems in File → Font Info → Masters (Cmd-I).
Thus, the reconnected nodes should extend comfortably into the stem (when used on counterforms such as the B in the image above) or outside the outline, such as the s on the left.
Opened corners are considered invisible if the triangular overlaps are small enough in relation to the neighboring visible outline segments.
That way, opened corners can also be placed on the outside of paths.
If the overlap size goes beyond the threshold size, they will be visible.
These outwards facing open corners are useful for editing bent terminals, as in a sans serif lowercase s.
Select a path segment and open the two nodes on its extremities with the Open Corner command.
The starting point of a closed path is displayed as an arrowhead 
(or 
for a smooth node) following the path direction.
The end nodes of an open path are displayed as short perpendicular blue lines, where a light blue arrowhead indicates the first node.
On a closed path, make any on-curve node the first node by choosing Make Node First from the node context menu.
All outer paths need to run counterclockwise, while enclosed paths (such as the inner path of an O) must go clockwise.
Change the path direction of a path by selecting it and choosing Path → Reverse Contours or Reverse Selected Contours from the context menu.
Hold down Option to change the direction in all masters.
When no path is selected, use Path → Reverse Contours from the menu bar or Reverse All Contours from the context menu to toggle all path directions in a glyph.
Path → Correct Path Direction (Cmd-Shift-R) will perform an informed guess and find the right path directions for all paths on the current glyph layer or all selected glyph layers.
This will also rearrange the shape order and reset the starting points of all paths to their bottom-left node.
Holding down the Option key changes the command to Correct Path Direction for all Masters (Cmd-Opt-Shift-R).
As the name indicates, it will include all master layers, all Alternate, and Intermediate layers.
The command ignores all other non-master layers.
This is useful in a Multiple Master setup.
For successful interpolations, the path order, starting points, and path directions must be compatible and consistent throughout all font masters.
See Correcting Path Direction for details on fixing the path direction for interpolation.
Extrema are the positions on a path with a completely horizontal or vertical tangent.
Inflections are positions in path segments where the segment changes its bend from clockwise to counterclockwise or vice versa.
It is considered good practice to have nodes on extremum points.
Some font technologies, like hinting, require nodes at extremum positions.
Some operations, like offsetting a curve, work better with inflection points placed on the undulating curves.
Also, some font renderers may behave unexpectedly if such nodes are not in place.
Furthermore, inflection points pose a problem for outline interpolation since they can easily cause kinks in outlines.
Insert nodes on extremum and inflection points by Shift-clicking a segment with the Draw tool (P).
A node will be inserted at the nearest extremum or inflection.
Alternatively, choose Path → Add Extremes, and nodes will be added at extremes on all paths of the active layer.
Glyphs will not add an extreme if the resulting segment were very short.
In this case, it assumes that the node placement was intentional.
Force Glyphs to add all extremes by opening the Path menu, holding down Option, and choosing Force Extremes.
When a node is only slightly off the extremum position, Glyphs will attempt to preserve the outline shape while moving the node into the extremum position and turning the surrounding handles entirely vertical or horizontal.
Extremes are added automatically at export time with a Filter custom parameter called AddExtremes.
See Add Extremes for details.
This can be useful for shallow curves or certain Multiple Master situations, where adding extremes would make editing or interpolating unnecessarily complex.
When two adjacent on-curve nodes share the same coordinates, they are highlighted with a red circle.
Merge these nodes with Path → Tidy up Paths (Cmd-Shift-T).
Prevent accidental edits with focusing and locking.
Focus on one or multiple paths by selecting at least one point for each path and choosing Focus on Selected Path from the context menu.
Focusing on a path hides the controls for all other paths.
Use path focusing to exclusively work on a single path, even in complex glyphs.
Filters, plug-ins, and other scripts may still operate on all paths; only the Edit View controls are hidden.
Release the focus by choosing Clear Focus on Paths from the context menu.
The reverse is possible by locking paths:
Lock a path by Control-clicking or right-clicking one of its nodes and choosing Lock Path from the context menu.
Points of a locked path cannot be selected or modified in Edit View.
Like with focusing, locked paths can still be changed by filters, plug-ins, and scripts.
Points of a locked path turn red when the mouse cursor is placed on them, indicating that they cannot be dragged.
Unlock a path by choosing Unlock Path from the context menu on any of its nodes.
Lock and unlock a glyph by choosing Locked from its context menu.
A lock 
icon appears in the top-right corner of the glyph in Edit View and Font View.
A locked glyph cannot be modified: not with the Select tool, not by a filter, plug-in, or script.
This edit-protection is helpful if the glyph is considered final, and no further edits should be applied.
Paths can be styled with graphic attributes.
These attributes include stroke styles, fill styles, and masking.
The attributes are applied to a path in the Palette (Window → Palette, Cmd-Opt-P) and are accessible when View → Show Info (Cmd-Shift-I) is active and a path is selected.
Copy the attributes of one path to another with the context menu:
Choose Copy Attributes on a path and apply them to another by choosing Paste Attributes.
Left: an open path
Center: the path with a stroke
Right: the expanded outline
Expand a path to a shape by selecting one or more of its points and entering a stroke width and height in the Stroke section in the Palette.
The stroke width (W) and stroke height (H) are measured in font units.
If no height is set, then the width is used for both dimensions.
Below the width and height fields are controls for the stroke placement (
along the path, 
to the left of the path, 
to the right of the path) and controls for the stroke ends (
, 
, 
, 
, 
).
A stroke can be applied to both closed and open paths.
For closed paths, select the Fill checkbox from the Palette to fill the path delineated by the new outlines.
The original path is displayed in a light gray color, while the stroke outline is black.
A stroke path can be converted to a conventional outline by choosing Expand Outline from the context menu.
Hold down Option to expand outlines on all masters.
Select a path and check Mask from the Palette to subtract the path from all shapes below it.
Applying a mask is a non-destructive action; the path can still be moved and modified.
Subtracting a circle from a square by applying a mask to the circle path.
The subtracted parts of paths are drawn in a light gray color, while the exporting outline is drawn in black.
Masking is based on the order of shapes, since a masking path only affects shapes below it.
Change the shape order by choosing Filter → Shape Order.
Drag the shapes into the desired order and confirm with OK.
Anchors are special points that fulfill multiple tasks in Glyphs.
They primarily serve as a connecting pivot for automatically aligning components, corners, caps, mark-to-base and mark-to-mark positioning, and cursive attachment.
These anchors adhere to certain naming conventions.
When an origin anchor is placed inside a glyph, it can align a component to a regular path node (see also Editing Paths: Aligning).
Some third-party scripts and plug-ins make use of special anchors.
Refer to their documentation for further details.
Insert an anchor by Control-clicking or right-clicking the Edit View canvas and choose Add Anchor from the context menu.
An anchor named new anchor will be placed at the click position.
Its name is already selected for renaming.
After typing the new name, confirm it by pressing the Return key or clicking anywhere in the canvas.
Double-click an anchor to rename it, or select it and press Return, or select it and edit the anchor name in the Info box.
The glyph info database has default anchors associated with many glyphs.
Add these pre-defined anchors to the selected glyphs by choosing Glyph → Set Anchors (Cmd-U) or, with the Option key held down, Glyph → Set Anchors for all Masters (Cmd-Opt-U).
Delete all existing anchors and start over with Glyph → Reset Anchors (Cmd-Shift-U); hold down Option to reset the anchors across all masters.
Select an anchor by clicking the orange dot 
that represents it.
Select the next or previous anchor by pressing the Tab key, or Shift-Tab, respectively.
Select multiple anchors by Shift-clicking them.
Names are only shown for selected anchors.
Select all anchors by running Edit → Select All (Cmd-A).
This command may need to be issued twice, since Select All will select all paths and only select all anchors and components if all available paths have already been selected.
Move an anchor like a node: either with the Select tool and mouse or arrow keys or through the coordinates in the Info box.
An anchor is diamond-shaped 
if placed exactly on a metric line such as the x-height or the baseline, square 
in an alignment zone, and circle-shaped in all other cases.
Quickly duplicate an anchor by Option-dragging it.
Since anchor names must be unique inside a layer, an underscore will be added to the end of the name.
Remove all selected anchors by pressing the Delete key.
Align an anchor to one or two nodes by selecting the anchor and the nodes and choosing Path → Align Selection (Cmd-Shift-A).
See Editing Paths: Aligning for details.
Glyphs can automatically build the mark (Mark to Base) feature using anchors.
The combining diacritical marks must contain underscore-anchors (for example, _top or _bottom), and the base glyph must contain matching anchors without the underscore prefix (for example, top or bottom).
Anchors with an initial underscore are displayed with a hole: 
, 
, 
.
Combining glyph names often carry the word comb at the end of their names, such as acutecomb (◌́) or macroncomb (◌̄).
Combining diacritical marks have Unicode values and thus can be typed or inserted in a text.
This way, a font user can place any mark on any base letter by first typing the regular letter and then inserting the combining mark.
Alongside the mark feature, Glyphs will also build the ccmp (Glyph
Composition and Decomposition) feature if glyphs like idotless and jdotless are present.
See Implicit Features for further details.
Glyphs will automatically build the mkmk (Mark to Mark) feature if both underscore- and regular anchors are present in a combining diacritical mark.
A font user will then be able to stack any combining mark on any other combining mark carrying both anchors.
Enable proper cursive attachment in Arabic typesetting by adding exit and entry anchors to the respective stroke endings and beginnings in medial, final, and initial letterforms.
The entry anchor of the instroke will be connected to the exit anchor of the preceding outstroke.
Preview cursive attachment immediately in Edit View when right to left typesetting is enabled.
Ligature carets define the positions where a text cursor should be placed on a ligature glyph.
In a ligature glyph, these positions are defined by special anchors on the baseline.
They must be named caret
, followed by an underscore suffix, for example, caret_1, caret_2, …
The suffix needs to be different for each anchor because anchor names must be unique inside a glyph layer.
The numbering order is not significant and is exclusively used for differentiating anchors.
Glyph → Set Anchors (Cmd-U) will insert appropriate caret anchors in properly named ligature glyphs.
Most ligature glyphs are named with their individual glyph names joined by underscores, such as s_t or f_f_l.
For the glyph naming convention employed by Glyphs, see Names & Unicode.
At export, Glyphs will use the caret information to build so-called LigatureCaretByPos instructions in the GDEF OpenType table.
At the time of this writing, the only known software supporting ligature caret positioning are Mac applications that make use of the Cocoa text engine.
Adobe and Microsoft apps ignore this information.
Make an anchor contextual by prefixing its name with an asterisk (*).
Select the anchor and edit the context in which it should overwrite the unprefixed counterpart in the Anchor Context field:
Moving the bottom anchor to the left in case the current glyph (sad-ar.init) is preceded by reh-ar.
The original bottom anchor (next to 
) is used for mark attachment unless the glyph is in a context that matches the Anchor Context of *bottom.
The context field is located at the bottom of the Palette (Window → Palette, Cmd-Opt-P) and is shown when View → Show Info (Cmd-Shift-I) is checked.
Write OpenType feature code into the Anchor Context field with * representing the current glyph (the base glyph).
Classes and tokens may also be used in the context.
Additionally, the & symbol can be written in the context code as a placeholder for the mark glyph.
This is optional, but needed when the mark does not directly follow the base glyph.
Write lookupflag ...; before the context pattern code to specify lookup flags.
This is often useful with the UseMarkFilteringSet flag to limit the anchor context to a subset of marks.
Differentiate multiple context anchors by appending an arbitrary suffix to their names.
For example, the anchor bottom might have two context anchors: *bottom.noon and *bottom.reh, which have different anchor contexts.
When dragging a node selection across the canvas, red lines will appear, indicating when the selection is aligned with other nodes or a vertical metric.
Deactivate magnetic guides temporarily by holding down the Control key.
Likewise, a node or any other object being dragged will snap to all nodes and handles on paths, as well as in components.
When moving close to a node in a component while dragging, Glyphs will fade in small representations of the nodes inside the component.
Disable node snapping by holding down the Control key.
Add a local guide to the currently displayed glyph layer by Control-clicking or right-clicking to open the context menu and choosing Add Guide.
A local horizontal guide 
will be added at the click position.
If two nodes are selected while adding the guide, it will be laid through the nodes.
Toggle the display of guides in Edit View by choosing View → Show Guides (Cmd-Shift-L).
Select a guide by clicking anywhere on it.
A filled knob indicates a selected guide.
Move a selected guide by dragging its knob.
Double-click the knob to turn it perpendicular 
to its current orientation.
Quickly duplicate one or more guides by selecting them and holding down the Option key while dragging them to a new position.
Local guides are blue and visible only on the layer on which they have been placed.
Global guides 
are red and visible throughout a master.
Create a global guide by holding down the Option key while navigating the context menu and choosing Add Global Guide.
Toggle a guide between local and global by selecting it, and from the context menu, choose Make Global Guide or Make Local Guide.
Lock one or more guides by choosing Lock Guides from their context menu.
A locked guide cannot be selected and displays a lock 
/
icon instead of its knob.
Unlock a guide by Control-clicking or right-clicking the knob and choosing Unlock Guide from the context menu.
From top to bottom (unselected and selected): local guide, global guide, locked local guide, locked global guide.
Press the Tab key to quickly select the next, or Shift-Tab to select the previous guide.
When a guide is selected, move it using the arrow keys (add Shift or Command for larger increments) or drag its knob with the mouse, just like a regular node.
Change the angle by dragging the guide anywhere outside the knob.
Enter values for its position and its angle in the Info box (Cmd-Shift-I).
Click the lock icon next to the angle in the Info box to maintain the guide at the set angle until the angle is unlocked again.
By default, a guide will be positioned relative to the left sidebearing.
Click 
in the Info box to position it relative to the right sidebearing or 
to position it relative to both sidebearings.
Click 
to use the left sidebearing again.
This can be useful for slanted guides, especially when they are global or frequently changing the right side.
Select a guide and click the measurement 
icon in the Info box to turn the guide into a measurement guide.
For more details, see Measurement Guides.
Click Name in the Info box of a selected guide to name it.
Guide names are displayed on the left end of a guide:
Global guides are shown on all glyphs by default.
Select a global guide and choose Edit → Info for Selection (Cmd-Opt-I) to limit the global guide to a subset of glyphs.
The rules for defining the scope of a global guide work the same as Smart Filters.
In Edit and Font View, the Undo mechanism works on a glyph level.
That means that every glyph has its own undo history.
This also implies that certain global actions, especially manipulating global guides, cannot be undone.
That is because global guides are associated with a master and not a glyph, and therefore are ignored by the glyph-level undo history.
An Info box is displayed below the current glyph.
The current glyph is the glyph currently being edited on, or, in text mode, the glyph following the text cursor.
The Info box shows general information about the glyph, including as its name, Unicode value, metrics, and kerning.
The glyph name is shown centered at the top of the Info box.
Its Unicode value, if any, is shown in the top-right of the box.
Click the arrow 
button next to the Unicode value to open it in UnicodeChecker.
If UnicodeChecker is not installed, Glyphs will present a download link.
When opening UnicodeChecker with the arrow button for the first time, the Mac will ask for permission.
Grant it so that Glyphs can launch UnicodeChecker and set the current Unicode value to match the one from Edit View.
The lower half of the glyph Info box manages metrics and kerning.
To the left and right of the horizontal metrics 
icon are left and right sidebearings.
Below the icon is the width of the glyph.
LSB, RSB, and width values can be numbers or metrics keys.
See Metrics Keys for more details.
Kerning values and kerning groups are at the left and right edge of the Info box.
See Kerning for more information.
For glyphs written in a vertical layout, the vertical Info box is displayed instead.
T and B are the top and bottom sidebearings of the glyph, respectively.
O is the vertical origin of the glyph.
H is the vertical width (or height) of the glyph.
K and G define the kerning and kerning groups, both for the top and the bottom of the glyph.
There are many ways to zoom in and out of Edit View.
With a trackpad, zoom using pinch and stretch gestures.
Or hold down the Option key and use a scroll gesture or the scroll wheel of a mouse.
Or activate the Zoom tool 
(shortcut Z) and click on the canvas to zoom in, Option-click to zoom out.
Alternatively, click and drag across an area, and it will be zoomed to fill the window.
Temporarily activate the Zoom tool by holding down Cmd-Space for zooming in or Cmd-Opt-Space for zooming out.
If Cmd-Space collides with another shortcut, try pressing Space before adding the Command key.
Or use the zoom commands from the View menu:
Zoom In (Cmd-Plus) and Zoom Out (Cmd-Minus).
Zoom to Active Layer (Cmd-Zero) will maximize the area between ascender and descender in the window.
Zoom to Actual Size (Cmd-Opt-Zero) will zoom one font unit to the size of one screen point.
(One screen point is one pixel on a classic low-resolution screen and two pixels on new high-resolution Retina screens.)
Or use the zoom 
/ 
buttons in the bottom-right corner of the window.
Alternatively, set the zoom value numerically by entering a point height in the field between the buttons.
The zoom value is the number of display points at which 1000 font units are shown.
The size of a display point depends on the physical display that the Mac uses.
Display points are independent of pixels, so one point might correspond to one pixel on a low-resolution display or two pixels on a high-resolution display.
For example, at a zoom value of 300, a 1000 font units long path would be displayed at 300 display points, and a path of length 500 font units would be displayed at 150 display points.
On a trackpad, drag two fingers to pan around Edit View.
Scroll on a mouse to pan vertically, hold down Shift to scroll horizontally.
Or, drag the scroll bars on the right and bottom edges of the displayed canvas.
Alternatively, switch to the Hand tool 
(shortcut H) and drag the canvas around, or simply hold down the Space bar to temporarily switch to the Hand tool.
When in text mode, pressing the Space bar would add a space to the text.
Press Cmd-Space and subsequently release the Command key to avoid inserting a space.
Toggle settings that influence the glyph display in Edit View from the View menu:
- Show Nodes
displays the on-curve and off-curve points of a glyph.
Control the display of points on the foreground layer, the background layer, and Extra Nodes.
- Show Metrics
shows the vertical and horizontal metrics as well as the alignment zones of the glyph.
- Show Metric Names
adds labels to the metrics in Edit View.
- Show Hints
displays PostScript hints.
Use the TrueType Instructor tool for TrueType hints.
- Show Anchors
shows the anchors of the current glyph.
- Show Info
displays the Info box as well as contextual controls at the bottom of the Palette.
- Show Background
displays the paths and components of the background layer as outlines in the foreground layer.
- Show Image
shows images placed on a glyph layer.
- Show Guides
displays local and global guides.
- Show Measurement Line
shows horizontal and vertical measurement lines with numbers for the amount of space between the glyphs.
Only visible when the Text tool is active.
- Show Annotations
shows annotations placed with the Annotation tool.
- Show Bounding Box
displays the bounding box of a selection with transformation knobs on all four sides and corners.
- Fill Preview
fills closed paths with the foreground color.
The current glyph is not filled unless the Text, Hand, or Zoom tool is selected.
The foreground color can be changed in the settings.
See Appearance for details.
Many third-party reporter plug-ins are available for changing or enhancing the glyph display in Edit View.
After they are installed, they will also show up in the View menu.
Label colors can be set both glyph-wide and layer-specific from the context menu.
Control-click or right-click anywhere on the canvas of an active glyph and pick the color from the context menu.
Hold down Option and choose Set Layer Color to pick a layer color rather than a glyph color.
Both glyph and layer colors will be displayed in the Info box (View → Show Info, Cmd-Shift-I):
The glyph color is displayed on the left half, the layer color on the right half, which corresponds to the display of label colors in Font View.
See Color Label for managing color labels in Font View.
Each layer has a background layer, usually simply referred to as background
.
The background is useful for temporarily storing a path or tracking changes and comparing outlines before and after a manipulation.
Some filters, such as Filter → Hatch Outline, use the background as a backup layer to work non-destructively.
While working in the foreground, objects on the background are displayed as a subtle red outline with View → Show Background (Cmd-Shift-B).
If this option is active while in the background, the foreground objects will be displayed in the same way.
Choose View → Show Nodes → In Background to show the on- and off-curve points of the background.
When the background is displayed, snapping will also work with objects on the background layer.
Switch to the background by choosing Path → Edit Background (Cmd-B).
The window display will darken slightly to indicate that the background layer is active.
This command is a toggle; to switch back to the foreground, use Cmd-B again.
Path → Selection to Background (Cmd-J) replaces the current content of the background with the active selection; this works in reverse when the background is active.
Simultaneously holding down the Option key changes the command to Add Selection to Background (Cmd-Opt-J) and adds the current selection to what is already in the background.
Path → Swap with Background (Cmd-Ctrl-J) will exchange the foreground with the background.
Empty the background layers of selected glyphs by holding down the Option key and choosing Path → Clear Background.
Copy the outlines of another font file using Path → Assign Background into the background layer of all selected glyphs.
Put the same font into its own background to keep track of any other changes.
Selecting all glyphs and choosing Path → Selection to Background (Cmd-J) has the same effect.
Edit View can display multiple glyphs to provide a context of words and sentences.
When using the Text tool (T), enter characters using the keyboard.
Insert non-alphabetic characters with the Character Picker (Edit → Emoji & Symbols, Cmd-Ctrl-Space).
Edit View has a preset line width.
Set the maximum line width in the settings.
Select the Text tool (shortcut T) to switch to text mode and start typing.
Enter a single character, a word, a sentence, or multiple lines of text.
Copy and paste text to and from Edit View.
Use all familiar text editing controls such as the arrow keys, the Edit menu, and macOS Application Services (Glyphs → Services).
In text mode, the current glyph is the one after the text cursor.
Insert a glyph by name with Edit → Find → Find… (Cmd-F).
Results are shown while typing.
If the search term contains spaces, glyphs matching all the space-separated terms will be shown.
For example, ha cy will find all glyphs that have ha and cy in their name, such as Ha-cy, Sha-cy, and sha-cy.loclBGR.
Use a Unicode character as a search term to insert its glyph (or type the character directly into Edit View).
Press Return to insert the selected glyphs into Edit View.
By default, the first result is selected.
Shift-click to select a range of results, or Command-click to select results individually.
Click the magnifying glass 
to configure the search.
Choose Name to search by glyph name, Unicode to search by Unicode value, and All to search by both.
The Unicode search matches the entered search query with the hexadecimal Unicode values of the glyphs (for example, 228E).
Switch to the previous or next glyph in the font by pressing the Home and End key, respectively.
Add Shift to advance through the glyphs as they are currently visible in the Font View.
These shortcuts are useful when filtering glyphs in the Font View and stepping through them in Edit View.
Edit → Add Placeholder (Cmd-Opt-Shift-P) inserts a placeholder for the current glyph.
Placeholders are dynamically replaced by the currently selected glyph.
Multiple placeholders can be placed in Edit View to all reflect the same glyph.
Edit a glyph for all placeholders to mirror it.
Placeholders are helpful when spacing a glyph; for example, quickly switch from ononnoon to omommoom if the n glyphs are placeholders.
Switch between left to right, right to left, and top to bottom layout with the respective alignment buttons in the bottom-right corner of the Edit View window.
Keeping a lot of text in Edit View will slow down the interface.
Instead, use the Text Preview (Window → Text Preview) for reviewing longer passages of text.
Tip:
The Text Preview performs well with any amount of text, even the contents of an entire book.
Enter text in the text field.
This text field renders a real preview of the font using the Core Text shaping engine by Apple, just like most other Mac apps do.
Note that characters unsupported by the font are displayed using a system fallback font.
Control-click or right-click into the text field and choose Layout Orientation → Vertical to switch to a vertical text layout.
Also from the context menu, use the Writing Direction submenu to control the direction of the text and the text selection.
Choose Edit → Find → Find… (Cmd-F) to search for text or replace text in the text field.
Click the magnifying glass 
icon to set options for the search.
Choose Insert Pattern or press Cmd-Opt-Ctrl-P to search for patterns such as spaces or digits.
Use the pop-up menu in the top-left of the window to pick the preview font style.
The field to the right controls the font size at which the text preview is displayed.
Click the pin 
icon to toggle the pinned state of the window.
A pinned window stays on top of the font window, allowing to continue editing glyphs while still keeping an eye on the text preview.
Edit and store sample strings in Glyphs → Settings… → Sample Strings.
Insert a sample string by choosing Edit → Select Sample Text… (Cmd-Opt-F).
Use the arrow keys or click to choose a string.
Switch to the next or previous sample string without the dialog by choosing Edit → Other → Select Next Sample String or Select Previous Sample String, respectively.
Keyboard shortcuts to these commands can be assigned in the settings.
Click the pin button to keep the sample strings window open.
Glyphs offers several ways to determine coordinates and to measure distances between points and curves.
Toggle the display of the Info box with View → Show Info (Cmd-Shift-I).
The Info box always displays data relevant to the current selection.
If there is exactly one node selected, its coordinates will be displayed.
Select a handle (aka off-curve point, or Bézier control point), and the Info box will also show its delta values (∆X and ∆Y difference to the on-curve point) and the total length of the handle (distance to the on-curve point).
The X and Y coordinates describe the position of the selection bounding box.
The position is measured from the layer origin at (0, 0) to the part of the selection indicated by the blue point in the Info box.
For example, measures from the origin to the selection center.
See Scaling & Rotating for more on the selection Info box.
Values in the Info box can be edited by clicking the number.
Confirm a new value by pressing Return or by exiting the field.
Use the Tab key to exit the current field and edit the next value in the Info box.
Go back by pressing Shift-Tab.
Pressing Escape exits the current field without entering a different field.
Use the Up and Down arrow keys to increment or decrement the value of a field.
Hold down Shift for increments of 10.
When a component is selected, the Info box of the base letter appears to the right.
The base letter is the original glyph the component points to.
The base letter Info box displays the glyph name, its X and Y offset, its horizontal and vertical scale in percent, its slant to the right 
, and counterclockwise rotation angle 
.
The arrow button in the top-right corner will insert the original glyph in the Edit tab string to the left of the current glyph and activate it for editing.
Change the glyph that the component points to by clicking its name in the Info box and choosing another glyph from the glyph list in the subsequent pop-up window.
For more details on working with components, see Reusing Shapes: Components.
Changing the position only has an effect if the component is not automatically aligned.
For more details on automatic alignment, see Automatic Alignment.
Switch to the Measurement tool 
(shortcut L) to see all coordinates of all nodes and anchors at once.
The blue numbers are the X and Y coordinates of the on-curve points, the green numbers are the coordinates of off-curve points, and the red numbers are the x and y delta values between the on-curve points.
Clicking and dragging draws a ruler that displays precise measures between all of its intersections with the outlines.
Add Shift to drag a horizontal or vertical ruler.
At the end of the ruler, its angle is displayed in counterclockwise degrees, where zero degrees corresponds to dragging the ruler perfectly vertically towards the top.
The Measurement tool works on all visible glyphs in Edit View.
This also applies to the measurement line:
Temporarily activate the ruler and the display of point coordinates by simultaneously holding down Cmd-Opt-Ctrl.
Press the G key while dragging a ruler to add a guide in measurement mode.
Holding down Command temporarily switches to the Select tool.
Local and global guides can be turned into a measurement guide.
Click on the guide to select it and click the measurement symbol in the Info box.
Like the Measurement tool, guides in measurement mode will display the distance between their intersections with outlines or components.
Contrary to the tool, they always do so as long as guides are shown, regardless of which tool is active.
Note that the overlapping paths (such as the curl in the sigma pictured above) are ignored by the Measurement tool or measurement guides.
Such overlapping paths are drawn with a light gray color and removed when exporting a font with the Remove Overlap filter enabled.
When in text mode, enter measurement mode by choosing View → Show Measurement Line.
The measurement line will display the sidebearings at a given height, ignoring the shape of the glyph at other positions.
More precisely, the numbers displayed indicate the distance between the left or right sidebearing and the point where the measurement line first crosses the glyph outline.
Alter the height of the measurement line by Cmd-Opt-Ctrl-clicking or Cmd-Opt-Ctrl-dragging.
Or switch to the Measurement tool (L) and drag it to the desired height.
In measurement mode, thin gray lines indicate the widths of the glyphs.
Kernings are color coded:
Negative kerning is displayed as light blue, positive kerning as yellow.
The colors can be changed in the settings.
The Annotation tool 
(shortcut A) adds notes and correction marks to glyph layers.
When the tool is active, the Info box (View → Show Info, Cmd-Shift-I) turns into a small palette holding a range of annotation tools.
Choose Edit → Select All (Cmd-A) to select all annotations in the currently active glyph layer.
Move selected annotations with the arrow keys.
Hold down Shift for increments of 10, and Command for increments of 100 units.
Press the Delete key to remove all selected annotations.
The first tool in the Annotation palette is the Annotation Selection tool 
.
Use it to click-select annotations.
Shift-click to select multiple annotations at once.
Place snippets of text with the Text Annotation tool 
.
Click to add a new text annotation, double-click an annotation to edit its text.
A text snippet can span across multiple lines.
The handle on the right controls the width of the text box.
The Arrow Annotation tool 
adds red arrows onto the canvas.
Use the handle on an arrow stem to control its rotation.
The Circle Annotation tool 
adds red circles onto the canvas.
The handle at the bottom of the circle controls its diameter.
Many designers use plus and minus signs to indicate that a counter, a bowl, or a stem should be thickened or thinned.
Click the plus 
or minus 
button and then click on the canvas to add the symbols to the relevant area.
All image formats supported by macOS can be added to a glyph layer.
These include JPEG, PNG, PDF, TIFF, and PSD files.
Add an image by dragging the image file over a glyph cell in Font View or over a glyph in Edit View.
Alternatively, choose Glyph → Add Image… to insert an image file.
In a Glyphs document, only the relative path to an image file is stored.
Thus, it is a good idea to keep images in a subfolder next to the Glyphs file.
If the path to the placed image is outdated or broken, it will be indicated with a missing image symbol:
Toggle the display of images with View → Show Image.
Images are always displayed for empty glyphs (glyphs without paths or components).
Image files are ignored at export unless exporting a bitmap image font, like an sbix color font.
By default, images are scaled to a size where one DTP point corresponds to one font unit and placed at the origin point of the layer.
Consider scaling images before importing them into Glyphs when preparing scans.
Move an image by dragging it to the desired position.
When an image is selected, resize it with the bounding box (Cmd-Opt-Shift-B) or the Scale tool (S).
Rotate an image with the Rotate tool (R).
The Transformations palette also works for images.
The Info box (Cmd-Shift-I) offers controls for the image position (X and Y) and dimensions ( width and height) of the selected image.
Rotate the image by changing the degree figure next to the curved arrow .
Clicking the right-pointing arrow reveals the original image file in Finder.
Click the lock icon to lock the image.
A locked image cannot be selected or manipulated.
Unlock an image by Control-clicking or right-clicking the image on the canvas and choosing Unlock Image.
Choose Set Crop to Layer Bounds from the image context menu to hide the image outside the layer bounds defined by its width, descender, and ascender.
Choose Reset Crop to undo such a crop.
Kerning can be previewed with three modes: no kerning 
, kerning 
, and locked kerning 
.
See Kerning Modes for details.
The glyphs in Edit View are drawn for the currently selected master.
Change the current master by clicking the icon for the master in the toolbar.
Set master icons in File → Font Info… → Masters.
Switch to one of the first nine masters of the font by pressing Command and the number of the master: Cmd-1, Cmd-2, …, Cmd-9.
Change the master of the currently edited glyph or the selected glyphs in Edit View by selecting a master layer from the Layers palette.
For more details on working with multiple font masters, see Interpolation.
Toggle OpenType features from the Features menu at the bottom-left of the window in Edit View.
When at least one feature is selected, the Features menu is highlighted in an accent color.
The button will show the four-letter tags of the active features.
Activate a feature by selecting it from the Features menu.
Multiple features may be active at the same time.
Select a feature from the menu again to deactivate it in Edit View.
Deactivate all features by choosing the dash (-) at the top of the menu.
Recompile the font features from the features editor (File → Font Info… → Features) to make newly added features appear in the menu.
Quickly select an item from the menu by typing its name while the menu is open.
This also works with the dash.
Preview language-specific forms by enabling Localized Forms from the menu.
Pick the desired script and language from the bottom of the features menu.
For this to work, a locl feature with valid language-specific rules must be present in File → Font Info… → Features.
In Edit View, Glyphs previews substitution, kerning, and cursive attachment positioning features.
Other positioning features may be handled differently in third-party applications and are not previewed in Edit View.
Test these features directly in software by exporting the fonts.
When testing in Adobe applications, export the fonts to the Adobe Fonts folder.
For details, see Previewing in Adobe Applications.
Note that in InDesign, the OpenType features may be interpreted differently by different composers.
Click the Preview button 
in the bottom-left of the window to preview font instances.
The window content will be split with Edit View above and Preview Area below.
Drag the separator to adjust the size of the Preview Area.
Alternatively, open a separate window which can also be placed on a second display via Window → Preview Panel.
The Preview Panel displays the Edit View glyphs of the current font file.
When no Edit View tab is currently active, the Preview Panel stays blank.
Click an Edit View tab, and the Preview Panel will immediately update to show the respective glyphs.
Select the instance to be previewed from the pop-up menu in the bottom-left of the preview.
Show All Instances displays the current glyph across all instances of the font.
Toggle the display of individual instances in Show All Instances by clicking the eye / icon next to an instance name.
Select the dash (-) for the preview to mirror the master used in Edit View.
Except for the Show All Instances option, the Preview Area and Preview Panel render the complete text of the current Edit View tab on a single line.
The current glyph is centered by default.
Drag the text horizontally in the Preview Area to reposition it.
Double-click a previewed glyph to edit it.
The rendering respects some custom parameters, as well as intermediate and alternate layers.
Control-click or right-click the Preview Area and choose Always Center Active Glyph to keep the active glyph centered.
If deactivated, Glyphs will try to fill the Preview Area as best as possible, keeping the text flush left or flush right.
Switch between black-on-white and white-on-black with the Invert 
button next to the instances pop-up menu.
With the Flip 
/
button, flip the Preview upside-down.
Flipping text can be helpful when testing the spacing of a font.
Test the legibility of the font by blurring the font sample in the Preview with the slider next to the Flip button.
Applications on the Mac cache font files.
Caching fonts is an optimization that makes sense for most Mac users, since those fonts are typically installed just once and accessed many times by many applications.
However, when creating fonts with Glyphs, the fonts that have already been cached prevent their subsequent exported versions from showing up in apps.
There are multiple approaches to bypass font caching.
Firstly, quit and relaunch the app in which the fonts are previewed.
For example, when testing a font in Pages, save the document and quit Pages.
Export the new version of the font and relaunch Pages.
If this approach does not work, check Test Install in the OTF export dialog.
This option writes the font data directly to the system memory without creating a new font file.
Quitting and relaunching may still be required for the new font version to show up.
If the new font versions still do not show up, restart the Mac.
In case that does not fix the issue either, uninstall the affected fonts from the system by deleting them in Font Book.
Then, quit all applications and launch the Terminal application.
Enter the following lines and press the Return key after each line.
If prompted for the user password, note that entering the password does not display the typical ••• bullet points.
Press Return to confirm the password.
sudo atsutil databases -remove
atsutil server -shutdown
atsutil server -ping
After running the three lines above, restart the Mac for the changes to take effect.
If the problem persists, reboot the Mac in safe mode by pressing Cmd-S at startup until the Apple logo appears.
Following that, recreate the caches by holding down Shift while the computer completes the restart and keep holding it while logging in.
For a complete font preview, including positioning features and menu order, open the export dialog (File → Export, Cmd-E) and choose the OTF export.
Set the path in Export Destination to /Library/Application Support/Adobe/Fonts.
For this, first, click the folder path to open the folder browser.
Then, press Cmd-Shift-G and enter the path of the Adobe Fonts folder exactly as above.
Click Go and then click Open to choose the Adobe Fonts folder and export the fonts by clicking Next…
The font becomes immediately available in all Adobe applications.
Glyphs will overwrite any previously saved instance of the font in this folder.
The font will not be available outside Adobe apps, but this is a convenient way to circumvent any font cache problems in macOS.
Adobe apps may need to be closed and relaunched the first time the Adobe Fonts folder is used.
After that, the Adobe font menus will update immediately every time the font is exported.
In the export dialog (File → Export, Cmd-E), check the .woff2 option to export to WOFF2 font files.
A .woff option for older browsers is also available.
These webfont files can be loaded into an HTML webpage and previewed in a web browser.
Reload the webpage to see the new versions of the exported fonts.
The font cache of many browsers can be bypassed by holding down the Shift key while reloading.
A simple HTML file might look like this:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<meta charset="utf-8">
<title>Webfont Preview</title>
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width">
<style>
@font-face {
font-family: 'Some Font Name';
src: url(some-font-name.woff2) format('woff2');
}
html {
font-family: 'Some Font Name';
}
</style>
This is the test text for the webfont preview.
</html>
Open the Palette sidebar with the sidebar button 
in the top-right corner of the window, or choose Window → Palette (Cmd-Opt-P).
Glyphs includes four sections: Dimensions, Fit Curve, Layers, and Transformations.
Plug-ins can add additional sections to the Palette.
Collapse or expand a section by clicking the chevron on the left side of the section name.
The Dimensions section does not affect the font but serves as a notepad where the dimensions of common font features can be written down and referenced.
Enter a value by clicking a number or an empty field (--).
Values are stored per master.
The fields change according to the script attributed to the glyph.
It can be changed through Edit → Info for Selection (Cmd-Shift-I).
The Fit Curve section helps to create curves with a smooth curvature.
Clicking one of the eight round buttons 
changes the length of the selected handles.
The leftmost button sets the handles to the length specified in the left field, and the rightmost button matches them to the right field.
The intermediate six buttons set the handles to intervals of even lengths.
Alternatively, activate the eight buttons with the shortcuts Opt-Ctrl-1 through Opt-Ctrl-8.
The plus and minus buttons uniformly increase or decrease the handle’s length of the selected curve segments.
Fit Curve always works on both handles of a segment, even if only one is selected.
When a handle is selected, a small gray indicator located under the buttons shows the current handle length.
The minimum value is 1 percent, the maximum value is 100 percent.
A length of 55 % is the closest approximation to an elliptic curvature or a circle.
Such a curve segment appears equally curved across its entire length.
Curves with longer handle lengths (above 55 %) appear flattened towards their on-curve points, making them more apt for connecting to line segments.
Curves with shorter handle lengths (below 55 %) appear flat in the middle and highly curved towards the ends.
Add a Fit Curve Panel Settings custom parameter to the font to set per-document minimum and maximum values.
The value are two numbers, separated by a comma, like 55, 85.
A layer contains the outline of a glyph.
A single glyph can have multiple layers, at least one for each master.
Layers are shown in the Layers section of the Palette.
The layers are sorted by their master.
Drag the handle at the bottom of the Layers section to resize it.
Click the eye symbol next to a layer to toggle its display.
A visible layer is displayed with a faint blue line when a different layer of the glyph is active.
Change the color in the settings.
Use the Select All Layers tool 
(shortcut Shift-V) to edit all visible layers at once.
Shift-click to select a range of layers, or Command-click to make a non-contiguous selection.
Reorder layers by dragging a layer to a new position.
Layers can only be reordered within a master.
Glyphs differentiates between three types of layers: master layers, backup layers, and special layers.
Master layers are required for interpolating instances.
Every glyph has a master layer for every font master.
In the Layers palette, master layers are labeled with the master name and are set in bold.
Master layers cannot be added, deleted, or renamed from the Layers section.
Instead, open File → Font Info… → Masters to manage font masters.
Choose Only Show Layers from Current Master from the filter 
menu to hide all layers not belonging to the current master.
This option can clean up the layers list and is particularly helpful when working on fonts with many masters.
Backup layers are used to keep a copy of previous drawings.
Click the plus button in the bottom-left of the Layers section to create a new backup layer.
By default, a backup layer is labeled with its creation date and time.
Double-click the layer name to rename it.
Click the minus button to delete the selected layer.
Backup layers are indented below their master layer and set in a regular weight.
A glyph can have any number of backup layers.
Choose Hide Backup Layers from the filter menu to hide all backup layers.
Revert to a backup layer by choosing Use as Master from the actions 
menu.
The backup layer will be deleted, its contents will be placed on the master layer, and the contents of the current master layer will be placed on a new backup layer.
Alternatively, drag a backup layer onto a master layer to use it instead as a master layer.
Special layers can be intermediate and alternate layers for interpolation or any kind of color layer.
Special layers are indented below their master layer.
The label reflects their type and is set in bold.
Intermediate and alternate layers are used in Multiple Master setups.
Color layers are used for color fonts.
Plug-ins may define their own special layers.
Refer to their documentation for more information.
The Transformations section transforms points, paths, components, anchors, guides, images, and more.
The following transformations are supported:
Transformations can be applied in both Font View and Edit View.
According to the selection, the transformation applies to segments, paths, or complete glyph layers.
The buttons to the left and right of text fields perform opposite transformations.
For example, clicking 
undoes the transformation caused by clicking 
.
These opposing transformations are not subject to rounding errors that might be introduced by the unit grid.
See Grid Spacing & Subdivision for details on the unit grid.
All transformations (except for alignment) are performed with respect to a transformation origin.
The top row of the Transformation palette controls this origin point.
The transformation box 
places the transformation origin with respect to the selection bounding box.
Either one of the four corners, or the center of one of the four edges, or the center of the selection box can be defined as the transformation origin.
The reference point 
uses the transformation origin as defined by the Scale tool (S) or the Rotate tool (R).
Using one of those tools, click on the canvas to define the transformation origin.
The point is indicated as a red ring 
with a crosshair when using the Scale/Rotate tool, and just as a crosshair 
when using any other tool.
The metrics point 
places the transformation origin at one of the metrics defined in File → Font Info… → Masters → Metrics.
Choose either the baseline, half or full x-height, or half or full cap height.
For CJK glyphs, the layer dimensions control 
is displayed instead.
It places the transformation origin at the center of the layer (half of the width and centered between the ascender and the descender).
The mirror buttons 
/
reflect the selection to the other side of the transformation origin.
Horizontal mirroring reflects across the horizontal center of the layer when a metrics point defines the transformation origin.
Mirror with the transformation origin positioned in the metrics point control at either half the x-height or half the cap height to preserve overshoots.
For example, mirroring an n that overshoots the x-height will result in an u shape that overshoots the baseline.
Mirroring a corner component (see Corner Components) will turn a left corner into a right corner and vice versa.
Mirroring a glyph component upside-down will reverse the assignment of top and bottom anchors in the original glyph.
This way, a top mark can be used as a bottom mark by mirroring the component.
Click the scale 
button to scale the selection by the specified percentage.
Percentages larger than 100 % increase the selection size, percentages smaller than 100 % decrease the size, and a percentage of 100 % does not change the size.
The scaling factor along the horizontal axis (top field) and the vertical axis (bottom field) can be defined independently.
The top field is used for both axes if the lock icon is locked.
The reverse scale 
button undoes a scaling operation.
This is not the same as scaling down:
Scaling with by a percentage smaller than 100 % (for example, 75 %) shrinks the selection.
Scaling with by the same percentage returns the selection to its original size.
Similarly, a selection that was enlarged to a value larger than 100 % with can be undone using .
Rotate the selection with and .
Slant the selection with 
, 
, 
, and 
.
Note that slanting a selection twice by a certain amount does not yield
the same result as slanting it once with double the amount.
The align buttons (
, 
, 
, 
, 
, 
) can be used on points, complete and partial paths, anchors, and components.
Aligning is always done relative to the bounding box of the selection.
Quickly align the selected points with Path → Align Selection (Cmd-Shift-A).
This command respects the setting for the transformation origin.
See Editing Paths for more details.
The bottom row of buttons combines closed paths with boolean operations: 
union, 
subtraction, and 
intersection.
From left to right: two overlapping paths, union, subtraction, and intersection.
Union removes the overlaps in all selected paths (or all paths of the layer if there is no selection).
Subtraction removes the selected paths from the unselected paths.
Paths involved in the subtract operation are merged first to achieve consistent results.
Intersection keeps only the parts where the selected paths overlap the unselected paths.
Both subtraction and intersection use the frontmost path as the selected path if there is no selection.
A union operation can be applied to all glyphs on export using the Remove Overlap option.
See Options for details.
Font View provides an overview of all glyphs of a font.
It is displayed when a new Glyphs file is created.
If multiple tabs are open, jump to Font View by clicking the leftmost tab or pressing Cmd-Opt-1.
Font View is available in two viewing modes: Grid View and List View.
Toggle between the modes with the grid 
and list 
buttons in the top-left of the font window.
In Grid View , the glyphs of the font are displayed in a grid of glyph cells.
The glyph outlines reflect the currently selected master.
Use the slider 
in the bottom-right to control the cell size.
Large glyph cells display the glyph outlines, the glyph name, and the Unicode value of the glyph.
Small cells show only the outlines.
The Unicode value is shown in the bottom-right next to the glyph name.
By default, a small Unicode indicator 
is displayed.
The Unicode indicator is replaced by a small rendering of the glyph set in the system font for CJK glyphs.
Enable Display Unicode Value in settings to show the full Unicode value.
Alternatively, select a glyph cell to show its Unicode values in the inspector located in the bottom-left of the window (see Unicode for details).
A warning 
triangle in the top-right corner of a glyph cell indicates that the glyph has out-of-sync metrics keys.
A yellow note 
indicates that the glyph has an annotation on the active master layer.
A black info 
indicates that the glyph uses custom glyph properties.
A red top-left corner 
in a glyph cell indicates that not all layers are compatible for interpolation.
A red ring with stroke 
marks a non-exporting glyph.
A glyph cell displays its glyph and layer colors.
Switch to List View by selecting the list icon located in the top-left of the font window.
List View shows a table where each row corresponds to a glyph and each column to a glyph property.
Click a column header to sort by that column.
Click a header again to reverse the sort order.
Click and drag a column header to rearrange columns.
Control-click or right-click a header to hide or show columns.
See Glyph Properties for a description of all glyph properties.
New glyphs can be added to a font in various ways:
Glyph → Add Glyphs… (Cmd-Shift-G) opens a dialog window for adding glyphs.
Write glyph names (Aacute, ampersand, noon-ar.init), characters (Á, &, ﻧ), or Unicode values (uni00C1, uni0026, uni0646) separated by spaces into the text field.
Specify character ranges by placing a colon between two glyphs: uni01FC:uni01FF or Abold-math:Zbold-math.
The text field also accepts glyph recipes.
When adding glyphs that are already in the font, they will not be added again.
Instead, a dialog is shown listing the glyphs that are already part of the font.
Choose Replace to replace the existing glyphs with new, empty glyphs.
Keep Existing ignores the duplicate glyphs and only adds the new glyphs.
Choose Cancel to not add any new glyphs.
Glyph → New Glyph (Cmd-Opt-Shift-N) or the plus button located in the bottom-left of Font View adds a new empty glyph named newGlyph.
Choose Window → Glyph Info to show a list of all glyphs known to Glyphs.
Click Add to Font to add the selected glyphs to the current font.
See Glyph Info Database for details.
Some entries in the sidebar show a badge with the total glyph count for the entry and the count of glyphs that are already part of the font.
Control-click or right-click a sidebar entry to show a list with the missing glyphs.
Select glyphs from the list individually, or select all by pressing Cmd-A.
Add the selected glyphs to the font by clicking Generate.
Glyphs can be copied across font files.
In Font View, copy the selected glyphs with Edit → Copy (Cmd-C) and paste them into another file with Edit → Paste (Cmd-V).
Components are re-linked to the glyphs in the target font.
When a linked glyph does not exist in the target font, the component cannot be re-linked and displays as a no base glyph triangle placeholder instead.
If a glyph with the same name already exists in the target font, an incrementing suffix like A.001, A.002, … will be added to the name of the pasted glyph.
Overwrite existing glyphs with Edit → Paste Special (hold down Option while the menu is open or press Cmd-Opt-V).
The Paste Special dialog presents three paste modes:
- Glyphs With Same Name
overwrites the glyphs that have the same names as the copied glyphs.
Any glyphs that do not yet exist in the target font are also added.
- Selected Glyphs
overwrites all currently selected glyphs in the target font with the glyphs copied from the source font.
The names of the selected glyphs are kept.
If more glyphs were copied, then there are selected glyphs in the target font, the additional glyphs are ignored.
- As Components
pastes the copied glyphs as components into the selected glyphs.
Choose All Masters to paste on all masters.
Existing paths and components are preserved.
For the options Glyphs With Same Name and Selected Glyphs, glyphs can be partially pasted by selecting the desired parts:
- All Data
pastes the entire glyph, including shapes, anchors, layer attributes, and metrics.
This option includes all the options below it.
- Content of Active Layer
pastes the currently displayed layer.
- Kerning Groups
pastes the left and right kerning groups.
This option is useful for reduplicating kerning between similar fonts.
- Metric Keys
pastes the sidebearing and width formulas.
Recalculate them after pasting with Glyph → Update Metrics (Cmd-Ctrl-M) or across all masters with Glyph → Update Metrics for all Masters (Cmd-Opt-Ctrl-M).
- LSB, RSB, Width
paste the left sidebearing, right sidebearing, and width metrics of a glyph.
If both RSB and Width are selected, the right sidebearing value takes precedence.
Glyph → Remove Glyph (Cmd-Delete) deletes the selected glyphs from the font.
This command also works on the current glyph in Edit View and selected glyphs with the Text tool active.
In Font View, the minus button in the lower-left of the window does the same.
Before the selected glyphs are deleted, a confirmation dialog is shown.
Confirm with Remove or keep the glyphs with Cancel.
If some of the glyphs are used as components, the dialog offers to decompose the components before deleting the glyphs.
Click Remove to delete the glyphs and all components referencing them, or click Decompose to delete the glyphs after decomposing all components of those glyphs to outlines.
If the metrics keys of other glyphs were linked to the metrics of a deleted glyph, a dialog offers to unlink those metrics.
For example, in a font with two glyphs A and AE (Æ), where the left sidebearing of AE is linked to the one of A, deleting A means that AE can no longer reference the metrics of A.
The dialog appears with two choices:
Remove dissolves the metrics keys linked to the deleted glyphs.
Cancel keeps the metrics keys, even though they are no longer linked to a glyph.
Such unlinked keys are set in a turquoise color:
Fix unlinked metrics keys by linking them to a different glyph, replacing the keys with numeric values, or creating the glyph they are pointing to.
See Metrics Keys for more details.
Glyphs have multiple properties associated with them, such as their name, metrics, Unicode values, and whether the glyph will be exported.
In Font View, glyph properties are shown in the bottom-left corner of the window in the glyph inspector.
If the inspector is closed, open it with the disclosure 
button.
Glyph properties are also shown in the columns of List View and the Selection Info window (Edit → Info for Selection, Cmd-Opt-I).
Some properties are also accessible from the context menu on a glyph in Font View and Edit View.
The glyph inspector and the Selection Info window show the properties of the selected glyphs.
Click the disclosure chevron 
next to the Unicode field in the glyph inspector to show additional controls for the production name, script, category, and subcategory.
When multiple glyphs are selected with different values for the same property, a mixed value is displayed in the inspector.
For text fields, Multiple Values is shown in gray.
Editing such a text field will overwrite the current value for all selected glyphs with the new value.
The export checkbox 
uses a line icon 
, indicating that some selected glyphs export and some do not.
Glyphs are identified by their name.
Therefore, a font cannot contain two glyphs with the same name.
The glyph name (or nice name) is used within Glyphs, while a separate production name is used for exported fonts.
See Production Name for details on production names and Naming Glyphs for general information about the glyph naming scheme.
Select glyphs one at a time to display and change their names, or batch rename glyphs with Edit → Find → Find and Replace (Cmd-Shift-F).
See Batch-Renaming Glyphs for more details.
The metric fields show the horizontal metrics (LSB, RSB, width) or the vertical 
metrics (TSB, BSB, vertical origin, vertical width) of a glyph.
Click the icon in the middle to switch between the horizontal and vertical metrics.
See Spacing & Kerning for information on metrics.
Use kerning groups to kern multiple glyphs by the same amount.
See Kerning: Kerning Groups for details.
The Exports checkbox controls whether or not a glyph should be included in exported font files.
Disable this option for component glyphs and any other glyphs that should not be exported.
Use the Remove Glyphs custom parameter on an instance to remove additional glyphs for that instance only.
A glyph is exported by default unless its name starts with an underscore (_).
From left to right:
glyph color only (schwa),
no glyph or layer color (f),
glyph and layer color (g),
layer color only (gbreve).
Glyphs and glyph layers can be marked with color labels.
Color labels do not affect the exported fonts but are used to organize glyphs during font development.
Control-click or right-click a glyph to apply one of the twelve predefined colors.
Click the cross 
button to remove the color from a label.
Hold down the Option key to define or clear the color label of the current layer.
The glyph color spans across the entire glyph cell.
The layer color is drawn on the right half of the cell if a glyph color is set, or across the entire cell with a cut-out in the top-left if no glyph color is set.
Filter glyphs with a particular color using Smart Filters.
See Smart Filters for details.
In some cases, such as Smart Filters or scripts, color labels are addressed by name or number.
The following names and numbers are used:
0 Red,
1 Orange,
2 Brown,
3 Yellow,
4 Light Green,
5 Dark Green,
6 Cyan,
7 Blue,
8 Purple,
9 Pink,
10 Light Gray,
11 Dark Gray.
Tags are short descriptions that can be attached to a glyph.
A glyph can have multiple tags.
Edit tags in the Tags field in the inspector located in the bottom-left of the font window.
Tags can include letters, numbers, spaces, and other punctuation marks.
Only the comma character (,) is special:
Typing a comma or pressing Return will add the tag to the selected glyphs and display it in a blue capsule shape.
The Tags field shows the tags of all selected glyphs if they have the same tags.
Otherwise, the text Multiple Values is displayed.
Control-click or right-click a glyph in Font View and choose the Tags menu.
It shows all tags used within the font.
If no tags are used in the font, then the Tags menu is not shown.
Tags included in any of the selected glyphs are marked with a checkmark 
next to the tag name.
A dash indicates that only some of the selected glyphs include that tag.
Select a tag from the menu to add it to all selected glyphs.
Tags can be used to filter glyphs, including in Smart Filters, metric scopes, and in OpenType feature tokens.
A Unicode value (or code point) is a unit of text typed by a user on a keyboard or stored in a text file.
The Unicode standard defines a code point for most written symbols used across the globe.
Unicode values are written as U+ followed by a hexadecimal number
(digits 0–9 and A–F).
For example, U+0041 is the Latin capital letter A, U+1E900 is the Adlam capital letter Alif, and U+061F is the Arabic question mark.
The font defines which glyph is displayed for a specific Unicode value.
Typically, one glyph has one Unicode value.
In an all-caps font without lowercase letters, the A glyph might have two Unicode values: U+0041 and U+0061 (uppercase and lowercase Latin letter A).
This way, typing either A or a displays the A glyph.
Some glyphs have no Unicode values and are only accessible using OpenType features.
Glyphs that are solely used as components also have no Unicode values.
Glyphs are assigned Unicode values based on their name.
The mapping from glyph names to Unicode values is stored in the glyph info database.
See Names & Unicode for more details.
The Unicode values of a glyph can also be customized per Glyphs file.
Select a glyph and edit Unicode values in the Unicode field of the inspector.
In List View, the code points can also be edited in the Unicode column.
Alternatively, choose Edit → Info for Selection (Cmd-Opt-I) and set the Unicode values of the selected glyph there.
For custom glyphs that are not defined in the glyph info database, choose a fitting name, and set its Unicode value manually.
If the Unicode standard does not offer a suitable code point for a glyph, consider encoding it with a Private Use Area code point.
When adding a custom glyph, make sure not to use the name of a registered glyph from the glyph info database.
Glyphs without a well-defined name (such as most Chinese characters) are named after their Unicode value:
uni followed by four hexadecimal digits or u followed by five or six digits.
For example, uni5B57 for U+5B57 and u20547 for U+20547.
Not all nice names used within Glyphs are compatible with every app.
Instead, production glyph names are used for exported font files.
These production names are based on the Adobe Glyph List Specification (AGL).
Many production names follow the naming scheme as described in Unicode:
uni followed by four hexadecimal digits or u followed by five or six digits.
Production names are used automatically on export, while nice names are used in the Glyphs interface.
All glyphs have a default production name, but it can be changed in the expanded inspector (expand it by clicking the disclosure chevron) or by choosing Edit → Info for Selection (Cmd-Opt-I).
The script property defines the writing script the glyph belongs to.
The glyph G is latin, Ya-cy is cyrillic, noon-ar is arabic, koKai-thai is thai, and so on.
Glyphs belonging to multiple scripts—like digits (one, two, …), punctuation (comma, hyphen, …), or spaces—do not have a script value.
The category and subcategory of a glyph groups it with related glyphs.
All exporting glyphs belong to a category by default, while non-exporting glyphs such as components do not.
The glyph T belongs to the category Letter, six to Number, and plus to Symbol.
Some glyphs additionally have a subcategory for finer differentiation.
Some scripts differentiate glyphs by case.
The case of a glyph can be uppercase, lowercase, small capital, minor, or no case.
Uppercase and lowercase are used for letters in bicameral scripts such as Greek or Latin, but also for punctuation (for example, question (?) is uppercase and questiondown (¿) is lowercase) and marks (lowercase: acutecomb, uppercase: acutecomb.case).
Glyphs ending in .sc or .smcp are assigned the small capital case.
The minor case is used for subscript and superscript numbers (five.sups), letters (ainferior), and punctuation (equalinferior).
All other glyphs have no case, including glyphs from scripts without case (Arabic or CJK) and most punctuation glyphs (for instance, comma or euro).
A glyph has a writing direction of either left to right (LTR), right to left (RTL), or bidirectional (BiDi).
Many punctuation glyphs are bidirectional (for example, hyphen, asterisk, and underscore).
See Entering Text: Writing Direction for setting the writing direction in Edit View.
The Sort Name property of the selected glyph can be edited in the Selection Info window (Edit → Info for Selection, Cmd-Opt-I).
It defines the name by which the glyph is sorted in Font View and the exported font files.
An empty Sort Name field indicates that the glyph name is used for sorting instead.
Select the checkbox next to the sort name field to edit it.
Sort names are not used in list filters or when using a custom glyphs order.
In List View, the ID column sorts glyphs in glyph order.
This is the order in which glyphs are sorted in exported fonts.
Change the order by setting the sort name of glyphs or using the glyphOrder custom parameter in File → Font Info… → Font.
In List View, the Char column displays the Unicode character using the system font.
If a glyph has multiple Unicode values, only the first one is displayed.
Notes are accessible from List View in the Note column.
A glyph note can contain any text.
Search for glyph notes with the search field in Font View.
In List View, the components column shows a list of the components used in a glyph.
The components cell in List View can be edited to add or remove components to or from a glyph.
See List View for hiding and showing columns.
The Last Changed column in List View is updated every time a glyph is modified.
Add a Write lastChange custom parameter in File → Font Info… → Font and disable it to prevent Glyphs from updating this property, which might be desirable when keeping the Glyphs file under version control.
Glyphs contains a glyph info database.
For each glyph, the database defines:
Glyphs uses two kinds of names: nice names and production names.
Nice names are used within Glyphs and are intended to be readable for humans.
Production names are used in exported font files and are intended to be read by computers.
See Glyph Name and Production Name for details on both.
Glyphs uses its glyph info database to convert between nice names, production names, and Unicode values.
This glyph info database can be viewed by choosing Window → Glyph Info.
All glyphs stored in the database are displayed in a searchable table.
Click a column header to sort the table by that column.
Use the methods described in Glyph Properties to override the glyph properties of individual glyphs for a single Glyphs file.
Adjust glyph properties for all Glyphs files by
creating a custom GlyphData.xml file.
Suffixed glyphs inherit the glyphs info properties of their unsuffixed counterpart.
For example, A.alt, A.ss01, and A.001 all use the same glyph properties as the unsuffixed glyph A.
However, names like Aalt, Ass01, or A001 would not inherit any properties since they are missing the dot between the base name and the suffix.
While such glyph names are valid, they require all properties to be set up manually.
If possible, it is best to use glyph names from the glyph info database and use dot suffixes for glyph variants.
See Automatic Feature Generation for details on how specific dot suffixes can help generate OpenType features, automatically.
Glyph names appear underneath their glyph cell in Grid View or their column in List View.
Edit a glyph name by clicking it once.
When adding a glyph by character (ä) or by Unicode name (uni00E4), Glyphs will automatically assign a nice name to the glyph (adieresis in this case).
Based on the glyph name, Glyphs can automatically assign Unicode values, a glyph category, subcategory, and generate OpenType features.
See Adding New Glyphs for more details.
This automated glyph renaming can be disabled for a font in File → Font Info… → Other → Use Custom Naming.
Note that automatic feature code generation or automated assignment of categories does not work with custom names.
Using a custom glyph info database can provide automated behavior like assigning Unicode values or categories based on glyph names.
Unicode-value-based glyph names start with uni followed by four hexadecimal digits or u followed by five or six digits.
See Unicode for details.
A font containing glyphs with invalid names cannot be exported.
Ensure that every glyph name
only contains letters A–Z and a–z, numerals 0–9, underscore (_), hyphen (-) or period (.);
starts with a letter (except for non-exporting glyphs and the special .notdef glyph).
In particular, glyph names may not contain white space characters (space, tab, line break) or non-ASCII characters.
In this export results dialog, an error for the Glyph named ₹ is shown.
The glyph should instead use the name rupeeIndian.
Not adhering to these guidelines yields an error message at export time stating Illegal glyph name, followed by an explanation of where the invalid character is located in the glyph name.
Click the Show button to open the invalid glyph in a new tab.
Such error messages can also occur when trying to compile the OpenType feature code in File → Font Info… → Features.
A glyph whose name starts with an underscore is not exported by default.
These names are used by component glyphs such as _part.something, _smart.something, _cap.something, or _corner.something.
See Reusing Shapes: Components for details on component glyphs and their naming rules.
Hyphens are used to indicate the script a glyph belongs to.
Most Latin and Greek glyphs have no hyphen suffix.
This way, the glyph named A represents the Latin A, A-cy represents the Cyrillic A, and Alpha represents the Greek A.
Arabic uses the suffix -ar, Hebrew uses -hb, Korean uses -ko, and Thai uses -thai.
Open the Glyph Info window for all available script suffixes.
Special glyphs used in mathematics (-math), Braille (-braille), Fraktur (-fraktur), or music (-musical) also use this naming scheme.
Some glyphs, like the Han glyphs used in Chinese, do not have a nice name and use the Unicode name instead.
Alternate glyphs such as small caps and initial/medial/final forms use a dot suffix:
The name is the same as the regular glyph but followed by a period (.) and an identifier.
For example, the small caps alternate of the glyph x is named x.sc and the initial form of noon-ar is noon-ar.init.
Some suffixes are recognized by Glyphs and used to generate OpenType features automatically.
See Automatic Feature Generation for a list of all special glyph name suffixes.
Dot-suffixes can be chained.
For the automatic feature generation to work, suffixes should be ordered in the same order as the features in File → Font Info… → Features.
For example, x.sc.ss01 is the name of the glyph x as a small cap with the first stylistic set enabled, since stylistic sets are typically ordered after small caps.
Ligature glyphs combine the names of their components with an underscore.
For example, f_f_l is the ffl Ligature.
Script and alternate suffixes can also be applied to ligature names.
Suffixes must be added only at the end of the name and not for every component.
For example, the ligature of lam-ar and alif-ar is named lam_alif-ar, and its final form is named lam_alif-ar.fina.
Control-click or right-click a glyph or a selection of multiple glyphs and choose from the Copy Glyph Names menu how to write the glyph names to the pasteboard.
The glyph names can be written in a variety of formats to the pasteboard:
- Space Separated
The names are formatted on a single line and joined by single space characters.
Example: one two three .
- One per Line
Copies the glyph names with each name on its own line and no other separator characters.
- Comma Separated
Formats the glyph names on a single line with a comma and a space after each glyph name.
Example: one, two, three, .
- Slashed
Prefixes each glyph name with a slash / and joins them together on a single line.
Example: /one/two/three.
This format can be pasted into Edit View.
- Python List
Formats the names as items of a Python list.
Each name is enclosed in double quotes (") and separated by commas and line breaks.
This format is useful when working with the Macro Panel or when writing scripts.
Example:
"one",
"two",
"three",
- Unicodes
Writes the Unicode values of the glyphs as hexadecimal numbers to the pasteboard, one per line.
Values are padded to at least four digits with leading zeros.
Glyphs without Unicode values are written as - # someGlyph.
If a glyph has multiple Unicode values, they are written on the same line and separated by a comma and a space.
Example:
005B
005D
- # bracketleft.case
- # bracketright.case
27E8, 3008
27E9, 3009
Click a glyph name to edit it.
Changing a glyph name will also change some of its properties, such as the Unicode value or the category.
If only the suffix after the period is changed, no properties will be modified since the base name stays the same.
For example, renaming eacute to plus will change the glyph properties, while renaming eacute.sc to eacute.pc will not.
See Batch-Renaming Glyphs for details on renaming multiple glyphs at once.
CJK fonts use CID mapping, where glyphs are not accessed by glyph name but by a character identifier (CID).
Glyphs can map nice glyph names to CIDs.
A ROS (Registry, Ordering, Supplement) determines which glyph is assigned to which CID.
Exporting glyphs that the ROS does not cover are added to the end of the CID mapping at export.
Use batch-processing operations to make changes to one or multiple glyphs at once.
Batch-processing commands operate on all selected glyphs.
Select all glyphs currently shown in Font View by choosing Edit → Select All (Cmd-A).
Choose Edit → Deselect All (Cmd-Opt-A) to cancel the selection.
Edit → Invert Selection (Cmd-Opt-Shift-I) selects only the glyphs that are currently unselected.
Inverting the selection is useful to select all glyphs, except for a few exceptions:
Select the exceptions first and then invert the selection.
The following commands from the Glyph and Path menus are applied to all selected glyphs.
Commands with an asterisk (*) can be applied to all masters at once by holding down the Option key.
Glyph → Remove Glyph (Cmd-Delete)
Glyph → Duplicate Glyph (Cmd-D)
Glyph → Update Glyph Info
Glyph → Update Metrics * (Cmd-Ctrl-M)
Glyph → Transform Metrics (see Transform Metrics)
Glyph → Add Component * (Cmd-Shift-C)
Glyph → Create Composite * (Cmd-Ctrl-C)
Glyph → Decompose Components * (Cmd-Shift-D)
Glyph → Add Image… (see Font View: Images)
Glyph → Set Anchors * (Cmd-U)
Glyph → Reset Anchors * (Cmd-Shift-U)
Path → Reverse Contours (Cmd-Opt-Ctrl-R)
Path → Correct Path Direction * (Cmd-Shift-R)
Path → Round Coordinates *
Path → Tidy up Paths * (Cmd-Shift-T)
Path → Add Extremes, or hold down Option for Force Extremes (see Extremes & Inflections)
Path → Remove Overlap * (Cmd-Shift-O)
Path → Transformations (see Transformations: Transformations)
Path → Selection to Background (Cmd-J), or hold down Option for Add Selection to Background (Cmd-Opt-J)
Path → Assign Background…, or hold down Option for Clear Background.
Path → Swap with Background (Cmd-Ctrl-J)
Path → Interpolate with Background (see Interpolate with Background)
Path → Other → Convert to Cubic
Path → Other → Convert to Quadratic
Rename glyphs by searching and replacing parts of glyph names.
Select the glyphs for which parts of their name should be replaced, choose Edit → Find → Find and Replace… (Cmd-Shift-F), and enter the text to be replaced in the Find field.
Then, enter the replacement in the Replace field and confirm by clicking Replace.
The Replace text will replace all occurrences of the Find text in any of the selected glyph names.
Leave the Find field empty to append the Replace text to all selected glyph names.
Select the Regex checkbox to enable regular expression matching.
Regular expressions can find and replace patterns of characters.
See Regular Expressions for details.
Filters can be applied to all selected glyphs from Font View.
See Filters for details on how to apply filters.
Many of the controls in the Palette (Cmd-Opt-P) can be used from Font View.
Both Fit Curve and Transformations operations can be applied to all selected glyphs.
Palette sections provided by third-party plug-ins may also allow batch editing in Font View.
Controls that do not operate on the entire glyph but only the selected nodes (such as Fit Curve) use the selection set in Edit View.
See Palette for details on the individual Palette sections.
Some plug-ins and scripts can be applied to all selected glyphs at once.
Refer to their documentation for guidance on batch editing.
Font View can be filtered only to show a subset of glyphs.
Filter glyphs using search, glyph categories, scripts, languages, and custom filter rules.
At the bottom-center of Font View, the number of selected, visible, and total glyphs is shown.
The number of visible glyphs depends on the selected sidebar filter and the search query.
Select All at the top of the left sidebar and clear the search field to show all glyphs of the font.
In the top-left of Font View is the glyph search field (Cmd-F).
Enter text to search by glyph name (thorn), Unicode value (00FE), Unicode character (þ), or glyph note.
Click the search glass 
icon to search only by name, Unicode value, or note.
Select Match Case to search only for glyphs matching the capitalization of the search term.
With this option selected, searching for Aring would find Aring and Aringacute, but not aring or aringacute.
Select Regex to search using regular expressions.
Regular expressions match patterns of characters.
See Regular Expressions for details.
Select a category filter in the left sidebar to show only the glyphs belonging to the selected category.
Click the disclosure chevron next to a category name to show its subcategories.
Select a subcategory to show only those glyphs.
The number of glyphs in a subcategory is shown next to the subcategory name.
If Glyphs can infer that some glyphs in the subcategory might be missing, the count is replaced by a gray badge 
showing both the current count 
and the total count 
of glyphs in the subcategory.
Add the missing glyphs as described in Adding From the Sidebar.
If all glyphs have been added, a checkmark is displayed instead of a gray badge.
When multiple categories are selected by Command-clicking, glyphs from any of the selected categories are shown.
If a Categories entry is selected together with a Languages or Filters entry, only glyphs that are part of both are displayed.
The Languages section contains script and language filters.
Expand a language filter by clicking the disclosure chevron next to the filter name.
Glyph counts, badges, and checkmarks appear the same as in categories (see above).
Command-click script names to filter for multiple scripts at the same time, or Command-click other filters to combine them with the selected language filters.
Only a few scripts are shown by default in the sidebar to keep the list short and tidy.
Click the plus button next to the Languages label to edit the default list of scripts.
A list opens where individual scripts can be shown or hidden by toggling the checkbox next to their name.
A script entry is automatically added to the sidebar if the font contains glyphs of that script.
Smart filters show glyphs that match a set of rules.
They appear in the Filters section of the left sidebar and are identified by a gear 
icon.
Add a Smart Filter by clicking the actions menu button located in the bottom-left of the font window and choosing Add Smart Filter.
Edit an existing Smart Filter by double-clicking its gear icon, or choose Edit Filter from the actions menu for a selected filter.
Adding or editing a Smart Filter opens the Smart Filter editor window.
It controls the name and the rules of a Smart Filter.
The name of the Smart Filter will appear in the Filters sidebar.
The rules define which glyphs to include in the filtered group.
When adding a new filter, only one rule is shown in the editor.
Add additional rules by clicking a plus button, and remove a rule by clicking the minus button next to it.
The following filter rules are available:
- Glyph Name
The name of the glyph.
- Count of Paths
The number of paths of the first master layer.
- Count of Components
The number of components of the first master layer.
- Tags
The tags of the glyph.
- Script
The script to which the glyph belongs.
- Category & Subcategory
The category and subcategory of the glyph.
- Case
Whether the glyph is uppercase, lowercase, small capital, or has no associated case.
- Master Compatible
Whether the masters can be interpolated.
- Export Glyph
Whether the glyph is included in exported font files.
- Has Unicode
Whether the glyph has at least one Unicode value.
- Has Components
Whether the layer of the selected master of the glyph contains components.
Use Contains Component to check if a specific component is on the layer.
- Has Hints
Whether the layer of the selected master has any manually placed hints.
- Has PostScript Hints
Whether the layer of the selected master has any manually placed PostScript hints.
- Has TrueType Hints
Whether the layer of the selected master has any manually placed TrueType hints.
- Has Corners
Whether the layer of the selected master contains corner components.
- Has Anchors
Whether the layer of the selected master contains any anchors.
- Contains Component
Whether the layer of the selected master contains a specific component.
Use Has Components to check whether there are any components on the layer.
- Has Special Layers
Whether the glyph has any special layers.
- Has Custom Glyph Info
Whether the glyph uses custom glyph info deviating from the glyph info database.
- Has Annotations
Whether the layer of the selected master contains annotations.
- Is Auto-Aligned
Whether the layer of the selected master is automatically aligned.
- Has Metrics Keys
Whether any of the glyph metrics use metrics keys.
- Metrics Keys Out of Sync
Whether any metrics keys are out of sync and need to be updated.
- Has Kerning Groups
Whether the glyph uses kerning groups.
- Color Label
The color label of the glyph.
Compare with Not Set to filter for glyphs without a color label.
- Layer Color Label
The color label of the layer of the selected master.
Compare with Not Set to filter for layers without a color label.
- Is Hangul Key
Whether the glyph is a Hangul key, according to the Hangul Composition Groups custom parameter.
- Custom
This filter rule can contain a custom glyph predicate expression.
Such an expression is formulated like a glyph predicate token; see Glyph Predicate Tokens for details.
Rules can also be nested, such that all of the rules in a group must apply, at least one of the rules in a group must apply, or none of the rules in a group may apply for a glyph to be included in the filter.
Create a group of rules by holding down the Option key and clicking the dots 
button.
Then, pick Any (at least one nested rule must match), All (all nested rules must match), or None (no nested rule may match).
A list filter shows all glyphs that are specified in a list of glyph names.
List filters appear in the Filters section in the left sidebar with a list 
icon.
Add a list filter by clicking the actions menu button located in the bottom-left of the font window and choosing Add List Filter.
By default, all selected glyphs are added to the list filter.
Glyph names are separated by spaces or line breaks.
Edit an existing list filter by double-clicking its list icon or choosing Edit Filter from the actions menu.
Change the name of a filter with the Name text field at the top of the list field editor window.
Click OK to confirm, or click Cancel to discard any changes to the list filter.
Select a list filter from the sidebar to see all glyphs of the font that are in the list.
Glyphs are sorted in the order of the list.
See Adding From the Sidebar for details on adding glyphs from a list filter.
Reorder filters by dragging them up and down in the filters list.
Choose Add Folder from the actions menu to create a filter folder 
.
Click and drag to move a filter into a folder.
Folders can also be put into other folders.
Hold down the Command key to select multiple filters, or hold down Shift to select a range of filters.
Font View will show only glyphs that are in all of the selected filters.
Select a folder to show all glyphs belonging to any of the contained filters.
Quickly edit a Smart Filter or list filter by double-clicking its gear or list icon.
Double-click a filter name to rename it without opening the editor window.
Or, select a filter and press Return to rename it.
Delete a filter by choosing Remove Filter from the actions menu .
This also works for filter folders.
Note that removing a folder will also remove all filters inside it.
Custom entries in the Categories and Languages sections can be added by creating a Groups.plist file in the Glyphs Info folder.
See Custom Sidebar Entries in Font View for details.
Categories, languages, and filters do not influence the glyphs order in the exported font.
Instead, glyphs are ordered by their sort name.
Define a custom order for all glyphs of the font with the glyphOrder custom parameter in File → Font Info… → Font (Cmd-I).
The parameter takes a list of glyph names, one name per line.
The order of glyphs is used both in Font View and in exported font files.
When opening an OTF or TTF font file, Glyphs preserves the glyph order of the file by automatically adding a glyphOrder custom parameter when Keep Glyph Names from Imported Files is selected.
See User Settings for details.
Add an image by dragging it from Finder onto a glyph cell.
The image will be added to the currently active layer.
Alternatively, choose Glyph → Add Image… to insert an image file to the selected glyph.
Add images to multiple glyphs at once by choosing Glyph → Add Image… and then selecting multiple image files.
The images will be placed on the layer of the current master of the glyphs that correspond to an image name.
For example, Thorn.png is added to the glyph Thorn, and Dje-cy.jpeg is added to Dje-cy.
Note that while glyph names are case-sensitive (A is different from a), file names on macOS are case-insensitive by default (A.png is considered the same file name as a.png).
Uppercase and lowercase files thus cannot coexist in the same folder.
As a workaround, place images for uppercase letters in a different folder than lowercase letters.
Images are shown in Font View when View → Show Image is selected.
If a glyph is empty (no paths or components are placed in the glyph), the image is displayed regardless of the Show Image option.
See Edit View: Images for information on working with images in Edit View.
The Font Info window contains general information about a Glyphs file, such as the font family name, the masters, the exported font instances, and the OpenType features.
Open Font Info by choosing File → Font Info… (Cmd-I) or click the Info button located in the top-left of the main window.
Font Info is split into multiple tabs.
The Font, Masters, and Exports tabs control the font metadata with rows of fields.
Click the plus button to the right of the bold headings to add additional fields.
Click the minus button to the right of a row to delete it.
For rows with a plus button to the right, hold down the Option key to reveal the minus button.
Alternatively, click a row to select it, then delete it by pressing Cmd-Delete.
Some fields can be localized into multiple languages.
These display a language menu and a plus button to the right of the field.
Click the plus button to add additional localizations and pick the respective language from the languages menu.
Select one or multiple rows by Command-clicking and copy them by choosing Edit → Copy (Cmd-C).
Paste rows with Edit → Paste (Cmd-V).
The Font tab contains information that applies to all exported font files.
Click the plus button to the right of the General heading to add additional fields.
The fontName is the name given to the exported fonts.
This name will appear in font menus.
Fonts with the same family name will be grouped into the same styles submenu.
A family name should only contain ASCII letters (a–z and A–Z), digits (0–9), and spaces.
Any other characters may prevent the fonts from exporting or installing.
Add the familyNames field to provide a family name containing non-ASCII characters or to localize the family name into multiple languages.
Click the plus button to the right of the General heading, select familyNames, and click Add.
Glyphs uses the family name to derive the file name and the entries for the Name IDs 1, 3, 4, and 6.
In PostScript/CFF-based OpenType fonts, the family name is also used for the FontName and FullName in the CFF table.
Add the postscriptFontName and postscriptFullName fields in File → Font Info… → Font → General to control those values independently of the family name.
The font name can be overwritten by instances using the familyNames field.
The unitsPerEm (UPM) determines the number of coordinate units in the em square of each glyph.
Increasing the UPM can improve the representation of fine details, as it increases the placement options of the nodes.
1000 UPM is the default for new Glyphs files.
The OpenType specification allows values between 16 (24) and 16,384 (214), but values above 5000 can lead to problems in Adobe InDesign and Illustrator.
Some applications have issues with values above 3000 UPM.
Additionally, the coordinates of points (nodes and handles) may not exceed ±32,768, and glyph widths in PostScript/CFF-flavor fonts can be problematic beyond 4096 UPM (212).
Thus, if the design of the font requires higher precision, it may be better to change the Grid Spacing and Subdivision values.
See Grid Spacing & Subdivision for more details.
Click the double-arrow 
button next to the text field to scale the entire font to a different UPM.
Scaling changes the UPM and glyph outlines together, keeping the apparent size of the glyph outlines the same.
Enlarge all glyph outlines of the font by setting the UPM to a smaller value without scaling (for example, from 1000 to 800) and then scale the UPM back to its original value (for example, 1000).
Change the UPM to a smaller value and scale back to the original UPM for smaller outlines.
Consider using the Scale to UPM custom parameter on an instance to change the UPM value for exported files, scaling glyph outlines and metrics to fit the new UPM value.
Use the unitsPerEm custom parameter to change the UPM without scaling outlines or metrics.
The version field is split into a major and minor version, separated by a period.
The version of a new Glyphs file is 1.000
.
Click the stepper buttons to change the minor version.
The major and minor versions of the font are written as the fontRevision entry in the Header table (head) of the font.
Additionally, Glyphs derives the Version String (Name ID 5) from the Version entry by appending its own version to the font version before writing the version string.
For example, Version 1.000;Glyphs 3.2 (3245).
Use the versionString parameter to define a custom version string.
Note that some applications require this version string to begin with Version followed by the major version, a period, and the minor version.
Consult the OpenType specification for details.
The date field is used for the created and modified dates in the head table.
Update its value to the current date and time by clicking the update 
button.
The Axes define design axes for interpolation and variable fonts.
Click the plus button to the right of the Axes heading to add a new axis.
An axis has a name, a four-character tag, and can be hidden or not.
Glyphs offers a range of predefined axis names.
Selecting one of the predefined names will change the tag.
Select the Hidden checkbox to hide the axis from font users.
See Interpolation for details on working with axes across multiple masters, and specifically Setting up Axes for details on the usage of axes in variable fonts.
Additional font configurations can be specified using custom parameters.
Click the plus button to the right of the Custom Parameters heading to add a new parameter.
A list of custom parameters is shown.
Use the search or scroll the list to find the desired parameter.
Click a parameter name in the list to get a description, and click Add to add the selected parameters to the font.
A master is a set of specifically designed and configured glyph outlines and metrics.
From the master setup in a Glyphs file, font instances are calculated and exported as OpenType font files.
See Font Info: Exports for details.
When a new Glyphs file is created, the font has one Regular master.
At the bottom of the Masters tab are buttons for adding and deleting masters.
Click the plus button to add a new master using one of the following options:
- Add Master
adds a new, empty master.
All glyph layers are empty, and the metrics are set to their default values.
- Add Other Font
shows a list with all masters of the fonts currently open in Glyphs.
Select one or more masters and import them by clicking OK.
Click Cancel to not import any masters.
- Duplicate Selected
duplicates the masters that are currently selected in the Masters tab.
The new masters will have the same name, glyph layers, and metrics as the selected masters.
Consider renaming the duplicate masters to distinguish them from the original masters.
Click the minus button located in the bottom-left of the Font Info window to delete the selected masters.
Reorder masters by dragging them to the desired position in the masters list.
The first master in the list has special relevance for glyph-level hinting information (unless the Get Hints From Master parameter is set).
See Manual hinting and TrueType Hinting.
Master properties such as the name, metrics, and custom parameters can also be edited for several selected masters at once.
Properties that do not share a common value are indicated with a gray Multiple Values text.
In File → Font Info… → Masters → General, define the name of a master and its icon.
The master name is only used internally by Glyphs and not by exported font files.
Use instances to define the exported font files.
The master icon can be a glyph from the font or one of 25 predefined lowercase n glyphs in various widths or weights.
Click the master icon to choose a predefined image, or write a glyph name into the text field at the bottom of the icon picker to use that glyph as the icon.
The Axes Coordinates indicate the position of a master in the designspace.
The designspace is defined by the axes in the Font tab.
For example, a font with two axes—width and weight—has a two-dimensional designspace.
A master can then be placed anywhere within that designspace.
See Setting up Masters for details on placing masters in a designspace.
Master metrics define the baseline of the font, offsets from that baseline, and other values such as the angle of slope of italic glyphs.
In Edit View, the metrics are displayed as orange alignment lines (when View → Show Metrics is selected).
The default metrics are set according to the script and language selection.
For example, Latin fonts have the following default vertical metrics:
- Ascender
The height reached by the ascenders of letters such as b, d, f, h, k, l, þ, or ß.
- Cap Height
The height of capital letters such as H, T, or W without overshoot.
- x-Height
The height of short lowercase letters such as x, a, c, e, n without overshoot.
- Baseline
The position on which letters are placed, always 0.
- Descender
The depth reached by descending letters such as Q, g, j, þ, or q.
This value is negative since it is below the baseline.
- Italic Angle
The angle of slope of the italic glyphs stems.
This value affects several elements, including the sidebearings calculation, the anchors alignment between selected nodes, and transformations that take the italic angle into account.
The value is in degrees clockwise.
Other scripts use different default metrics.
For example, an Arabic font has the default metrics of Ascender, Baseline, Descender, Alef Height, Joining Line, and Meem Depth.
Click the name of a metric to edit its category, name, and scope.
The category is the metric type, and the name can be chosen freely to identify the metric.
The scope limits the metric to a subset of glyphs.
For example, scoping a metric to glyphs with a Devanagari script hides its alignment line in all other glyphs.
See Smart Filters for details on glyph scopes.
The left number field of a metric defines the offset from the baseline.
(The Italic Angle metric has one field only.)
The right number field is the size of the alignment zone and starts at the offset of the metric.
Nodes and anchors placed in alignment zones are highlighted.
See Nodes in Alignment Zones and Adding, Editing, & Removing Anchors.
Alignment zones are used by the automatic hinting process, which ensures that overshoots snap to even metric lines at small font sizes or low screen resolutions.
See Alignment Zones for details on PostScript hinting with alignment zones.
For TrueType hinting, separate zones may be configured (see TrueType Zones).
Font designs typically conform to standard stems.
For example, the capital I has a vertical stem, and the capital H has two vertical stems and one horizontal stem.
A rounded shape like the letter O has left and right vertical stems and top and bottom horizontal stems.
Serifs and crossbars, such as in the lowercase f and t, are also stems.
Frequently used stem widths are defined in File → Font Info… → Masters → Stems.
The autohinter uses these stem values to add hints to vertical and horizontal stems.
See PostScript Hinting: Autohinting for details on hinting with the autohinter.
For TrueType hinting, separate stems may be configured.
Click the plus button located to the right of the Stems heading to add a new stem definition.
A stem can either be vertical 
(measured left to right) or horizontal 
(measured top to bottom).
The name of a stem is used to describe it and for interpolation:
When interpolating between masters, stems with the same name in both masters are used to interpolate the in-between stem value.
The stem value should be as close to as many master stems as possible.
See PostScript Hinting for more information on good stem values.
Click the actions button located on the right of a stem entry line to restrict it to a specific subset of glyphs.
This scoping works the same as in master metrics or Smart Filters.
Masters can have custom parameters, just like the Font tab (see Font: Custom Parameters).
A custom parameter value is interpolated if it is defined in all masters.
Some custom parameters exist on the font and the master level.
A parameter on a master will overwrite such a font parameter.
Instances can also have custom parameters, which overwrite both font and master parameters.
Tokens can use Number Values in OpenType feature code to insert numbers that interpolate between masters.
Click the plus button located to the right of the Number Values heading to add a new number value.
See Number Value Tokens for more information.
The Exports tab contains the static instances and variable fonts that are created when exporting with File → Export… (Cmd-E).
Click the plus button located in the bottom-left of the Exports tab to add a new static or variable instance.
Four options are available:
Add Instance adds a new instance named Regular.
Add Instance for Each Master adds instances at the designspace locations of each master.
For example, if the font has two masters, Thin with a weight of 100 and Bold with a weight of 700, a Thin and a Bold instance will be added with the same axis values as the respective masters.
Instance as Master adds a new master to the Masters tab using the outlines and metrics of the currently selected instance.
For example, consider a font with two masters—Thin and Bold—and five instances—Thin, Light, Regular, Semibold, and Bold—where the Light, Regular, and Semibold instances are interpolations between the two masters.
Select the Regular instance and choose Instance as Master to add a Regular master with the outlines and metrics taken from the instance.
Now the Light instance interpolates between the Thin and Regular masters, the Regular instance uses the Regular master without interpolation, and the Semibold instance interpolates between the Regular and Bold masters.
Add Variable Font Setting adds a variable font instance.
See Exporting Variable Fonts for more information.
Click the minus button to delete the selected instances.
Select multiple instances by Command-clicking entries in the sidebar, or Shift-click to select a range of instances.
Reorder instances by dragging them to a new position.
The order of instances is just used for organization within Glyphs and does not affect the exported font files.
For more information on interpolating instances, see Interpolation.
The Active setting controls whether an instance is exported with File → Export… (Cmd-E).
Deactivated instances are shown with a gray icon in the sidebar.
The style name appears in the font menu of an application.
Examples include Regular, Bold, or Light Italic Display.
The style name can include the letters A–Z and a–z, the digits 0–9, spaces, and some punctuation marks such as the hyphen.
Characters outside the ASCII range are not compatible with all software.
Instead, add the styleNames custom parameter for style names with Unicode characters.
Some operating systems, applications, and printers do not work with fonts with long font names.
A conservative limit is 20 characters for the overall name (family and style name).
When the font name is too long, consider adding the postscriptFontName and postscriptFullName custom parameters with abbreviated font names.
See the Naming tutorial for more information on good style names and how to shorten them for maximum software compatibility.
The Weight Class and Width Class values are used to categorize an instance.
Some applications use the weight and width classes to order fonts in a font menu.
When defining the typography of a website with CSS, the weight class is used to access fonts of different weights.
Click the disclosure 
button to select from a range of predefined values.
These values follow the OpenType OS/2 specification: 100, 200, …, 900 for standard weight classes and 1–9 for width classes.
The weight class can be any value from 1 to 1000 if a font family needs more than the nine standard weight classes.
Click a weight class field to manually enter a value ranging from 1 to 1000 (for example, 350 for a Semi Light style).
Note that some applications only work with fonts that use one of the predefined weight classes and reject fonts with in-between values.
Weight and width classes are not necessarily the same as the weight and width axis coordinates (if a font has such axes).
The weight and width classes are used by applications other than Glyphs to order and categorize fonts.
Axes are used internally in Glyphs for interpolation (though they can also be exposed, see Setting up Masters: Axes Coordinates).
Weight and width axes are not bound to the same value ranges as the weight and width classes.
Axes coordinates define the location of an instance in the designspace.
The axes of a font are defined in the Font tab (see Axes), and masters define the outlines and metrics at specific locations in the designspace of those axes (see Masters: Axes Coordinates).
An instance with axis coordinates between masters is interpolated and extrapolated when it is outside the designspace.
For example, consider a single weight axis with two masters, Light at 40 and Bold at 120.
An instance with a weight of 80 is interpolated.
Instances with weights of 20 and 150 are both extrapolated.
Extrapolated instances are often challenging to get right.
Consider drawing masters at the axes extremes so that all instances are interpolated.
Use style linking to connect a bold, italic, or bold-italic instance to its regular instance.
Style linking is used by applications like word processors to switch to the correct font when the user clicks the Bold button or presses Cmd-I to italicize the selected text.
Style Linking has two checkboxes—one for bold and one for italic—and a text field for the name of the base instance.
For example, in a Bold Italic instance, select both checkboxes and enter the name of the normal instance (Regular) into the text field.
Style linking only works between fonts with the same family name.
By default, Glyphs uses the family name from the Font tab for all instances in the Exports tab.
The family name can be overwritten for individual instances by adding a familyNames in File → Font Info… → Exports → General.
Fonts generated from different Glyphs files can use the same family name.
This is common when using separate Glyphs files for the Roman and the Italic, which still belong to the same family.
Some applications do not expose a complete list of all styles in a font.
Instead, they only allow the user to select a family and its regular, bold, italic, and bold-italic styles using Bold and Italic buttons.
In these applications, fonts that are not linked typically appear as separate entries in a font family picker.
Consider using the following style linking strategy:
The Bold, Italic, and Bold Italic instances of a font family should always be linked to the Regular instance.
Other italic styles should always be linked to their non-italic counterpart.
For example, Medium Italic is marked as the italic of Medium.
Some font designers also link bolds with other styles.
For example, Semibold is marked as the bold of Light.
This hides the Semibold style from the font family picker, making it only available when pressing the Bold button while the Light style is selected.
Therefore, users may be unaware that the font family includes a Semibold style.
Instances can have custom parameters.
Some custom parameters exist in the Font, Masters, and Exports tabs.
A parameter in the Exports tab will overwrite values set in the Masters and Font tabs.
For example, a trial version of an instance might add the word TRIAL to the end of the family name.
The Features tab manages OpenType feature code that substitutes and positions glyphs.
These features are described in the OpenType specification for the GSUB table (glyph substitution) and the GPOS table (glyph positioning).
Some GPOS features such as kerning, mark positioning, and cursive attachment are primarily defined in Edit View by editing the kerning values between glyphs and placing anchors.
These implicit features do not appear in the Feature tab.
See Implicit Features for details.
OpenType features are defined using the AFDKO (Adobe Font Development Kit for OpenType) syntax.
Glyphs also offers additional feature code functionality.
The Features sidebar is divided into three parts:
Prefix, Classes, and Features.
Click the plus button located to the right of each heading to add an entry.
Select one or multiple sidebar entries and delete them by clicking the minus button located in the bottom-left of the window.
Prefix entries contain arbitrary feature code, primarily used to define lookups that need to be placed outside any specific feature.
Classes are lists of glyph names.
The names are separated by a white space character, either a space or a line break.
Features control the glyph substitution and positioning rules.
A feature is identified by its four-character tag.
Click the plus button next to the Feature heading and search by feature tag or feature name.
Double-click a feature to add it, or navigate the picker list with Up and Down arrow keys and press Return when the desired feature is selected.
A Spec button is shown in the top-right of the window when a feature is selected.
Click it to open the feature specification on the Microsoft OpenType developer website.
Glyphs can automatically generate feature code for many commonly used OpenType features.
Click the 
Update button located in the bottom-left of the window to create and update automatically generated prefixes, classes, and features all at once.
Glyphs also looks for new classes and features to generate when updating.
For example, suppose glyphs with an underscore in their name (such as f_l) were added since the last update.
In that case, Glyphs spots those additions and automatically adds a liga (Standard Ligatures) feature with the corresponding feature code to the sidebar.
Many automatic features use the dot suffix in glyph names.
For example, glyphs ending in .sc are put in the small caps feature (sub a by a.sc), or glyphs ending in .tf are put into the tabular figures feature (sub zero by zero.tf).
This also works by appending the feature tag to the end of a glyph name.
For example, the glyph g.ss01 would substitute the glyph g when the first stylistic set (ss01) is enabled.
Automatic prefixes, classes, and features are indicated with an update button to the right of their name.
Click this button to update only that single entry.
Select an entry from the sidebar and deselect the Generate Feature Automatically checkbox above the code editor to edit the code manually.
Manual code is not updated by clicking the Update button.
See Manual Feature Code for details.
Some features and classes are not added automatically when pressing Update, even though Glyphs could auto-generate them.
For example, the class All, which contains every exporting glyph, can be automatically generated, but not every font project needs it.
The Capital Spacing feature (cpsp), which adds a bit of extra space between capital letters, can also be automatically generated but is not required by all designs, and some designers might want to write it manually.
Some features automatically generated by Glyphs do not appear in the Features tab.
See Implicit Features for details.
Uncheck the Generate Feature Automatically checkbox located above the feature code text field to write the code manually.
Code that cannot be generated automatically, such as the calt feature, is always in manual mode.
Feature code is written in the AFDKO syntax, as specified by the OpenType Feature File Specification.
Glyphs additionally supports extended feature code syntax.
After editing feature code, click the Compile button located in the bottom-left of the window to preview it in Edit View.
See Previewing OpenType Features for details.
Note that Edit View only previews manual substitution code, not manual positioning code.
Glyphs syntax highlights the feature code in the editor:
Keywords (like sub or lookup) are formatted differently from glyph names (like ka-deva or zero) which are again formatted differently from numeric values, lookup names, and comments.
Trigger the autocomplete function by typing a glyph name, a class name, or a lookup name (for example, a glyph name after the keyword sub or a lookup name after the keyword lookup).
Glyphs will provide a menu of matching suggestions.
Navigate to the desired suggestion with the Up and Down arrow keys.
If there are many matching suggestions, scroll until the desired suggestion is shown, or narrow down the suggestions list by typing a few more characters.
Accept the highlighted suggestion by pressing the Return key.
Option-click a glyph or class name to show a visual preview.
For glyph classes, a list of all member glyphs is shown.
Glyphs shows error messages inline if the feature code is incorrect and cannot be compiled.
Click the 
error icon for an expanded description.
Errors with a wrench 
icon include a suggested fix.
Click the Fix button to accept the suggestion.
Prefixes, classes, and features with errors show an icon in the sidebar.
Click the error icon in the sidebar to jump directly to the erroneous part of the code.
The text field below the feature code can be used to write notes about a prefix, class, or feature.
Change the height of the notes field by dragging the gray line above it up and down.
Click the snippets 
button to insert predefined code snippets.
Choose any of the snippets to insert them into the feature code.
See Custom Feature Code Snippets for details on adding custom feature code snippets.
Stylistic sets—the features with tags ss01 through ss20—can be given proper names.
Applications supporting feature names will show those names instead of Stylistic Set 1
, …, Stylistic Set 20
.
When a stylistic set is selected in the sidebar, rows for the feature name are shown above the code editor.
Each row has a language picker and a text field for a localized name in that language.
Click the plus button located to the right of a row to add additional localizations of a feature name.
Click the minus button to remove a row.
Use the Default language to provide a fallback name if none of the other localized names match the user’s locale.
Many systems assume the default language to be English.
For example, to provide the name of the ss07 feature in English and German, use the Default language for the English feature name and the German language for the German name.
Implicit features are automatically generated by Glyphs but do not appear in the Features tab.
The kerning feature (kern) is such an example.
Kerning values are defined in Edit View and managed by the Kerning window (see Kerning).
The kern feature code is different for each master and instance, which is why it is not exposed in the Features tab and instead added silently in the background on export.
The same is true for other features that are added implicitly:
- Distance
dist works similarly to kerning, but, unlike kerning, it is not controllable by the user.
- Mark to base
mark is generated if base glyphs have base anchors such as top or bottom and mark glyphs have matching mark anchors such as _top or _bottom.
This also applies to the abvm (above-base mark positioning) and blwm (below-base mark positioning) features.
See Mark to Base Positioning for details.
- Mark to mark
mkmk is generated similarly to the mark feature.
See Mark to Mark Positioning.
- Cursive positioning
curs is also defined in Edit View by placing special exit and entry anchors.
See Cursive Attachment.
Implicit features can also be extended manually.
Click the plus button next to the Features heading in the sidebar and search for a feature tag, for example, kern.
Double-click the result or press Return to insert the feature.
In the feature code editor, insert the line # Automatic Code somewhere in the feature code.
Any code above this line will be placed before the automatically generated feature code, and any code below it will be placed after the automatic feature code:
pos a b -20;
# Automatic Code
pos x y 15;
pos y z -5;
Insert the automatic code placeholder by clicking the snippets button located in the bottom-right of the window.
Use the following custom parameters to customize the features for individual instances.
Add Prefix, Remove Prefixes, and Replace Prefix
Add Class, Remove Classes, and Replace Class
Add Feature, Remove Features, and Replace Feature
Automatic classes and features do not need to be changed for different instances; they are adapted automatically for each instance.
The points defining the outlines are placed on a grid, and the Grid Spacing defines how the coordinates of the points are rounded.
The default value of a grid spacing of 1 rounds points to font units.
For example, (3.142, 7.816) is rounded to (3, 7).
A value of 5 rounds points to the nearest factor of 5; consequently (3.142, 7.816) is now rounded to (5, 10).
Finally, a value of 0 does not round points and maintains (3.142, 7.816) as it is.
Disabling rounding can be helpful for highly detailed designs such as ornaments or when glyphs are scaled to a new size.
Higher values are useful in coarse designs such as pixel fonts.
All tools and modifications snap to the grid.
Choose Path → Round Coordinates to round all selected points to the grid.
Use a Subdivision value above 1 to offer finer control while keeping a large grid spacing for the design coordinates.
For example, a Grid Spacing of 100 and a Subdivision of 5 places points on a 20 unit subgrid.
A default Grid Spacing of 1 with a Subdivision of 10 gives point coordinates one decimal point, such as (3.1, 7.8).
Many places in Glyphs allow modifying values with the arrow keys.
For example, points can be moved in Edit View, or numeric values in text fields can be incremented and decremented using the Up and Down arrow keys.
Values are modified by 10 units when holding down the Shift key and by 100 units when holding down the Command key.
Adjust the Shift and Command values as desired.
Select the Use Custom Naming option to use custom glyph names that do not conform to the names from the built-in glyph database.
Enable this option for workflows using custom glyph names, thus preventing the automatic replacement of names.
Deactivating the Use Custom Naming option will not immediately rename the glyphs of the font.
Instead, choose Glyph → Update Glyph Info to update the properties, including the glyph name, of all selected glyphs.
Note that it may invalidate imported or manually written feature code, which will require manual code adjustments.
When importing OpenType fonts or UFO sources, glyph names are either kept or modified to conform with the built-in glyph database.
Go to Settings → User Settings to change the setting of the option Keep Glyph Names from Imported Files (see User Settings).
This option disables the automatic alignment of components and the automatic synchronization of metrics for composite glyphs such as diacritics.
Lock the position of individual components by choosing Lock Component from the context menu in Edit View.
Go to Glyphs → Settings… → User Settings → Disable Automatic Alignment for Imported Files for the setting of imported files (see User Settings).
See also Automatic Alignment.
Select Keep Alternates Next to Base Glyphs to sort glyph variants with a dot suffix name directly after the base glyph without the dot suffix.
For example, a.ss15, a.alt, and a.loclDEU will follow the a glyph instead of being placed after all base lowercase letters.
The format of a Glyphs file changed slightly from Glyphs 2 to Glyphs 3.
For compatibility, Glyphs 3 can read and write the old Glyphs 2 file format.
When working on a Glyphs file created in Glyphs 2, Glyphs 3 will import it as a version 2 file.
Some of the features new in Glyphs 3 cannot be stored in version 2 format files.
Use all Glyphs features by changing this setting to Version 3.
New Glyphs files are always created in version 3 format.
The font type controls the type of interpolation used for static instances.
Default interpolation is based on Adobe’s Multiple Master model.
This is the interpolation that Glyphs exclusively used before variable fonts, and it continues to be the default for all new documents.
Variable interpolation mimics the interpolation used by variable fonts.
Using this interpolation for static instances might be helpful in cases where both static and variable fonts are exported and the differences between the two should be kept to a minimum.
The Notes tab in Font View stores a text note.
It is not exported and is used only for working in Glyphs.
The font note corresponds to the note custom parameter of the font.
The text field uses syntax highlighting for Markdown.
Italic (*italic*, _italic_), bold (**bold**, __bold__), hyperlinks ([Link Text](https://example.org) & <https://example.org>), and heading (#, ##, ###, ####, #####, ######) formatting are supported.
Choose File → Export… (Cmd-E) to show the export dialog for the currently open Glyphs file.
Hold down the Option key and choose Export All (Cmd-Opt-E) to export all open Glyphs files without showing an export dialog.
Exported files overwrite existing files.
The export dialog offers different export formats.
These are described in the following sections.
The OTF tab exports static OpenType fonts.
This export option uses the font instances or, if none are configured, a default instance based on the first master.
There are two flavors of OpenType fonts.
Their main difference is the types of glyph outlines that they contain.
PostScript/CFF flavor files containing a CFF (Compact Font Format) table storing glyph outlines as cubic Bézier curves.
Font files with this flavor typically end in .otf.
TrueType flavor files containing a glyf table storing glyph outlines as quadratic Bézier curves and other tables related to the TrueType format.
Font files with this flavor typically end in .ttf.
Pick one of the two outline flavors.
Paths drawn in Glyphs are cubic, but Glyphs can also edit quadratic paths.
When exporting to TrueType, Glyphs creates quadratic paths from the cubic paths stored in the Glyphs file.
This might introduce minuscule differences between the drawn and the exported glyph outlines.
Besides the paths, the two flavors differ in their hinting capabilities; see PostScript Hinting and TrueType Hinting for details.
Exporting to TrueType keeps components without converting them to outlines; see Reusing Shapes: Components for details.
The first option (.otf or .ttf) is generally used to install a font in an operating system and use the font in graphic design and word-processing applications.
WOFF (.woff) and WOFF2 (.woff2) are intended for usage on the web (Web Open Font Format).
Check all formats that should be exported.
The Remove Overlap option unifies all paths and components in glyph layers as not to include overlapping paths.
This is the same operation as Path → Remove Overlap; see Remove Overlap for details.
Release versions of fonts should have this option checked; uncheck it only during development for faster exports or if the Remove Overlap filter is already applied using custom parameters.
Check the Autohint option to apply automatic hinting.
If the PostScript/CFF flavor is selected, autohinting is applied to all glyphs that do not contain manual PostScript hints; see PostScript Hinting: Autohinting.
For the TrueType flavor, autohinting is applied to the entire font, and any manually added TT hints will be ignored; see TrueType Hinting: Autohinting.
The export dialog offers two possible export destinations.
Select the checkbox next to the file path to export to the chosen folder.
Choose a different folder by clicking the file path and picking a folder from the file browser dialog.
Common destinations are the system font library and the Adobe fonts folder .
Select the Test Install checkbox to install the fonts directly on the Mac without exporting any font files.
This writes the font data directly into the Mac font system.
The exported fonts will be available in apps using the system font framework Core Text (such as Pages, Final Cut, and Pixelmator, but not Adobe or Affinity apps).
Test installed fonts bypass many font caching issues, but they need to be re-installed after a reboot.
Click the Next… button to export to the selected destination.
If neither export destination is checked, Glyphs will prompt for an export folder.
The export destination can be customized per instance in File → Font Info… → Exports by adding an Export Folder custom parameter.
The instance will be exported to that this folder relative to the selected export destination.
The export folder may contain slashes (/) to export to a nested folder structure (such as Trial Versions/Webfonts).
Place the export folder outside the export destination by going up folder levels with two dots (.., such as ../Trial Versions).
The Variable Fonts tab exports variable OpenType fonts.
This export option uses the variable font settings or, if none are configured, a default variable font setting.
Set the desired file formats and export destination like in the OTF tab.
Variable fonts are always exported in the TrueType flavor.
The UFO tab exports the selected masters as UFO (Unified Font Object) files.
Select one or multiple masters to be exported to UFO by Command-clicking entries in the masters list.
Select a range of masters by Shift-clicking or all by choosing Edit → Select All (Cmd-A).
Check Convert Glyph Names to Production Names to use the glyph production names instead of the nice names used inside Glyphs.
This option is helpful when working on the exported UFO files with tools expecting a simplified naming scheme compared to the more expressive names used by Glyphs.
See Glyph Name for more on the difference between nice names and production names.
Decompose Smart Stuff handles Glyphs-specific features such as smart components or corner components to regular paths.
The UFO format does not support these smart components.
Check this option to convert unsupported Glyphs features to regular paths or leave it unchecked to remove them.
Click Next… to choose an export destination.
UFO files are exported in the UFO version 3 format.
See Unified Font Object for details on working with UFO files.
The Metrics tab exports the font metrics of the current master.
The current master is the master that is currently selected in the toolbar.
Click Next… to choose the export destination and the export format.
There are two metrics formats to choose from:
Metrics File is a proprietary Glyphs metrics format containing all spacing and kerning information of the master.
AFM File (Adobe Font Metrics) is an old-style format that is compatible with other font editors.
However, it cannot contain all types of metrics information.
For instance, AFM does not support group kerning or metrics keys.
See Importing Metrics for details on importing these metrics files into a Glyphs file.
A Glyphs document can be stored in one of three source file formats.
Plug-ins can add support for additional source formats; see Plug-ins.
Pick the source file format when saving with File → Save As… (Cmd-Shift-S).
Each format is described in the following sections.
The Glyphs File format is the default format in which new Glyphs files are created.
Glyphs files end in the .glyphs file suffix.
A Glyphs file is flat, meaning it is stored as a single file containing all information about the font.
When opening a Glyphs files created in Glyphs 2, Glyphs 3 will keep the file in a Glyphs 2 compatible mode.
This way, the file can still be opened in Glyphs 2 after editing it in Glyphs 3.
However, not all features of Glyphs 3 can be stored in a version 2 file.
In File → Font Info… → Other → File Saving, change the File format version to Version 3.
New Glyphs files are created in the Version 3 format.
See also File Format Version.
The Glyphs File Package format is identical to the Glyphs File format, except it splits parts of the font into separate files and groups those files into a folder with the .glyphspackage suffix.
Notably, every glyph is put into its own file.
In Finder, a .glyphspackage folder appears as a normal file that can be opened by double-clicking it like any other file.
Inspect its inner contents by Control-clicking or right-clicking the package file in Finder and choosing Show Package Contents from the context menu.
A normal Glyphs file requires re-saving the entire file, even if only a single glyph is changed.
Since a package contains a file per glyph, only the files that changed are modified when saving.
While this difference is inconsequential for smaller fonts, the Glyphs package format is recommended for projects with many glyphs (such as CJK fonts).
Splitting every glyph into its own file also helps when managing the document with a version control system (VCS) such as Git.
The frequently changing display strings representing the glyphs of the Edit View tabs are stored in a UIState.plist file inside the package.
This makes it easy to ignore user interface changes in the VCS.
The UFO format is available both as a source file format and as an export format.
When using UFO as a source format, not all features are available in Glyphs.
Activating an unsupported feature will trigger a warning message.
Glyphs supports opening and saving UFO version 2 and version 3 formats.
The version is maintained when opening a UFO file.
New UFO files created using the UFO export are stored in version 3 format.
UFO files end in the .ufo suffix.
Like Glyphs packages, they are folders appearing as a normal file in Finder.
Unlike Glyphs files and Glyphs packages, a UFO stores only a single master.
UFO files are compatible with many other font development tools.
Use UFO as a source format when working on a font together with others that use UFO-compatible software.
However, when using UFO for a single-purpose tool (for example, a specialized kerning tool), consider working with a Glyphs file or Glyphs package and exporting to UFO.
The results of the specialized tool can then be imported into the Glyphs file, for instance, by importing metrics.
See Font File Importing Behaviors for file import configuration options.
Configure these options for a specific UFO file in File → Font Info… → Other; see Use Custom Naming and Disable Automatic Alignment.
Glyphs can open compiled font files of the following formats:
OpenType, PostScript/CFF flavor (.otf)
OpenType, TrueType flavor (.ttf)
OpenType Collection, TrueType flavor (.ttc)
Adobe Type 1, PostScript Font Binary (.pfb)
Glyphs cannot reverse-engineer all the information inside a compiled font file.
Opening such a file and exporting it again will produce a font file different from the original.
For example, some hinting information and OpenType tables are lost when importing a compiled font.
Compiled fonts are opened in a view-only mode.
Choose File → Save As… (Cmd-Shift-S) to save it to one of the source formats.
The order of the glyphs is written into a glyphOrder custom parameter in File → Font Info… → Font.
Plug-ins can add support for opening additional font formats; see Plug-ins.
When opening a font file, Glyphs will try to apply its built-in naming scheme and sync the metrics of composite glyphs with their base glyphs.
These behaviors can be disabled in the settings; see User Settings for Keep Glyph Names from Imported Files and Disable Automatic Alignment for Imported Files.
TrueType flavor OpenType fonts are imported, maintaining their quadratic Bézier curves.
Glyphs can edit, but not create quadratic curves.
Convert them to PostScript/CFF flavor cubic curves with Path → Other → Convert to Cubic.
This command applies to all selected paths, layers, or glyphs.
Components contained in TrueType fonts are kept.
Import fonts as masters by choosing File → Font Info… → Masters → → Add Other Font.
See Managing Masters for details.
If the newly added masters are interpolated, ensure they are compatible (see Outline Compatibility).
Some OpenType features cannot be reconstructed when opening a compiled OpenType file.
The features in File → Font Info… → Features show a list of features that should be imported.
Lookups used from multiple features are placed in a prefix named Prefix.
Kerning and kerning groups are mostly preserved, but contextual kerning is not.
Most glyph-level PostScript hints are preserved.
Alignment zones and standard stems are also preserved.
However, most glyph-level hints are not connected to nodes anymore.
In a Multiple Masters setup, drag the blue circle 
and triangle 
onto outline nodes that fit the hint.
See Stem Hints for details.
File → Import → Outlines… imports PDF, EPS, or SVG files as outlines.
In Font View, multiple files can be selected and imported into the glyphs with a matching name (for example, A.pdf into A and comma.svg into comma).
If no glyph exists for the file, Glyphs prompts to create a matching glyph or ignore the file.
Click OK to skip the file, or Add Glyph to add a new glyph matching the filename to the font and import the outlines into it.
In Edit View, File → Import → Outlines… imports a single file into the current glyph.
Vector paths stored in the file are imported as glyph outlines.
Only outlines are kept; the fill color and other styles are discarded.
For PDF files, the stroke thickness is imported as a stroke style.
See Vector Drawing Applications for information on importing outlines with copy and paste.
Glyphs can import the spacing and kerning of a master from Metrics and AFM files (both of which can be exported from Glyphs, see Exporting Metrics) and from Glyphs and UFO files.
In Font View, choose File → Import → Metrics… to import metrics into the currently open Glyphs file.
Select a file and click Import, then an import dialog will appear:
Depending on the selected file, one of the two import dialogs on the right is shown.
Left: Metrics or AFM file.
Right: Glyphs or UFO file.
Select whether to import kerning values and kerning classes with the respective checkboxes.
When importing metrics from a Glyphs file, kerning values are not supported.
Import kerning values from one Glyphs file into another by copying and pasting them in the Kerning window (Window → Kerning, Cmd-Opt-K, see Kerning Window for details).
Importing from a Metrics for AFM file offers controls for glyph metrics in addition to kerning.
Check Import Metrics to choose from one of four import modes:
import left sidebearing and width, adjust the right sidebearing;
import right sidebearing and width, adjust the left sidebearing;
import both sidebearings, adjust the width;
import the width and center the outline (equal sidebearings).
Automatic alignment is disabled for components where the metric values deviate from those derived from automatic alignment, unless Keep Aligned Components is checked.
Metrics are imported for all glyphs by default.
Check Selected Glyphs to import metrics only for the selected glyphs or all glyphs if none are selected.
File → Import → Features… imports OpenType features written in the AFDKO feature language.
Select a file ending in .fea and click Import to add the contained features to File → Font Info… → Features.
See Features for details on OpenType features.
Glyphs supports pasting outlines from most vector drawing applications.
The pasted outline may be placed far outside the glyph box.
Glyphs detects such situations and offers to correct the bounds of the pasted outline:
The following sections describe recommended setups for specific applications.
Vector outlines can be imported from Illustrator with copy and paste.
For best results, configure the Illustrator artboard such that one point corresponds to one font unit.
A font with 1000 UPM would map to an Illustrator artboard 1000 pt high.
Copy closed paths in Illustrator and paste them with Edit → Paste (Cmd-V) in Glyphs onto the current glyph.
Node coordinates are rounded unless the grid spacing of the font is zero.
Affinity Designer places the copied outlines at the origin (0, 0), regardless of where the outline is placed in the Designer artboard.
Glyphs supports both the standard outline copying mode and the SVG mode (Affinity Designer → Settings… → General → Copy items as → SVG).
In Sketch, set the contour to a 1 pt outline without fill.
This will prevent double outlines in Glyphs.
The UFO format is generally used when exchanging files with other font editors.
See Unified Font Object for details.
FontLab 7 imports and exports Glyphs files natively.
This will preserve more details than exchanging UFO files with FontLab.
For FontLab Studio 5, use the Glyphs Import and Glyphs Export macros.
Install them in FontLab Studio 5 by opening Finder and choosing Go → Go to Folder.
Enter the path of the FontLab Studio 5 macros folder and press Return.
Place the two macro files there and relaunch FontLab Studio 5.
The macros will be available in the macro toolbar.
Note that not all Glyphs features are supported in other font editors.
Exchanging files may thus result in simplified data (for example, decomposed outlines) or missing font information.
Consider keeping a copy of the original Glyphs file for safety.
Projects are collections of instance definitions linked to a Glyphs font file but kept in a separate project file.
This is useful for setting up different font versions without altering or compromising the original Glyphs file.
Project files carry a .glyphsproject suffix.
Create a new Glyphs project with File → New Project.
Save the newly created project with File → Save (Cmd-S).
Click the Choose button located in the top-right of the project window, select a Glyphs file, and confirm with Choose.
The selected font does not need to be open in Glyphs.
This links the Glyphs file to the project.
Click the file path to choose a different Glyphs file.
The instances of the font are listed in the sidebar of the project window:
Rearrange instances using drag and drop.
Duplicate an instance by Option-dragging it to its new location in the list.
Alternatively, copy (Cmd-C) and paste (Cmd-V) to duplicate the selected instances.
Click the plus button to add new instances and variable font settings.
Delete the selected instances with the minus button.
Revert to the instances of the Glyphs file with the arrow 
button.
Edit the parameters of instances in the right half of the project window.
See Font Info: Exports for details.
Ensure that the project is saved (File → Save, Cmd-S) and that the path to the linked font is valid (a path becomes invalid when the linked file is renamed, moved, or deleted).
Click the Export Destination file path to set the export folder.
Instances are exported into this folder.
Customize the export folder of an instance with the Export Folder custom parameter (see Export Destination).
Click the Export button located in the bottom-right of the project window to export all configured instances.
The linked Glyphs file does not need to be open for export.
The space between glyphs is controlled by their spacing and kerning.
Spacing defines the general white space surrounding a glyph, while kerning makes adjustments to specific glyph pairs.
Spacing is the process of adjusting the sidebearings of glyphs to achieve an even rhythm in a line of text.
There are no fixed rules for how large or small the sidebearings of a glyph should be.
The amount of spacing depends on the style of the font and the script of the glyphs.
In general, glyphs that share similar shapes share similar sidebearing values.
For example, the left sidebearing of the Latin K is usually the same as the left sidebearing of the Latin H, while the right sidebearing of the Latin D and the Latin O should be the same or similar.
When the Text tool is active and View → Show Metrics (Cmd-Shift-M) is checked, the sidebearing values and widths of all glyphs are displayed:
The Info box (View → Show Info, Cmd-Shift-I) shows the sidebearings of the current glyph.
In text mode, the current glyph is placed after the text cursor.
For left to right and right to left scripts, the sidebearing values are shown to the left and right of the metrics icon in the center of the Info box:
For a top to bottom script, the Info box shows the top and bottom sidebearings next to the T and B:
Use the Up and Down arrow keys to increase and decrease a value in the Info box.
Hold down Shift for steps of 10 and both Shift and Command for steps of 100.
Editing sidebearings in the Info box can be handy for quick adjustments.
When editing the spacing of many glyphs, consider using the spacing shortcuts.
Spacing shortcuts can be used with the Text tool to change the sidebearings of the current glyph.
Hold down the Control key to change the left sidebearing (LSB) with the Left Arrow and Right Arrow keys (⌃⯇ and ⌃⯈).
Hold down the Command key to change the right sidebearing (RSB) with the Left Arrow and Right Arrow keys (⌘⯇ and ⌘⯈).
Hold down Shift for steps of 10.
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|
Ctrl-Left | increase spacing on left side |
Ctrl-Shift-Left | increase spacing on left side by 10 units |
Ctrl-Right | decrease spacing on left side |
Ctrl-Shift-Right | decrease spacing on left side by 10 units |
Cmd-Right | increase spacing on right side |
Cmd-Shift-Right | increase spacing on right side by 10 units |
Cmd-Left | decrease spacing on right side |
Cmd-Shift-Left | decrease spacing on right side by 10 units |
When both the Control and Command keys are held down, the LSB and RSB are changed simultaneously, shifting the glyph inside its width.
This is particularly useful in monospaced designs, where the width of the glyph cannot be changed.
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|
Cmd-Ctrl-Left | shift glyph outline left |
Cmd-Ctrl-Shift-Left | shift glyph outline left by 10 units |
Cmd-Ctrl-Right | shift glyph outline right |
Cmd-Ctrl-Shift-Right | shift glyph outline right by 10 units
|
The Control and arrow key shortcuts (⌃⯇ and ⌃⯈) conflict with the default system shortcuts for Mission Control.
If they do not work in Glyphs, disable or change them in System Settings → Keyboard → Shortcuts → Mission Control.
Metrics keys can be used instead of numeric metrics values to link the metrics—the LSB, RSB, and width—of one glyph to those of another.
Write the name of a glyph in a sidebearing or width field in the Info box to use the metric value of that glyph.
For example, the LSB of an h could be linked to the l and its RSB to the n:
Linked metrics are not synced automatically when the metrics of the linked glyphs are changed.
Instead, in Edit View, out-of-sync metrics keys are displayed in red next to an update button:
Sync a metric key by clicking its update button.
Fix all out-of-sync metrics on the current layer by choosing Glyph → Update Metrics (Cmd-Ctrl-M).
Hold down the Option key to update the metrics on all masters (Cmd-Opt-Ctrl-M).
These commands also work when multiple glyphs are selected.
In Font View, out-of-sync metrics are indicated by a warning triangle in the top-right corner of the glyph cells.
Consider using a Smart Filter to reveal all of the glyphs with out-of-sync metrics.
The sidebearing fields can contain simple calculations following these rules: a calculation starts with an equal sign (=) and a glyph name, followed by a mathematical operator, + (plus, addition), - (minus, subtraction), * (asterisk, multiply), or / (forward slash, divide), and ends with a number.
For example, =n+10 is the metric value of the n glyphs plus 10, and =comma/2 indicates half the metric value of the comma glyph.
Decimal numbers can also be used: =o*1.2 or =koKai-thai/1.5.
The result of a calculation is rounded to the nearest font unit.
Equating with a number such as =50 fixes a metric to that value.
This is helpful if the metric should keep its value even when the outlines are changed.
A calculation that only contains a glyph name (such as =n) has the same effect as writing just the glyph name (n).
Place a pipe character (|) directly after the equals sign to reference the opposite sidebearing.
For example, writing =|n in the right sidebearing of the u uses the value of the left sidebearing of the n.
Keep a glyph centered by writing =| into one of its sidebearing fields.
Such a value will reflect the opposite sidebearing of the same glyph, thus centering the glyph outlines inside its bounding box.
By default, a metrics key applies to all masters of the font.
Prefix a metrics key with two equals signs (==) instead to specify a local metrics key.
Local metrics keys do not affect other masters and can be used as exceptions.
Examples: ==m or ==hyphen+15.
Add an at-sign (@) and a number at the end of a metrics key to measure a sidebearing at a specific offset from the baseline.
For example, =A@0 is the sidebearing of A on the baseline, and =A@200 is the sidebearing value of A as measured 200 units above the baseline.
The metrics fields in the Info box of an automatically aligned glyph show the text auto and the derived values in parentheses.
Modify an automatic metric while keeping it automatically aligned by entering an equals sign, a plus or minus sign, and the offset value that should be added or removed.
For example, =+25 or =-10.
Modifying automatic metrics can be useful for glyphs where a mark reaches far outside the glyph box.
Typical examples are idieresis (ï), dcaron (ď), and lcaron (ľ).
Carefully spaced glyphs should fit together well in words and sentences.
Some glyph combinations, however, need specific adjustments to look good.
Usually, glyphs with a lot of white space (such as A and V) need to be moved closer together.
In contrast, glyphs that collide (such as f and ?) need to be moved further apart.
Kerning is the adjustment of the distance between glyphs.
Note that left to right kerning is stored separately from right to left kerning.
When working with a font that includes glyphs of both directions, make sure to select the correct writing direction before kerning.
See Entering Text: Writing Direction for details.
With the Text tool active, kerning between glyphs is highlighted in light blue for negative kerning and yellow for positive kerning.
These colors can be changed in the Appearance settings.
Edit View has three kerning modes: no kerning , kerning , and locked kerning .
Cycle between the modes by clicking the icon located in the bottom-right of the Edit View canvas.
No kerning disables the preview of kerning in Edit View.
The kerning shortcuts are also disabled in this mode.
Kerning previews kerning pairs in Edit View.
Locked kerning works like the normal kerning mode but disables the spacing shortcuts, preventing accidental spacing changes while kerning.
In Edit View, the Info box (View → Show Info, Cmd-Shift-I) displays the kerning between the current glyph and the immediate glyph on each side.
When no kerning is set, the gray placeholder Kern is visible.
Click a kern field, enter an adjustment value, and confirm by pressing Return or by exiting the kern field.
Clear a kern field to remove the kern between the two glyphs.
Activate the Text tool to see a small Info box for the preceding glyph.
The box provides the name of the preceding glyph, its lock status, and kerning group name:
See Kerning: Kerning Groups for details on the Group fields in the Info box and Kerning Group Exceptions for working with the kerning locks.
Editing kerning in the Info box can be handy for quick adjustments.
When kerning many glyph pairs, consider using the kerning shortcuts.
The kerning shortcuts can be used with the Text tool.
Type the two glyphs in Edit View, then place the cursor between them and hold down the Option and Control keys to change the kerning value between the current and the left glyph with the Left Arrow and Right Arrow keys (⌃⌥⯇ and ⌃⌥⯈).
Hold down Option and Command to change the kerning between the current and the right glyph (⌥⌘⯇ and ⌥⌘⯈).
Hold down Shift for steps of 10.
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|
Opt-Ctrl-Left | increase kerning on left side |
Opt-Ctrl-Shift-Left | increase kerning on left side by 10 units |
Opt-Ctrl-Right | decrease kerning on left side |
Opt-Ctrl-Shift-Right | decrease kerning on left side by 10 units |
Cmd-Opt-Right | increase kerning on right side |
Cmd-Opt-Shift-Right | increase kerning on right side by 10 units |
Cmd-Opt-Left | decrease kerning on right side |
Cmd-Opt-Shift-Left | decrease kerning on right side by 10 units
|
Many glyphs with similar forms should have the same kerning values.
Kerning groups capture these similarities and reduce the number of pairs that need to be set manually.
Kerning then applies not just to pairs of glyphs, but to groups of pairs of glyphs.
For example, B, D, E, F, H, and so on may form a left side kerning group.
Also, V, W, Ẃ, Ŵ, Ẅ, and so on might share both the left and the right kerning groups.
For example, if A and Ä are in the same kerning group, kerning A to V also kerns the Ä–V pair.
Additionally, if V is in a group with W, A–W and Ä–W will also be kerned by the same amount.
All members of a kerning group have the same kerning values unless a kerning exception is defined (see Kerning Group Exceptions).
A glyph can have two kerning groups: one on the left and one on the right.
Glyphs written from top to bottom have a top and bottom group instead.
The name of a kerning group is written into the Group fields in the Info box (View → Show Info, Cmd-Shift-I).
Edit the kerning groups of multiple glyphs in the inspector in Font View, or select multiple glyphs in Edit View.
Group names can contain the letters a–z and A–Z, the digits 0–9, and an underscore (_), period (.), or hyphen (-).
Rename kerning groups in the Kerning Window.
It is common to name kerning groups after a base glyph.
For example, R, Ŕ, Ř, and Ŗ may all have the right kerning group R.
The left kerning group might be named I or H.
However, it can also be named stem or any arbitrary name.
Another example: the glyphs c, d, e, o, and q could share a left kerning group named o.
In that case, kerning To will also kern all other group members.
However, while To might look good, kerning Tö by the same amount will probably look too tight.
There are two solutions for this issue:
either ö could be placed in a different left kerning group than o, or kerning group exceptions could be used for ö.
Show all kerning group members in the background by choosing View → Show Group Members.
The group members are only shown for the current glyph and the one placed before it on the canvas.
Only members of the respective kerning group are shown.
For example, when editing the P glyph, only its left kerning group members are shown in the background.
This display option is helpful to spot possible collisions.
A kerning group exception overwrites the kerning values of a group for a specific pair.
For example, if o and ö have the same left kerning group, the kerning value of To might be too tight for Tö.
Create a group exception for Tö by selecting the Text tool, then place the text cursor between T and ö.
In the Info box (View → Show Info, Cmd-Shift-I), open the lock of the ö to mark it as an exception.
Now, editing the kerning value between T and ö will not affect any of the other glyphs having the same left kerning group as ö.
However, keep the lock of the T glyph locked so that the new T–ö kerning exception also applies to other group members of the right T kerning group, for example, Ť–ö, Ţ–ö, and Ț–ö.
Close the kerning lock to remove an exception.
Open the Kerning Window by choosing Window → Kerning (Cmd-Opt-K).
It provides a list of all kerning pairs for the currently selected writing direction.
See Entering Text: Writing Direction for details on changing the writing direction.
Enter a search term in the search field to filter for kerning pairs containing it.
Click the search icon to configure the search options.
Choose how the search term should be applied (kerning pair contains, is exactly, begins with, ends with, or does not contain the term), which pairs to show (is a group or is not a group), on which side of the pairs to search (left or right), or whether or not to show only glyphs that are selected in Font View.
Choose Reset to reset all options back to their default.
Kerning groups are shown in blue with an at-sign (@) before their name, while single glyphs are shown in gold.
Click a column header (Left, Value, Right) to sort by that column.
Click again to reverse the sort order.
Sorting by value is helpful to spot particularly small or large kerning values.
Click a kerning pair to display it in Edit View.
The current glyph pair in Edit View, if any, will be replaced by the selected pair.
Use the Up and Down arrow keys to walk through the kerning pairs of the font.
When selecting a row containing one or two kerning groups, only a single example is shown.
Insert all kerning pairs belonging to the selected row into Edit View by choosing Show All Glyphs from the actions menu.
Double-click an entry in the Kerning Window to edit it.
Edit a value to adjust the kerning between a pair.
Edit a group name to rename the group.
Renaming a group will prompt whether to change the group name for only the selected kerning pair, or rename the group across the entire font.
Since left and right kerning groups are separate, renaming a group in the Left column will not affect any entries in the Right column and vice versa.
Copy the selected kerning pairs with Edit → Copy (Cmd-C).
Select all kerning pairs by choosing Edit → Select All (Cmd-A).
Switch to another font master and paste the copied pairs with Edit → Paste (Cmd-V).
If pasting would overwrite existing kerning pairs, Glyphs will show a warning.
Choose Overwrite to paste the copied pairs and overwrite any the conflicting kerning pairs.
Choose Keep Existing to paste only non-conflicting pairs.
Delete all selected kerning pairs by pressing the minus button in the bottom-left of the Kerning Window.
Hold down the Option key to delete the pairs from all masters.
Kerning pairs can become obsolete when glyphs are removed from the font, or a kerning group no longer has any members.
Delete all obsolete kerning pairs by choosing Clean Up from the actions menu.
Choose Compress from the actions menu to reduce the number of kerning pairs in the font.
When a few glyphs were kerned with each other before the kerning groups were set, the singleton kerning pairs can be converted into group kerning with the Compress action.
Compressing kerning changes kerning pairs between two glyphs or between a glyph and a group such that kerning groups are used wherever possible.
Kerning exceptions are kept unless the exception has the same kerning value as the group kerning (meaning, it’s not a real exception).
The Compress action might need to be run multiple times to compress all kerning pairs fully.
For example, consider a kerning pair T–m, which is a kerning between the glyphs T (right group: @T) and m (left group: @n).
Compressing once will turn it into the kerning pair @T–m.
Compressing a second time will turn it into @T–@n.
Now, this kerning pair applies to all glyphs in the @T right group and the @n left group, such as Ť–m, T–n, T–ŋ, and Ť–ŋ.
However, it will keep exceptions such as T–ň, provided it has a different value than T–n.
While kerning is implemented as an OpenType feature, it does not appear in the Features tab of the Font Info window.
Instead, it is added as an implicit feature.
However, an explicit kern feature can also be added for performing contextual kerning.
In File → Font Info… → Features, add a new feature named kern.
The kern feature typically uses positioning (pos) rules to change the distance between glyphs.
Contextual kerning matches more than two glyphs and can be helpful when dealing with punctuation or spaces.
For example, the f might get some extra spacing to the right when it is followed by a space glyph and a glyph that extends far to the left on the top, such as T or V.
pos f' 50 space [T V W Y];
Kerning groups can be reused in feature code.
The name of a left kerning group is prefixed by @MMK_R_ while a right kerning group is prefixed by @MMK_L_.
For example, the left kerning group @H has the feature class @MMK_R_H and the right group @quote has the class @MMK_L_quote.
Note that the R and L in the prefixes are with respect to the other glyph of the kerning pair: a left kerning group is used on the right (R) of a pair while a right kerning group is used on the left (L) of a pair.
For example, consider the glyph sequence L–quoteright–A (L’A).
With pair kerning, the quote might get pulled into the white space of the L and also in the white space of the A, making the L and A collide on the baseline: L’A.
A contextual kern can fix this situation by pulling the quoteright into the white space of the L (-50) while pushing the A to the right (70):
pos @MMK_L_L' -50 quoteright' 70 @MMK_R_A;
Manual kerning code can also make use of Tokens, which allow the glyph positioning to be based on Number Values of masters or the sidebearings of glyphs.
Components are glyphs used as shapes inside other glyphs.
For example, the A glyph can be reused to build the Ä, À, Â, Ã, Å, and many more glyphs.
Diacritics like ◌̈, ◌̀, ◌̂, ◌̃, and ◌̊ can also be used as components so that other characters like Ö, È, Ĉ, Ñ, Ů, and many more can be formed.
The original glyph from which a component is derived is referred to as the base glyph of the component.
A glyph that is built out of components is referred to as a compound or composite glyph.
Changing a base glyph also changes all of its copies as a component.
When changing a base glyph in Edit View, all related components will update live to reflect the newly made changes.
On export, components are decomposed to paths with the Remove Overlaps option selected.
TrueType flavor fonts without the Remove Overlaps option active (such as variable fonts) keep non-overlapping components while decomposing overlapping components.
Set the Keep Overlapping Components custom parameter on an instance to also keep overlapping components in TrueType flavor fonts.
When adding a new composite glyph, Glyphs will automatically add the necessary components.
For example, adding an eacute (é) glyph to a font will automatically build it with an e component and an acutecomb (◌́) component.
Glyphs uses the glyph info database to figure out which components to insert into which glyphs.
This automatic insertion does not work if any of the required components do not exist in the font.
Convert an existing glyph to a composite by choosing Glyph → Create Composite (Cmd-Ctrl-C).
This command will replace all paths and components already present on the current layer.
Hold down the Option key to apply the command to all masters of the glyph (Cmd-Opt-Ctrl-C).
Add components by name or Unicode value by choosing Glyph → Add Component (Cmd-Shift-C).
Hold down Option to add the component on all masters (Cmd-Opt-Shift-C).
The component picker works the same as the glyph picker used to insert glyphs in Edit View.
See Text Tool for details.
Create a new component by selecting paths and components on a glyph layer and choosing Component from Selection from the context menu or the Glyph menu.
A dialog window appears, prompting for the glyph name of the new component.
Glyphs will suggest a component name based on context, but the name can be changed to any other name as well.
Prefix the name of a component with an underscore (_) if the component should only be used inside the Glyphs file and not be part of the exported glyphs.
See also the exports glyph property.
Confirm the dialog with OK.
Glyphs adds the newly created component to the current Edit View tab and activates it.
The previously selected shapes will be replaced by the component.
When adding glyphs to a font using Glyph → Add Glyphs…, recipes can be used to define which components should be used in which glyphs.
A recipe is a formula of glyph names that is used to create a new glyph.
The following recipe formulas can be used:
component=glyph, for example, Eth=Dtail, which adds the Dtail glyph with the Eth as a single component.
base+mark=glyph, for example, x+acutecomb=xacute, which adds multiple components (separated by a plus sign) to a new glyph.
The mark glyphs are automatically aligned to the base glyph using anchors.
base+base=glyph, for example, d+ezh.connect=dezh.
Adding multiple base components to a glyph can be useful when building ligatures.
Click to select a component.
When dragging with the Select tool, components are ignored unless the Option key is held down.
Press the Tab key to select the next component, or Shift-Tab to select the previous one.
When paths are present on a layer, the first Edit → Select All (Cmd-A) selects paths only.
Press Cmd-A once again to also select all components on the layer.
With one or multiple components selected, a component Info box appears next to the glyph Info box.
See Edit View: Info Box for details on the component Info box.
Transform components using the Info box, the bounding box, or the Palette.
Flipping a component vertically switches its top and bottom anchors to be again on top and bottom of the component.
This anchor switch is helpful, for example, when building the gcommaaccent (ģ) from a g and a flipped commaaccentcomb (◌̦).
Move a selected component with the mouse or the arrow keys.
Auto-aligned components can either be moved along the vertical axis or not at all.
See Automatic Alignment for details.
When moving with the arrow keys, hold down Shift for increments of 10 and Command for increments of 100.
Option-drag a component to duplicate it.
Delete all selected components by pressing the Delete key.
Double-click a component to edit its glyph.
The component glyph will be placed next to the composite glyph in Edit View and activated for immediate editing.
Alternatively, click the arrow button located in the top-left of the component Info box to edit its glyph.
(For the Info box to be shown, the component must be selected and View → Show Info must be checked.)
Show all glyphs that use the current glyph as a component by Control-clicking or right-clicking the canvas and choosing Show all glyphs that use this glyph as a component from the context menu.
Component placeholders indicate a problem with a component.
There are three types of problems.
An empty base glyph placeholder is shown if the glyph layer of a component is empty.
Remove the component or fill the glyph layer.
When no base glyph is shown, the component references a glyph that does not exist (or no longer exists).
Remove the component or add the referenced glyph to the font.
Click the placeholder to see the referenced glyph name in the Info box (Cmd-Shift-I).
A bad reference indicates a circular reference, where the component contains a composite glyph that contains that component.
Glyphs uses anchors for OpenType features (such as mark-to-base positioning and cursive attachment, see Edit View: Anchors) and for arranging components.
Often, the same anchors can be used for both features and for arranging components.
Unicode defines base characters like S (U+0053) and combining marks like ◌̌ (U+030C).
Typing a base character followed by a combining mark will place the mark on the base glyph using the anchors.
But Unicode also contains precomposed characters like Š (U+0160).
Glyphs for these characters can be built by using the base and mark glyphs as components.
For example, a mark component with a _top anchor snaps onto the top anchor of a base component just like mark-to-base positioning would place a mark glyph atop a base glyph.
See Adding, Editing, & Removing Anchors for general information on working with anchors.
In some situations, a component might need multiple anchors of the same type.
For example, it is common to use such alternative top anchors for Vietnamese diacritics.
Alternative anchors share the name of the original anchor but use an underscore suffix for differentiation.
So, there might be a top and a top_alt or top_viet anchor on the same glyph layer.
The suffix after the underscore can be chosen freely.
Switch between anchors by selecting an attached component and picking a different anchor from the 
menu in the component Info box.
Show the Info box with View → Show Info (Cmd-Shift-I).
The anchor icon is only visible if multiple anchors are available.
Glyphs built entirely from components are called composite or compound glyphs and can use automatic alignment to keep their metrics in sync with their base glyph.
For example, changing the left sidebearing of the U glyph would automatically adjust the glyphs Ú, Ù, Ŭ, Ü, Ū, and all other composite glyphs built with the U component.
Automatic alignment is enabled by default if a glyph layer contains only component shapes (no path shapes).
Control-click or right-click an auto-aligned component and choose Disable Automatic Alignment from the context menu to place the components manually.
Choose Enable Automatic Alignment from the context menu on a component to enable it again.
Automatic alignment can also be disabled for the entire font in File → Font Info… → Other → Disable Automatic Alignment.
See also Disable Automatic Alignment.
Auto-aligned components are shown in green to differentiate them from normal, gray components.
If a component has the category Number (for example, the glyphs zero–nine) and it is the only component in a composite glyph, it is shown in blue and can be shifted vertically while staying auto-aligned horizontally.
Metrics keys cannot be used for auto-aligned composite glyphs, since the sidebearings are derived from the base components.
There is one exception: auto-aligned composite glyphs can add to and remove from the automatic sidebearing values using the =+ and =- operators.
For more information, see Metrics Keys & Automatic Alignment.
Automatic alignment is typically for single components, a base component with one or more mark components, or multiple base components.
These three setups are described in more detail in the following sections.
A composite glyph may use a single auto-aligned component.
This setup is helpful for glyphs that look the same but should still be encoded as two separate glyphs.
That might be the case with Greek, Latin, and Cyrillic capital letters sharing the same outlines, such as Alpha/A/A-cy, Beta/B/Ve-cy, and Rho/P/Er-cy.
These glyphs belong to different scripts and may use separate kerning groups, so they should be encoded as separate glyphs instead of a single glyph with multiple Unicode values.
A single component might also be handy when constructing the glyph nine as a flipped six.
As mentioned above, such a component will be shown in blue and can be shifted vertically while keeping the automatic horizontal alignment.
Punctuation marks such as ‹ and ›, ¿ and ?, { and }, and arrows such as ← and → can also often be built from a single flipped component.
Build precomposed glyphs such as Ú, Ù, Ŭ, Ü, Ū from a base component (U in this case) and diacritical marks.
First, add the base component, followed by combining mark components.
For example, for Uacute (Ú), add the U component and then the acutecomb (◌́) component.
If the glyph is known to the glyph info database—as is the case with Uacute—choose Glyph → Create Composite (Cmd-Ctrl-C), and all required components will be added in the correct order.
Use anchors to place marks atop, below, or over the base component.
See Components: Anchors for details.
When adding multiple combining marks to a composite glyph, marks stack in the order in which they are added.
For this to work, mark glyphs need to contain both a base attachment anchor (such as _top) and a mark attachment anchor (such as top).
Rearrange marks using the Shape Order filter (see Shape Order).
Mark components positioned with anchors do not affect the sidebearings of the composite glyph.
For example, placing a macroncomb (◌̄) atop an idotless (ı) may result in the macron reaching outside the glyph box of the imacron (ī).
In such a case, either design a narrower macron and use that for the imacron or add additional space to the sidebearings of the composite glyph (see Metrics Keys & Automatic Alignment).
See the Diacritics tutorial for a guided introduction to working with diacritics.
A composite glyph may also contain multiple base components.
They are placed next to each other as if they were typed together.
Combining marks can be placed on each one of the base components individually;
place a base component first, then all of its marks, then the next base component followed by its marks.
Adding multiple base components to a composite glyph is handy when building ligature glyphs.
Using components for ligatures is particularly helpful for scripts like Arabic that make extensive use of ligatures.
Base components can be connected using the same anchors that are used for cursive attachment.
This technique can build an n glyph from a _part.stem and a _part.arch component, where the _part.stem has an #exit anchor and _part.arch has an #entry anchor.
Add both components to the n glyph, and they will connect such that the exit and entry anchors overlap.
Add an #exit anchor to the _part.arch to build an m composite glyph from a _part.stem and two _part.arch components.
See Underscore Components for details on working with components with a name beginning with an underscore.
Lock components that are not automatically aligned by Control-clicking or right-clicking it and choosing Lock Component from the context menu.
Locked components cannot be moved.
Unlock a component by choosing Unlock Component from the context menu.
Convert all components inside a glyph to paths by choosing Glyph → Decompose Glyph (Cmd-Shift-D).
All components, including all nested components, will be decomposed into their paths and anchors.
Choose Decompose from the context menu on a component to only decompose the selected components.
In this case, nested components will not be decomposed.
As soon as there is a path on a layer, automatic alignment is disabled.
Therefore, be careful when combining components and paths because shifts may occur, especially if the base glyph of the component is changed.
Instead, consider building the glyph from components only and connecting them with anchors as outlined in Components: Anchors, thus enabling automatic alignment.
Consider defining glyphs as non-exporting if they are only ever used as parts of other glyphs.
See Underscore Components and Smart Components for working with non-exporting components.
When dragging an element, such as a node or an anchor, the nodes inside components are highlighted.
Dragging an element near such a highlighted point snaps it to the position.
Choosing Path → Align Selection (Cmd-Shift-A) while exactly one point and one component are selected will align the origin point of the component to the selected node.
The node keeps its position.
The origin point is where the baseline crosses the left sidebearing if the italic angle is zero.
If the component glyph contains an origin anchor, it is used as the origin position instead.
Glyphs allows components to be nested.
For example, the dieresiscomb (◌̈) can be built from two dotaccentcomb (◌̇) components and then be used as a component in glyphs such as edieresis (ë).
top and bottom anchors propagate from a component to the glyph in which the component is placed.
For example, consider a glyph E that has a bottom anchor.
When a composite glyph, like Edieresis (Ë), uses E as a component, it inherits the bottom anchor from the E.
That way, bottom marks such as circumflexbelowcomb (◌̭) can attach to the bottom of Edieresis, even though it itself does not contain a bottom anchor.
Propagated anchors are overwritten by anchors in the composite glyph.
Continuing the example, if the Edieresis glyph had its own bottom anchor, then that would overwrite the bottom anchor of the E component.
Add a Propagate Anchors custom parameter to the Font tab in File → Font Info… with its checkbox unselected to prevent anchor propagation.
When automatically building composites, Glyphs prefers marks with the same name suffix as the composite.
For instance, when composing agrave.sc, Glyphs prefers a mark glyph named gravecomb.sc over gravecomb if such a glyph exists.
When building uppercase letters, marks with a .case suffix are preferred.
For example, when building the Agrave glyph, Glyphs will use the mark gravecomb.case—if it exists—over gravecomb.
This is helpful when the .case diacritical marks are flattened to accommodate the limited vertical space available in the uppercase letters.
The glyphs i and j are built from idotless and jdotless with a dotaccentcomb.
When building composite glyphs based on i and j—such as imacron (ī) or jcircumflex (ĵ)—Glyphs prefers mark glyphs ending in .i or .narrow.
By default, a glyph whose name starts with an underscore is not exported.
This allows for glyphs solely used as components in other glyphs.
Such glyphs might help to create ligature glyphs.
For example, both glyphs fl and f_f may use an _f.connect component for the first f.
Smart components allow for variation of design properties within a single component glyph.
Each smart component can have its own set of variation properties such as width, height, angle, roundness, or any other arbitrary design feature that can vary along an axis.
In this way, smart components work like multiple masters or a variable font, but with the variation axes exclusive to a component.
Smart components were initially designed for Asian scripts, where shapes are frequently reused with slight modifications, such as the strokes in CJK fonts or the components of the Tibetan script.
This concept—reusable components with property variations—has proven useful for various scripts and glyphs.
The glyph of a smart component is called a smart glyph.
All CJK radical and Korean base glyphs are smart glyphs.
In addition, all glyphs with a name starting with _smart. or _part. are smart glyphs.
The different forms of a smart glyph (for example, Narrow and Wide or Sharp and Rounded) are placed on smart layers.
Click the plus button in the bottom-left of the Layers palette to create a new layer.
New layers are named after the current date and time, but that is not a good description for a smart layer.
Double-click the smart layer name and change it to a more descriptive one such as Narrow, Low Contrast, Small, or any other name that best describes the variation.
For instance, for a _part.arrow glyph with a Width property, draw a normal arrow on the Regular master layer and a narrow version of the arrow on an additional layer aptly named Narrow.
Note that smart layers need to be compatible with the master layer.
For more on layer compatibility, see Outline Compatibility.
Smart glyph properties control how the smart component interpolates between the different layers.
Add a property by opening the Smart Glyph Settings with Edit → Info For Selection (Cmd-Opt-I) or by choosing Show Smart Glyph Settings from the component context menu.
It is split into two tabs: Properties and Layers.
Create a new property by clicking the plus button located in the bottom-left of the Properties tab.
Smart glyph properties are similar to font axes.
They have a name as well as minimum and maximum values.
The name can be chosen freely and may be unrelated to the layer names or axes names of the font.
The names Width and Height have a special meaning; see Width & Height Properties for details.
The minimum and maximum values can be any number range, but the minimum needs to be less than the maximum.
Values can be negative.
The default range of 0–100 works well for abstract properties such as Contrast or Curviness.
If the variation property is less abstract and related instead to font units—such as Height or Descender Depth—consider using measurements as minimum and maximum values.
Continuing the _part.arrow example, if the normal arrow is 855 units wide and the arrow on the Narrow layer is 375 units wide, add a Width property with a minimum of 375 and a maximum of 855.
Note that smart components can be interpolated and extrapolated.
This allows the usage of values below the minimum and above the maximum.
For example, a _part.arrow component with a Width property ranging from 375 to 855 can also be used with a Width value of 300 or 900.
Extrapolation works well for simple variations such as the tail of an arrow getting longer and shorter, but might produce less desirable results for more complex smart components such as the arch of an n getting wider and narrower.
Use a minimum of 0 and a maximum of 1 for properties that should not interpolate and instead only be used as an on/off toggle.
The Layers tab connects smart properties with smart layers.
The sidebar shows all smart layers of the glyph.
Select a layer and set whether it belongs to the minimum or maximum value.
If a layer is unrelated to a property, do not check any of the two values.
For instance, for a glyph with two layers—Regular and Narrow—and a Width property, check the minimum Width value for the Narrow layer and the maximum Width value for the Regular layer.
A setup with multiple properties does not require a layer at all extremes.
For example, a smart glyph with two properties—Width (range 375–855) and Height (range 80–360)—only requires the following three layers:
| Width | Height |
|---|
| Regular | 375 | 80 |
|---|
| Wide | 855 | 80 |
|---|
| Tall | 375 | 360 |
|---|
Note that a layer at both maximum values (Width of 855 and Height of 360) is not required.
Glyphs infers it from the Wide and Tall layers.
Consider adding a layer at both extremes only if the inferred outlines are not as desired.
Add a smart component like any other component (as described in Building Composites).
A smart component is indicated by a Smart badge in its Info box.
Smart Component dialog as shown with Edit → Info for Selection (Cmd-Opt-I) for a selected component.
If the Info box is not visible, select the smart component and check View → Show Info (Cmd-Shift-I).
Click the Smart badge in the Info box or choose Edit → Info for Selection (Cmd-Opt-I) to configure the selected smart components.
If the Palette is visible (Window → Palette) and View → Show Info is checked, the smart component settings are also visible at the bottom of the Palette.
Use the slider to set the setting of a property anywhere from the minimum to the maximum value.
Use the number field to input any value, which might also extrapolate beyond the minimum and maximum values.
If the min/max values are 0/1, a checkbox is displayed instead.
Name smart glyph properties Width or Height (with a capital letter) to control them with the bounding box.
Select View → Show Bounding Box (Cmd-Opt-Shift-B) and click on a smart component to show its bounding box.
Resizing the bounding box horizontally changes the Width property; resizing vertically changes the Height property.
Resizing the bounding box is impossible for a smart component with neither a Width nor a Height property.
Left: Placing anchors with the names of properties on all layers.
Right: Moving a knob to adjust smart settings.
Smart handles allow properties to be modified using control handles placed on the smart glyph.
Place an anchor with the name of a smart glyph property on every smart glyph layer.
The anchor names must match the name of the property exactly, including capitalization.
On smart glyph layers affecting the property, move the anchor to match the modified outlines.
These anchors do not need to be added for all properties.
When using the smart glyph as a component, gray handles will appear when the component is selected.
Click and drag a handle to change its property value.
Corner components are open paths that can be fitted onto the corners of a path.
The main usage of corner components is adding serifs to stems, but they can also be used in other circumstances.
The name of a corner glyph starts with _corner. followed by an arbitrary corner name, for example, _corner.serif.
A corner glyph contains an open path flanking the layer origin.
The layer origin is at coordinates (0, 0).
If an anchor named origin is placed on the layer, it is used as the origin point.
The open path of the corner component should follow the same direction as it would if it were part of a stem.
Typically, the start node of the path is placed on the same vertical or horizontal axis as the origin point.
Therefore, either the X or Y coordinate of the start node is the same as the X or Y of the layer origin.
The relative position of the end node defines the direction in which the corner expands from the stem.
For instance, place the end node to the right of the layer origin if the corner should expand to the left of the stem.
If the path direction is not set correctly, the corner will extend in the wrong direction (for example, to the bottom instead of to the left).
Fix the direction by selecting the open path and choosing Reverse Selected Contours from the context menu.
Add a corner component to a node in another glyph by selecting the node and choosing Add Corner Component from the context menu.
A glyph picker will open, showing corner glyphs.
Search for the desired corner and insert it by pressing Return.
In Edit View, a corner component is highlighted with a subtle blue background.
Click on a corner component to select it.
Shift-click to select multiple corners.
A selected corner can be copied with Edit → Copy (Cmd-C) and pasted onto other nodes with Edit → Paste (Cmd-V).
Press the Delete key to remove the selected corner components.
Control-click or right-click a corner and choose Decompose Corner to replace the component by its path.
Select a corner component to view its Info box.
View → Show Info (Cmd-Shift-I) needs to be active.
Click the component name in the Info box to replace it with a different component.
Click the arrow button to add and activate the corner glyph in Edit View.
Use the horizontal and vertical scale fields to change the size of the corner.
This might be useful for increasing the size of serifs for capital letters or reducing it for small caps.
Negative values (such as -100) may be used to flip the component.
This allows a left serif to be reused on the right or a bottom serif on the top.
The mirror buttons from the Palette can also be used to flip corner components.
Control the alignment of the corner using the alignment modes in the Info box.
This is relevant for diagonal stems:
The left arrow aligns the start node to the diagonal, while the end node of the corner stays put.
This mode is typically used for bottom-left and top-right serifs.
The right arrow aligns the end node to the diagonal, while the start node of the corner stays put.
This mode is typically used for bottom-right and top-left serifs.
The left-right arrow is a blend of the left and right alignment.
This mode is typically used for ink-traps and similar corners.
The x-mark does not align the start or end node to the diagonal.
The entry point of a corner component is where the stem connects to the corner.
It can be adjusted by adding an anchor to the component glyph.
This is particularly useful for attaching corners to diagonal stems:
Add a left anchor to a corner glyph to control where the corner meets the diagonal.
If the open path in the corner glyph is facing to the right, name the anchor right instead.
The anchor must be placed on the line crossing the layer origin and the start node of the open path.
Move the anchor away from the start node towards the baseline to widen corners at the large angle of the diagonal and shorten the corner at the small angle of the diagonal (see the left side of the image above).
Move the anchor in the other direction to achieve the opposite effect (see the right side of the image above).
If no such anchor is placed on the layer, Glyphs assumes it sits at the layer origin (leftmost example in the image above).
The exit point of a corner component is where the corner connects back to the stem.
It allows the path after a corner to continue at a different position to the path of the stem.
This technique is often used for cupped serifs:
Place a right anchor to redefine the end position of the corner.
For a right-facing corner glyph, place a left anchor instead.
This anchor is used instead of the end node of the open path as the end position of the corner, which allows the end node to be placed above or below the baseline.
As described above, a corner component can be resized using the horizontal and vertical fields in the Info box.
By default, the component is scaled by stretching the outlines.
Customize the scaling by adding Intermediate layers to the corner glyph.
These Intermediate layers are then used to scale components by interpolation.
For example, add an Intermediate layer with a Width of 150 % and Height of 100 % to a corner glyph and make the outline of the corner wider.
Then, change the horizontal scaling to, for example, 125 %.
The resulting component outlines are interpolated.
Changing the height still stretches the corner, in this example, as no Intermediate layer with a height different from 100 % was defined.
Corner glyphs may contain closed paths in addition to the one open path.
Closed paths add shapes that can be placed inside or outside the corner.
Left: Corner glyph with a closed path.
Center: Corner component applied to the bottom-left node of a rectangular path.
Right: Preview of the resulting glyph.
The open path must be the first shape on the corner glyph layer.
Reorder shapes with Filter → Shape Order.
Left: Corner glyph for ink traps.
Right: The A glyph with corner components applied to the four extra nodes.
Choose View → Show Nodes → Extra Nodes to show the nodes located on the intersections of overlapping paths.
These extra nodes can also receive corner components.
Attach a corner component to an extra node from the context menu with Add Corner Component.
Use corner components on extra nodes for smooth transitions at path intersections, or to add ink traps to stems and crossbars.
Cap components attach to two nodes.
This is in contrast to corner components, which attach to a single node.
The two nodes need to be next to each other on the same path.
Use cap components for spurs, terminals, flag serifs, and other shapes that appear at the end of strokes.
The name of a cap glyph starts with _cap. followed by an arbitrary cap name, for example, _cap.flag.
There are two possible anchor setups:
In the first setup, place an origin anchor where the first of the two stem nodes should be relative to the cap.
This is a simple setup for simple needs.
Add the two anchors node1 and node2 representing both of the attached stem nodes to control the positioning and scaling of the cap relative to both nodes.
This second setup allows for more flexibility when fitting the cap onto stems of varying widths.
Attach a cap component to two adjacent nodes of the same path by selecting them and choosing Add Cap Component from the context menu.
A glyph picker will open, showing only cap glyphs.
Search for the desired cap and insert it by pressing Return.
In Edit View, a cap component is highlighted with a subtle blue background.
Click on a cap component to select it.
Shift-click to select multiple caps.
A selected cap can be copied with Edit → Copy (Cmd-C) and pasted onto other segments with Edit → Paste (Cmd-V).
Press the Delete key to remove the selected cap components.
Control-click or right-click a cap and choose Decompose Cap to replace the component by its path.
Select a cap component to view its Info box.
(View → Show Info, Cmd-Shift-I, also needs to be selected.)
Check the Fit checkbox to automatically match the size of the cap to the size of the stroke to which it is attached.
Cap components can be replaced, transformed, and aligned like corner components.
Segment components apply an open path to straight or curved segments.
The open path can be a single bend segment or a more complex path containing many nodes and curves.
Glyphs will not add additional nodes when bending a segment component to fit a curve segment.
This may reduce the accuracy with which the component follows the curvature of the segment.
However, it ensures that the number of nodes stays the same across masters, allowing interpolation for multiple masters and variable fonts.
The name of a segment glyph starts with _segment. followed by an arbitrary segment name, for example, _segment.stem.
A segment component contains an open path along the baseline and two anchors, start and end.
Choose Glyph → Set Anchors (Cmd-U) to place these anchors at the start and end nodes of the open path.
If the start and end anchors are not placed on the start and end nodes of the path, then the segment component will not match the length of the segment it is applied to.
The start and end nodes of the path should be on the baseline or have both the same distance from the baseline.
Select a path segment by clicking it or by selecting both of its nodes, then choose Add Segment Component from the context menu.
A glyph picker will open, showing only segment glyphs.
Search for the desired segment and insert it by pressing Return.
In Edit View, a segment component is highlighted with a subtle blue background.
Click on a segment component to select it.
Shift-click to select multiple segments.
A selected segment can be copied with Edit → Copy (Cmd-C) and pasted onto other segments with Edit → Paste (Cmd-V).
Press the Delete key to remove the selected segment components.
Control-click or right-click a segment and choose Decompose Segment Component to replace the component by its path.
Select a segment component to view its Info box.
(View → Show Info, Cmd-Shift-I, also needs to be selected.)
Click the component name in the Info box to replace it with a different component.
Click the arrow button to add and activate the segment glyph in Edit View.
Brushes expand path segments using custom outlines.
A brush can be applied to straight and curved path segments and is most useful when applied to open paths.
The name of a brush glyph starts with _brush. followed by an arbitrary brush name, for example, _brush.arrow.
A brush glyph contains a single closed path and two anchors, start and end.
Choose Glyph → Set Anchors (Cmd-U) to place anchors on the left and right of the layer.
Typically, the two anchors are placed on the baseline or have both the same distance to the baseline.
A brush glyph may contain only one single closed path.
Use Path → Remove Overlap (Cmd-Shift-O) to merge multiple closed paths to a single path.
For example, a _brush.arrow glyph might contain the shape of a rightward pointing arrow.
Place the start and end anchors such that the part of the brush that stretches and curves is in between the two anchors.
Place non-stretching and non-curving parts of the brush before the start and after the end anchor, like this:
Parts of the brush that should bend when following a curve segment need handles, as shown in the image above.
Add handles to a segment by Option-clicking it.
Select a path segment by clicking it or selecting both of its nodes and choose Add Brush from the context menu.
A glyph picker will open, showing brush glyphs only.
Search for the desired brush and insert it by pressing Return.
Typically, brushes are applied to open paths consisting of a single segment.
Brushes can be added to multiple segments by selecting more than one segment before choosing Add Brush.
If nodes are selected, choosing Add Brush will add brushes such that the selected nodes are the end nodes of the new brushes.
A brush is highlighted with a subtle blue background.
Click on the outline of a brush to select it.
Shift-click to select multiple brushes.
A selected brush can be copied with Edit → Copy (Cmd-C) and pasted onto other segments with Edit → Paste (Cmd-V).
Press the Delete key to remove the selected brushes.
Control-click or right-click a brush and choose Decompose Brush to replace the component by its path.
Select a brush to view its Info box.
(View → Show Info, Cmd-Shift-I, also needs to be selected.)
Click the component name in the Info box to replace it with a different component.
Click the arrow button to add and activate the brush glyph in Edit View.
The Pixel tool 
(shortcut X, Shift-B if the Pencil tool is selected) draws pixel components.
Use the pixel tool to create pixel fonts and pixel symbols.
The Pixel tool requires a grid spacing of 2 or above.
Change it in File → Font Info… → Other → Grid Spacing.
See Grid Spacing & Subdivision for details.
The Pixel tool uses the glyph named pixel to draw pixels when clicking and dragging in Edit View.
If the glyph named pixel is not already in the font, Glyphs will offer to add it upon a click with the Pixel tool:
Click Add to create the pixel glyph.
By default, the pixel glyph is a square of the same size as the grid spacing.
Select the Pixel tool, click once, and add a pixel component on the canvas.
Click again to remove the pixel.
Click and drag the mouse to add multiple pixels.
Start to drag on a pixel already in place to remove pixels while dragging.
The pixel glyph can be modified to contain any arbitrary shape.
Reduce the grid spacing to a lower number (for example, the default of 1) to draw path segments smaller than a pixel.
For instance, the pixel can be an x-mark 
for a stitch effect.
Increase the grid spacing again when using the Pixel tool.
The glyph outlines drawn in Edit View belong to a font master.
Initially, a Glyphs file contains a single master named Regular.
If a Glyphs file contains additional masters (for example, a Thin and Bold master), this is referred to as a Multiple Masters setup.
Working with Multiple Masters allows Glyphs to export font instances not just for each master, but also between masters.
A small number of masters can result in a large number of interpolated instances.
In this example, two masters Thin and Bold are used to produce a total of six instances along a Weight axis.
An interpolation axis describes the aspect of the glyph design that changes between masters.
The most common axes are the Weight (from light to bold) and the Width (from condensed to extended), but there are many more possible interpolation axes.
A Multiple Master setup can have one or more axes.
While a single axis can be thought of as a line along which the design varies, two axes create a two-dimensional space in which every point is a possible font instance.
This space is referred to as the designspace, which may also have three or more dimensions.
Two perspectives on the three-axes designspace of ABC Arizona, the typeface in which this handbook is set.
Interpolation axes have two use cases: static instances and variable fonts.
A static instance is a font file at a specific point in the designspace.
For example, consider a Glyphs file with a Weight axis spanning from a Thin master to a Bold master.
Then, a Thin instance is located at one end of the axis, a Bold instance is located at the other end, and a Regular instance is located somewhere in the middle of the axis.
If the Glyphs file has multiple axes, then multiple axis coordinates can be configured for each instance.
Consider a Glyphs file with a Weight and Width axis.
In that case, there may be Thin, Thin Condensed, Thin Expanded, Regular Narrow, Semibold Condensed, and Bold Expanded instances.
Glyphs can also extrapolate static instances.
An extrapolated instance is located outside the coordinates defined by the masters, for example, an Extra Bold instance that is bolder than the Bold master.
In practice, extrapolation is difficult to control, so most font projects only make use of interpolation.
Variable fonts are font files containing information about all masters and interpolation axes, allowing the font user to pick custom locations in the designspace.
For example, for a variable font containing a Weight axis (ranging 300–900) and a Width axis (50–140), a font user might pick SomeFont Weight=600 Width=70 instead of SomeFont Semibold Narrow.
This method allows picking any configuration of weight and width without the font vendor preparing static instances for every possible combination.
Variable fonts may also include static instances, offering a predefined set of axis configurations for convenient access.
Define interpolation axes in File → Font Info… → Font → Axes.
Click the plus button next to the Axes heading to add a new axis.
An axis has a name, a four-character tag, and a hidden-checkbox.
Click the disclosure button to pick one of the predefined axes.
Choosing a predefined axis also sets its four-character tag field with the respective value.
The predefined axes are a combination of the registered OpenType design-variation axes and axes proposed for inclusion in the registry.
Otherwise, define a custom axis (also referred to as a private axis) by setting an arbitrary axis name and a custom four-letter tag.
The tag of a private axis should use four capital letters (A–Z) as not to collide with future registered axes.
For instance, a custom Swash Length axis might use the tag SWLN.
Check the Hidden checkbox to hide an axis in user interfaces.
If set, this signals to applications using the font that they should not display controls (such as a slider) for this axis.
Hide axes if they are applicable only in specialized software.
Applications may or may not respect this option.
In most cases, this checkbox should be left unchecked.
Interpolation requires at least two masters.
Add masters in File → Font Info… → Masters.
Click the plus button located in the bottom-left of the window to add a new master.
See Managing Masters for details.
The Axes Coordinates of a master indicate its position in the designspace.
Add masters and set their axis coordinates such that the designspace is covered by the masters.
For a single Weight axis, two masters suffice:
| Icon | Master Name | Weight |
|---|
| Light | 300 |
| Bold | 700 |
Adding a third master in the middle (for example, Regular at 400) allows for finer control over the interpolation.
The values for the Axes Coordinates fields can be chosen freely.
For the Weight axis, the median vertical stem width can be used as axis coordinate values.
For instance, a Light master with a stem width of 45 might use that as its Weight coordinate, while a Bold master uses its stem width of 160.
A more abstract axis, such as Serif, might use a range from 0 to 100, with no serifs at 0 and long serifs at 100.
Axes that do not smoothly transition, such as an Italic axis where the glyphs flip to different outlines, use a range from 0 to 1.
Add the Axis Location custom parameter to use a different axis range for variable fonts.
This is particularly relevant to registered axes such as Weight and Optical Size.
See Axis Location for details.
Axis coordinates are spread linearly in the designspace.
For variable fonts, the Axis Mappings custom parameter can be added for non-linear axes ranges.
See Axis Mappings for details.
A minimal Multiple Masters setup requires one origin master and one master for each axis.
The Axes Coordinates of the origin master differ from each other master on a single axis.
For example, consider a font with a Weight and Width axis.
Then, the following minimal master setup is possible:
| Icon | Master Name | Weight | Width |
|---|
| Light Condensed | 300 | 50 |
| Light | 300 | 80 |
| Bold | 700 | 80 |
The Light master is the origin master.
Its coordinates differ from the Light Condensed only on the Width axis and from the Bold only on the Weight axis.
The Bold, for example, cannot be the origin master since its coordinates differ from the Light Condensed on both the Weight and Width axes.
See Variable Font Origin for information on choosing the origin master.
The choice of an origin master only matters to variable fonts; for static instances, Glyphs automatically determines the origin master.
While a minimal Multiple Master setup already covers the entire designspace, it offers little control over the design of instances that differ from the origin on multiple axes.
For instance, the minimal setup example in the above subsection can produce a Bold Condensed instance, but its outlines might not be satisfactory.
A more elaborate Multiple Masters setup would include masters at all designspace corners:
| Icon | Master Name | Weight | Width |
|---|
| Light Condensed | 300 | 50 |
| Light | 300 | 80 |
| Bold Condensed | 700 | 50 |
| Bold | 700 | 80 |
Add intermediate masters as needed to fine-tune the design along the interpolation axes.
A complex Multiple Masters setup can span across many masters:
| Icon | Master Name | Weight | Width |
|---|
| Light Condensed | 300 | 50 |
| Light | 300 | 80 |
| Light Extended | 300 | 150 |
| Regular Condensed | 400 | 50 |
| Regular | 400 | 80 |
| Regular Extended | 400 | 150 |
| Bold Condensed | 700 | 50 |
| Bold | 700 | 80 |
| Bold Extended | 700 | 150 |
In File → Font Info… → Exports, click the plus button located in the bottom-left of the window to add a new instance.
See Font Info: Exports for details on adding and configuring instances.
Static instances ( → Add Instance and Add Instance for each Master) are exported as single font files.
The Axes Coordinates of an instance need to be set up as described in Exports: Axes Coordinates.
Note that the Weight Class and Width Class fields are independent of any axis coordinates; see Weight & Width.
Static instances are also included in variable fonts as a set of predefined axis configurations.
This allows a font user to pick a predefined instance from a font style menu instead of configuring the variation axes manually.
Instances that are outside the designspace (extrapolated) cannot be included in variable fonts.
Many custom parameters, including filters, are applied only to static instances when exported as single files, not when included in variable fonts.
This is because, in a variable font, all instances need to be compatible, which means they have compatible outlines, the same glyphs, and the same features.
A variable font setting ( → Add Variable Font Setting) controls the export settings of a variable font.
Adding multiple variable font settings will export multiple variable fonts with different configurations.
Ensure that they have different names, so they do not conflict on export.
Since a variable font setting operates on the entire variable font, it can use the custom parameters that are not applied to its instances.
These include filters, removing glyphs, and adding features.
However, these custom parameters may still lead to incompatible outlines, which is reported as an error when exporting the variable fonts.
Add a Disable Masters custom parameter to a variable font setting to export a subset variable font.
Write the names of font masters into the text field of the parameter, separated by a comma and a space (, ).
These masters will not contribute to the exported variable font.
Axes which are not used by the remaining masters are removed from the variable font.
Glyph outlines need to be compatible for interpolation to work.
Two glyph outlines are compatible when the following attributes are the same across all outlines:
the number of paths and the order of their nodes;
the number of anchors and their names;
the number of components and their referenced glyphs;
the order of paths and components (Filter → Shape Order).
If the outlines of a glyph are not compatible, a red bar is shown above its ascender line in Edit View and a red corner in Font View.
Filter for all incompatible glyphs using Smart Filters (Glyphs includes an Incompatible masters Smart Filter by default).
When using masters that are not compatible by design, such as color fonts, disable the red incompatibility indicators by adding the Enforce Compatibility Check custom parameter in File → Font Info… → Font and unchecking it.
Exporting interpolated instances or variable fonts is not possible if there are glyphs with incompatible outlines.
Use Path → Correct Path Direction (Cmd-Shift-R) as a first measure to fix outline incompatibilities.
This command does three things:
it analyses the path structure and, if necessary, changes the path direction for each path;
it normalizes the start node for each path, usually by choosing the node leftmost node at the bottom of the glyph layer;
it reorders the shapes (paths and components), usually from bottom-left to top-right.
Hold down the Option key to apply the command on all master layers of the selected glyphs (Path → Correct Path Direction for all Masters, Cmd-Opt-Shift-R).
See Controlling Path Direction for more details.
Choose Filter → Shape Order to show a window with the paths and components from all layers of the current glyph.
Rearrange the shapes such that they are in the same order on all layers.
See Shape Order for details.
View → Show Master Compatibility (Cmd-Opt-Ctrl-N) shows the paths, components, and anchors across all masters.
Compatibility view for three incompatible masters: Light, Regular, and Bold.
In this case, a node is missing on the right of the counter of the p (shown in violet).
This leaves a path segment with a larger curvature angle (highlighted in yellow) than on the other masters.
Subsequent segments on the path are marked as incompatible (red).
The following aspects are highlighted in this mode:
Paths and components are colored based on their shape order.
Components are additionally displayed with a checkered pattern.
For the current layer, a shape order index number is written next to the starting node of each path and in the middle of each component.
Diagonal lines connect starting nodes, shape centers, and anchors across the masters.
Select points to show their connecting lines.
Anchors are connected by dashed lines.
Path segments are colored either green, yellow, or red.
Green segments are compatible.
Yellow segments are compatible, but their angle differs by more than 20° between masters, indicating that a node might be missing.
Red segments are incompatible; there is either a missing segment in other masters, or the segment types do not match (curved segment vs. straight segment).
Fix path direction and shape order related issues as described in Correcting Path Direction and Reordering Shapes.
The points on the connecting lines outside the current layer can be dragged to points of other connecting lines to swap to fix mismatched shapes.
For path segment issues, pinpoint the incompatibility caused by selecting nodes and observing whether they fall on the expected spot in the other masters.
If a path, component, or anchor does not exist on a master, its connecting line will point to the origin at (0, 0) on that master.
Glyphs will label components and anchors with red text in cases where these elements do not match:
The master layers of a glyph might be compatible but still produce undesirable interpolations.
This can be the case when all shapes are in the same order but placed in different locations across the masters.
The Master Compatibility view shows such shape-shifting glyphs with crossing diagonal lines.
Interpolations between these masters might produce the following instances:
Fix shapeshifters by reordering the shapes, either with Path → Correct Path Direction, Filter → Shape Order, or by dragging a point of a connecting line to the correct shape.
Intermediate layers allow adjustments at a designspace location for a single glyph without adding another master.
This helps fix interpolation issues that occur in a single glyph.
For example, consider a two-master setup, Thin–Black, where the crossbar of the e appears too thin in the regular weights:
Interpolation between two masters: without Intermediate layer (above) and with Intermediate layer at the regular weight (below).
Firstly, select the master layer in the Layers palette most similar to the desired Intermediate layer.
Then, click the plus button in the Layers palette to add a new layer.
Control-click or right-click the new layer and choose Intermediate from the context menu.
A number field for each axis will appear.
Enter the axis coordinates of the Intermediate, similar to how the Axes Coordinates work in File → Font Info… → Masters.
Use the axis ranges displayed next to the fields for guidance.
If a field is left empty, then the Intermediate layer uses the axis coordinate from the master layer to which it has been added.
This is why adding an Intermediate to the most similar master layer is helpful.
Confirm the entered values by pressing Return.
In the Layers palette, Intermediate layers are displayed as the comma-separated axis coordinates between curly braces (for example, {90} or {80, 120}).
This is why Intermediate layers are also referred to as brace layers.
Intermediate layers allow for virtual masters.
A virtual master works like a master in File → Font Info… → Masters, but it only affects a small number of glyphs.
Other glyphs do not need to be redrawn, and kerning pairs do not need to be defined for virtual masters.
For example, an axis might control the height of crossbars in glyphs such as A, E, F, and H.
All other glyphs, including numbers, punctuation, and symbols, are unaffected by this axis, so it is a good candidate for a virtual master.
Add an axis as described in Setting up Axes.
It can be one of the standard axes or a custom axis.
The virtual master is defined using a Virtual Master custom parameter in File → Font Info… → Font.
Click the value of the custom parameter and set its axis coordinates like any other master.
Confirm the dialog with OK.
Note that coordinates for the new axis must be set for the existing masters in File → Font Info… → Masters.
With both the axis and the virtual master setup, add Intermediate layers to the glyphs that need to be adjusted for the virtual master.
When exporting to variable fonts, only deltas for these glyphs are stored, which keeps the font file size small.
Some glyphs may not stay compatible as they interpolate.
Examples include the dollar sign ($) losing its stroke in the middle in bold weights or double-story forms switching to a single-story form at an italic angle (a → a and g → g).
There are three methods by which glyph shapes can be switched:
using Alternate layers to switch to different glyph outlines in both static instances and variable fonts;
replacing glyphs with other glyphs at export;
substituting glyphs by other glyphs for certain regions of the designspace in variable fonts.
An Alternate layer is a layer that contains an alternate glyph outline and information about where in the designspace the glyph should switch to the alternate outline.
Alternate layers are added to individual glyphs.
For each master, select the master layer in the Layers palette, click the plus button to add a new layer, Control-click or right-click the new layer and choose Alternate from the context menu.
After converting to an Alternate layer, number fields for the minimum and maximum coordinates will open.
These describe the designspace region in which the alternate shape should be used.
For example, consider a single Weight axis ranging from 44 to 130 where the Alternate layer should be used for a weight of 90 or greater.
In that case, set the min value to 90 and leave the max field empty.
Confirm by pressing Return.
The name of the Alternate layer is displayed in bold as comma-separated axis ranges between square brackets (for example, [90‹wg] or [80‹wg, 25‹wd‹50]).
This is why Alternate layers are also referred to as bracket layers.
Common axis names are abbreviated to two letters; the full axis tag is shown for all other axes.
Modify the outlines on the Alternate layers to fit the alternate design of the glyph.
Alternate layers do not need to be compatible with the master layers, but they do need to be compatible with each other.
The Master Compatibility view also shows Alternate layers, but they are offset by a gap:
Master Compatibility view for the dollar glyph with two masters (Thin and Black), two Intermediate layers, and three Alternate layers.
The currently active glyph layer is both an Intermediate layer and an Alternate layer.
A layer can be both an Intermediate and Alternate layer.
In that case, both the square bracket Alternate name ([…]) and the curly brace Intermediate name ({…}) are displayed in the Layers palette.
Double-click either one to edit its settings.
A master layer can also be designated as an Alternate layer.
For that, Control-click or right-click a master layer in the Layers palette and choose Alternate.
Configure the axis range of the master layer like a normal Alternate layer.
Then, add a new layer to the master, mark it as an Alternate layer, and leave both the min and max fields empty.
This renames the new layer to [].
Place the alternate outline on the master layer and the normal outline on the [] layer.
Whether the master or a backup layer is converted to an Alternate layer is not relevant to the exported fonts; it is purely an organizational choice within Glyphs.
In variable fonts, Alternate layers are activated using a specific OpenType feature.
Set the Feature for Feature Variations custom parameter in File → Font Info… → Font to the four-letter feature tag.
By default, Glyphs uses rlig, but rvrn is also a common choice.
Different features will be processed at different stages of the text shaping process; this depends on the operating system and application displaying the text.
Glyphs can be replaced by other glyphs at export for both static instances and variable font settings.
For this, two custom parameters must be added in File → Font Info… → Exports.
Firstly, add the Rename Glyphs custom parameter, click its value to edit it, and write one glyph swap per line.
A glyph swap is written as someglyph=otherglyph.
This switches the two glyphs in the exported font.
For instance, switch the dollar glyph for a simplified dollar.alt by adding the line dollar=dollar.alt.
List all glyphs with their replacement and confirm with OK.
Add the Remove Glyphs custom parameter to not just swap, but replace glyphs.
Click its value to edit it and list all alternative glyphs that now, after the swap, contain the normal glyph outlines.
Conditional substitutions allow glyphs to be replaced in variable fonts.
See Conditional Feature Code for details.
An example for the dollar → dollar.alt substitution from the examples above may look like this:
#ifdef VARIABLE
condition 80 < wght;
sub dollar by dollar.alt;
#endif
This replaces the dollar with the dollar.alt glyph for a weight of 80 or greater.
When exporting to both variable fonts and static instances, consider using the glyph replacement described in Replacing Glyphs at Export to mimic the conditional substitutions in static instances.
Font masters are listed in the Layers palette.
Click the / buttons to show a layer even if it is not currently active.
See Layers for details.
Use the Select All Layers tool (shortcut Shift-V) to edit the paths of all visible layers at the same time.
Click the / buttons in the Layers palette to show or hide layers.
Switch between the Select and Select All Layers tool by clicking and holding the Select icon, then choose the desired tool from the menu:
When in Edit View, choose Edit → Show All Masters to add all master layers of the current glyph to the Edit View tab.
This command also inserts Intermediate and Alternate layers.
Select the Edit → Keep Layer Selection in Sync option to keep the current selection when changing masters.
This option only works when working on a compatible glyph.
A font typically refers to a single font file, like Regular, Bold, or Semibold Italic.
In Glyphs, these font files are exported from the instances added in File → Font Info… → Exports.
In most software applications, fonts are grouped by their family name, which is set in File → Font Info… → Font → General → Family Name.
Instances and variable font settings can overwrite the family name set in the Font tab with a familyNames custom parameter.
Note that the Default language is used for grouping; other localized names are only used to display the family name on screen.
Use style linking as described in Style Linking to link the bold and italic styles.
This enables the Bold and Italic buttons and the ⌘B and ⌘I keyboard shortcuts common in many applications.
A variable font contains a font family in a single file.
While it is technically possible to put all family members into a single variable font, it may be desirable to split the family across multiple variable fonts.
For example, an italic variable font may be sold separately from the regular variable font.
Add multiple variable font settings in File → Font Info… → Exports to export different variable fonts from a single Glyphs file (for example, a retail version and a trial version with a reduced glyph set).
If the glyph set or OpenType features differ significantly, consider using multiple Glyphs files for the different variable fonts.
Create a Glyphs file for each instance with File → Generate Instances.
This command reads the instances of the currently open Glyphs file, converts them to font masters, and creates a new Glyphs file with each of those masters.
Convert a single instance to a master by selecting the instance in File → Font Info… → Exports and choosing Instance as Master from the plus menu.
The master will be added to the Masters tab.
Copy a master from an open Glyphs file into the currently open file by choosing Add Other Master from the plus menu in File → Font Info… → Masters.
Compare two font masters by choosing Edit → Compare Fonts…
On the top of the Compare Fonts window are controls for picking two font files.
Choose from all font files that are currently open in Glyphs.
Below the file controls are pop-up buttons for choosing a master from the font file.
The two selected masters are compared in the center of the window.
Select the same font files twice to compare different masters of the same file.
The window lists the details of the two masters in a two-column layout, comparing font info, master metrics, glyph outlines, and kerning pairs.
These categories can be collapsed or expanded by clicking the disclosure triangle next to the gray headings.
Click a row to select it.
On the bottom of the window are two buttons: Use Left and Use Right.
With a row selected, click one of these buttons to write the value from one side to the other.
This can help fix inconsistencies between masters and Glyphs files.
Open Edit → Compare Family… for a comparison of all open documents.
Each document is represented by a column:
Pick from the pop-over menu located in the top-left of the window the attribute to compare.
Choose from the following options: Component Names, Anchors, Left Kerning Group and Right Kerning Group, and Glyphs.
Empty values are indicated with two dashes (--).
If a glyph does not exist in one of the documents, (missing glyph) is shown.
The Glyphs option shows a red ring with a stroke instead:
Double-click a cell to open the corresponding glyph in Edit View.
Click the filter button to filter the list of glyphs.
All shows all glyphs with relevant information.
Missing in One shows glyphs that are not present in all documents.
Ignore If Missing in One shows only glyphs that are present in all documents.
Click the pin button to keep the window above all Glyphs document windows.
The Update button reloads all glyph information in case the documents were edited.
Additional adjustments can be made to variable fonts that affect their axes, fallback mode on legacy systems, and file size.
Variable fonts require an origin master.
The outlines of this master will be stored in the variable font file.
All other masters are only stored as deltas from the origin master.
By default, Glyphs uses the first master in File → Font Info… → Masters as the origin master.
Designate a different master as the origin by adding the Variable Font Origin custom parameter in File → Font Info… → Font.
A minimal variable font setup requires at least an origin master and one master for each variation axis.
This is described in detail in Minimal Multiple Masters Setup.
The origin master is used as a fallback on operating systems and applications that do not support variable fonts.
Therefore, consider picking a regular master as the origin.
Thereby, legacy systems will show a regular font instead of a thin, bold, or italic font.
Since the regular master tents to sit in the center of the designspace, it requires more deltas to describe the other masters.
This increases the font file size compared to picking a corner master like Light or Light Condensed.
For environments where file size is paramount (for example, webfonts), consider picking the origin master from a designspace corner.
When exporting a variable font, its design variation axes will use the same coordinates as the axis coordinates set in Glyphs.
However, in some cases, the coordinates inside the Glyphs file might differ from the desired axis coordinates of the variable font.
A common example is the Weight axis, which in Glyphs is often based on steam widths, but the OpenType specification recommends the Weight axis to use a range of 1–1000.
Similar recommendations exist for the Italic, Optical Size, Slant, and Width axis.
Use different axis coordinates by adding an Axis Location custom parameter to all masters in File → Font Info… → Masters.
Click its value to edit it and assign each axis the coordinates that the master represents in variable fonts.
Further configure the axis coordinates of variable fonts using axis mappings.
For variable fonts, the axis coordinates that the user picks can be transformed to different axis coordinates by the font.
Axis mappings perform these transformations.
By default, variable fonts use a linear axis mapping.
Linear in this context means that each axis coordinate is mapped onto itself and is thus unchanged.
For instance, consider a Weight axis ranging from 44 to 130.
If a font user picks a weight of 95 on a slider, then that value is mapped to 95 (it is left unchanged) and used for interpolation:
The linear axis mapping that is used by default.
The slider is equally sensitive for the entire axis range.
This means that changing the slider value by the same amount changes the interpolation value by the same amount everywhere along the axis.
Axis coordinates are mapped to other values by adding control points to the axis mapping that deviate from the linear diagonal:
A non-linear axis mapping with two control points.
The slider is more sensitive on the lower end than on the higher end.
This means that the same amount of change on the low end of the slider results in larger interpolation value changes than on the high end.
The internal coordinates are the values set in File → Font Info… → Masters → Axes Coordinates.
The external coordinates are the result of axis mapping; they are used for interpolation.
Setup axis mapping by adding the Axis Mappings custom parameter in File → Font Info… → Font.
Click its value to edit the mappings:
The axis mappings dialog is split into three panes:
The mappings list is divided into two columns: the internal coordinates on the left and the external coordinates on the right.
Note that the external coordinates also have the Axis Location custom parameter applied, if set, which is why the internal and external coordinates might differ even for a linear mapping.
Click the plus button to add a new control point.
The new point will show up in the mappings list and the visual editor.
Alternatively, click on the blue line in the visual editor to add a new control point.
Click a value in the list to edit it or drag a control point up and down in the visual editor.
Move the currently selected point with the arrow keys up/down and left/right.
Hold down Shift for increments of 10 and Command for 100.
The currently selected control point is highlighted in the list and enlarged in the visual editor.
Delete the selected control point by clicking the minus button.
Add an Axis Mappings custom parameter to a variable font setting in File → Font Info… → Exports to customize the mapping for different variable font exports.
The Style Attributes (STAT) table is information stored in a font file that gives names to different locations on the variation axes.
This allows software using a variable font to display a style name for every possible axis configuration.
For example, consider a variable font named Example that has a Weight axis (200-700) and a Width axis (50–150).
The STAT table allows to define names for certain axis locations:
| Weight | Name |
|---|
200 | Thin |
300 | Light |
400 | Regular |
500 | Medium |
600 | Semibold |
700 | Bold
|
| Width | Name |
|---|
50 | Compressed |
75 | Condensed |
100 | Normal |
125 | Wide |
150 | Expanded
|
With this information, applications can construct a style name for arbitrary axis configurations.
Setting Weight = 600, Width = 75 might yield Example Semibold Condensed.
Names can be marked as elidable.
An elidable name is removed when combined with other names.
For example, the default Normal width name may be marked as elidable so that the Bold Normal style is simplified to Bold.
Glyphs automatically compiles all information required for the STAT table from the font instance names and their axis coordinates.
If the STAT table is not as desired, customize it by adding the following two custom parameters in File → Font Info… → Exports.
Add the Style Name as STAT entry custom parameter to instances that differ from the variable font origin on a single axis.
Set the value to the four-letter tag of that axis.
If, for example, the Regular master is the origin and the Light instance differs from it only on the Weight axis, add this parameter and set it to wght.
Add the Elidable STAT Axis Value Name custom parameter to instances that have an elidable name component on an axis.
Set the value to the four-letter tag of the axis on which the instance name is elidable.
For example, a Regular instance might need multiple parameters, one for each font axis, since its name is elidable in every case.
Filters process glyph layers.
Their functionality ranges from simple width transformations to randomized distortions of glyph outlines.
Glyphs includes a list of built-in filters.
Install additional filters from the Plugin Manager.
These filters are also listed in the Filter menu and applicable as custom parameters.
Apply a filter by choosing Filter → (name of the filter).
The filter will be applied to all selected glyphs in Font View.
In Edit View, the filter will be applied to a selection of glyphs made with the Text tool or to the current glyph with any other tool.
Filters usually affect only the currently visible layer.
Applying a filter to all masters of a glyph may therefore require re-running the filter on all other masters.
Quickly apply the last used filter by pressing Cmd-R.
Most filters can be applied to an instance on export using custom parameters.
However, some filters cannot be used for variable fonts as they would produce incompatible outlines.
Add a custom parameter by navigating to File → Font Info… → Exports → Custom Parameters.
Click the plus button, choose Filter, and click Add.
A Filter parameter with a text field will be added to the list of custom parameters.
Write the name of the filter followed by its arguments into the text field.
Arguments are separated by semicolons (;).
Some argument values have a specific position in the arguments list, and some are named.
Named arguments begin with their name and a colon (:) followed by their value.
FilterName; value1; value2; someName: value3
For example, the following line would apply the RoundCorner filter with a radius of 15 and visual corrections activated (1 for active, 0 for inactive):
RoundCorner; 15; 1
The order and meaning of arguments depend on the filter.
See Built-in Filters for details on the filters included in Glyphs.
Number value tokens can be used to dynamically insert values by writing the name of a token prefixed by a dollar sign:
RoundCorner; $roundRadius; 1
When used in a variable font setting, number value tokens are used to interpolate the filter values.
Limit a filter to a subset of glyphs by adding an include argument that lists all glyph names for which the filter should be applied:
RoundCorner; 15; 1; include: a, b, c
Similarly, use the exclude argument to apply a filter to all glyphs except for the listed glyphs:
RoundCorner; 15; 1; exclude: a, b, c
Spaces in filter parameters are optional and may be added to improve legibility.
Multiple Filter parameters can be added to a single instance.
They are applied during export in the order of the custom parameters.
Filter parameters get applied after the components of a glyph are decomposed.
Use a PreFilter custom parameter instead to run a filter before glyph decomposition.
The filter rules in the custom parameter text field are the same for PreFilter.
See Decomposing for more on glyph decomposition.
When applied from the Filter menu, many filters have an actions button in the lower left of their dialog window.
Click the button and choose Copy Custom Parameter.
The custom parameter for the filter can now be pasted into an instance.
Open File → Font Info… → Exports, choose an instance from the sidebar, click the Custom Parameters heading, and paste the filter with Edit → Paste (Cmd-V).
Shape Order dialog window:
One column per master/alternate/intermediate layer.
Drag to reorder shapes within a column.
The insertion position is highlighted in blue.
The Shape Order filter lists all shapes (paths and components) of a glyph across all layers.
Paths are shown in navy blue; components in brown.
Each column lists the shapes of a master/alternate/intermediate layer.
Click and drag a shape to reorder it within its column.
Confirm the chosen shape order with OK, or revert to the original shape order with Cancel.
Columns are separated by a gray gutter if there are multiple independent interpolations for the glyph.
That might be the case when using intermediate layers or when employing a complex master setup (for example, when condensed masters interpolate independently of extended masters).
The Shape Order filter is useful when Path → Correct Path Directions for all Masters (Cmd-Opt-Shift-R) does not yield the desired master compatibility.
Filter → Extrude will create a solid shadow offset for the shape of the glyph.
The following parameters are configurable:
- Offset
Controls the length of the shadow in font units.
- Angle
The direction of the extrusion in counterclockwise degrees from a right horizontal stretch.
- Don’t Subtract
By default, the original shape will be subtracted from the extruded shape.
Suppress such a subtraction by enabling this option.
From left to right:
1 normal glyph
2 standard extrude
3 composition of 1 and 2
4 Don’t subtract enabled
The custom parameter rule is as follows:
Extrude; Offset; Angle; Don’t Subtract
For example, to offset by 100 units at an angle of −30 degrees:
Extrude; 100; -30
Don’t Subtract is disabled by default.
Enable the option by setting its value to 1:
Extrude; 100; -30; 1
Filter → Hatch Outline creates hatched glyphs.
The following parameters are configurable:
- Origin
Defines the origin point (X and Y coordinates) where the hatching pattern begins.
- Step Width
The distance between the strokes.
- Angle
The angle at which the strokes are drawn.
0° is horizontal, 90° is vertical.
- Offset Path
The thickness of the strokes.
Disable this option to create open paths instead (which may be useful in combination with other filters or plug-ins).
The custom parameter rule is as follows:
HatchOutlineFilter; OriginX:X; OriginY:Y; StepWidth:Distance; Angle:Angle; Offset:Offset
The arguments are all optional and can be written in any order.
If left out, the argument of an option will assume its default value.
For instance, for strokes, a thickness of 5 inclined at a 40° angle and placed at every 20 units:
HatchOutlineFilter; StepWidth:20; Angle:40; Offset:5
The hatch origin will default to X = 0, Y = 0.
Filter → Offset Curve changes the thickness of stems horizontally and vertically.
The following parameters are configurable:
- Horizontal, Vertical
Define the horizontal and vertical offset from the current outline.
Positive values expand the outline; negative values contract the outline.
Click the lock button to use the horizontal field for both values.
- Make Stroke
Offsets the outline in both directions to form a stroke along the outline.
This is useful for creating outlines from closed paths.
See Creating Strokes for creating non-destructive strokes.
- Auto Stroke
Offsets the outline in both directions while maintaining the vertical dimensions intact when making a stroke.
If enabled, it assumes a position of 50 %.
- Position
Controls the distribution of the stroke.
0 % places the stroke to the left of the path, 100 % places it to the right.
At 50 %, the stroke is evenly distributed along the path.
From left to right:
Make Stroke with Position of 100 %, 50 %, 0 %, and 0 % with Keep Compatible enabled.
- Keep Compatible
Keeps the offset curve compatible across masters by not introducing any new nodes or handles.
Enabling this option might reduce the offset accuracy.
- Cap Style
Defines the stroke endings style when making a stroke from an open path.
Choose from flat , square , round , round inset , and aligned to the vertical and horizontal axes .
The custom parameter rule is as follows:
OffsetCurve; Horizontal; Vertical; Make Stroke; Position; Keep Compatible; cap:Cap Style
The Horizontal and Vertical offsets are in font units.
Make Stroke is 0 for false or 1 for true.
Position is either a percentage (for example, 0.5 for 50 %) or auto for the Auto Stroke option.
Set Keep Compatible to keep to enable the option or leave the argument off to disable it.
Cap Style is 1 for , 2 for , 3 for , 4 for , and 0 or left off for .
For example, for a stroke with thickness 20 (10 units on either side) and a cap style of :
OffsetCurve; 10; 10; 1; 0.5; cap:1
Curves can be offset non-destructively using stroke styles.
Filter → Roughen segments an outline into straight line segments and randomly moves all resulting nodes within a given limit.
Control the size of the line segments with the Segment Length field.
The Horizontal and Vertical values control the maximum offset for each node.
The custom parameter rule is as follows:
Roughenizer; Length; Horizontal; Vertical
For example, the following rule would match the Roughen dialog window shown above:
Roughenizer; 15; 15; 10
Filter → Round Corners rounds all selected corners of a path.
The filter is only applied to outwards pointing corners if nothing is selected.
The Radius is defined in font units.
Choose Visual corrections to balance the rounding of acute and obtuse corners using smaller and larger radii, respectively.
Such visual corrections tend to create more natural-looking rounding.
From left to right:
No filter, without visual correction, with visual correction, filter applied to outwards and inwards pointing corners.
The custom parameter rule is as follows:
RoundCorner; Radius; Visual Corrections
If Radius is positive, it is applied to outwards pointing corners;
if it is negative, it is applied to inwards pointing corners.
Add multiple RoundCorner custom parameter filters to control both.
Set Visual Corrections to 1 to enable it or 0 to disable it.
For example, the following rule settings apply a corner radius of 55 to outwards pointing corners with visual corrections enabled:
RoundCorner; 55; 1
When used on a variable font setting, add the keyword compatible at the end to improve the compatibility of the resulting rounded outlines, like so:
RoundCorner; 55; 1; compatible
Filter → Rounded Font rounds the stem endings with appropriate overshoots.
For this, it uses the vertical stem metrics as defined in File → Font Info… → Masters → Stems.
The custom parameter rule is as follows:
RoundedFont; Vertical Stem Width
If a Vertical Stem Width argument is set, its value is used instead of the vertical stem width from the master metrics.
Such an override can be helpful when combined with the include and exclude arguments to define a different stem width for a subset of glyphs.
For example, consider three Filter custom parameters for an instance:
RoundedFont; exclude: f, k, t, dollar, percent
RoundedFont; 74; include: f, k, t
RoundedFont; 86; include: dollar, percent
Here, the glyphs f, k, t, dollar ($), and percent (%) would be processed with special Vertical Stem Width values.
See Filters as Custom Parameters for details on include and exclude.
The Transformations filter is split into three dialogs: Transform Metrics, Transformations, and Interpolate with Background.
Glyph → Transform Metrics assigns either a new width or new sidebearings to the selected glyph layers.
Enable Width to assign a new width to all selected glyphs.
Check on both sides to modify both sides equally to match the new width.
Otherwise, the points on the layer keep their original coordinates.
Uncheck Width to set new sidebearings.
Control whether the left sidebearing (LSB), the right sidebearing (RSB), or both should be changed using the checkboxes next to their fields.
If Relative is selected, the LSB and RSB values are added to the current sidebearings (or subtracted if the entered values are negative).
Otherwise, the LSB and RSB values overwrite the existing sidebearings.
Path → Transformations applies a linear transformation to the selected points or selected layers.
Translate moves points by a given X and Y value.
Origin defines the point from which the transformation originates.
Scale scales the selection along the horizontal and vertical axis.
If the lock button is locked , the horizontal value is used for both axes.
Slant skews the selection without optical correction.
Click the Slant label and choose Cursivy for an optically corrected skew.
Note that Cursivy requires horizontal and vertical metrics to be set in File → Font Info… → Masters → Stems.
Path → Interpolate with Background results in an interpolation of the foreground and background layers.
A value of 0 % leaves the foreground unchanged; 100 % replaces the foreground with the background, and values in-between result in an interpolated shape.
Use a value below 0 % or above 100 % to extrapolate.
Note that this filter does not work if the foreground and background are not compatible.
The custom parameter rule is as follows:
Transformations; LSB:LSB, RSB:RSB; Width:Width; ScaleX:Scale X; ScaleY:Scale Y; Slant:Slant; SlantCorrection:Cursivy; OffsetX:X; OffsetY:Y; Origin:Origin Metric
LSB and RSB set the left and right sidebearings.
Prefix these values with a + (plus), - (minus), * (asterisk, multiply), or / (forward slash, divide) symbol to change the sidebearings relative to their current values.
Width can be prefixed by + or -.
For example, to multiply the LSB by 2 and add 15 to the RSB, use the following filter rule:
Transformations; LSB:*2; RSB:+15
Scale X and Scale Y are percentages where a value of 100 does not scale, < 100 scales down, and > 100 scales up.
Set Cursivy to 0 to disable slant correction;
it is 1 by default.
Set Origin Metric to 0 for cap height, 1 for ½ cap height, 2 for x-height, 3 for ½ x-height (default), or 4 for baseline.
For example, the following rule sets the width of all glyphs to 700, scales the glyph outlines to 120 % (both horizontally and vertically), cursivies the outlines to a 14° angle (adding SlantCorrection:0 would use normal slanting), and moves the outlines by 8 units to the right and 22 units down such that all these transformations originate from the x-height:
Transformations; Width:700; ScaleX:120; ScaleY:120; Slant:14; OffsetX:8; OffsetY:-22; Origin:2
Path → Add Extremes adds missing nodes on extrema.
The custom parameter rule is the filter name AddExtremes without any arguments.
Path → Remove Overlap removes the overlap of the selected paths, or all paths if none are selected, or multiple glyphs are selected.
It also clears the selected glyphs of all open paths and stray nodes.
The filter expects all outline orientations to be set correctly (see Controlling Path Direction).
Apply this filter as a custom parameter with the RemoveOverlap name and no arguments.
Alternatively, apply Remove Overlap by checking its checkbox in the export dialog.
Glyphs extends the AFDKO feature syntax with a number of additional capabilities.
Tokens are pieces of code that help automate the feature code.
They dynamically insert values and glyph names into feature code, and their syntax starts with a dollar sign ($).
There are three types of tokens: number values, glyph properties, and glyph predicates.
A number value token inserts the values defined in File → Font Info… → Masters → Number Values.
Number value tokens are written with a dollar sign followed by the number value name.
For example, the token $padding inserts the padding
number value on the master of the font.
The value inserted by the token is interpolated if multiple masters exist.
Tokens also support basic arithmetic.
Wrap the name of the number value in curly braces to use plus +, minus -, times *, and divide / operators: ${padding*2}.
The name of the number value must be placed at the start of the arithmetic expression.
Such operations can be helpful in, for example, the capital spacing cpsp feature:
pos @Uppercase <$padding 0 ${padding*2} 0>;
Hold down the Option key and click a number value token to show its computed value.
A glyph property token is written as ${glyphName:property} where glyphName is the name of a glyph and property is a dot-separated property path.
Properties can be metrics (width, LSB, RSB, TSB, BSB) and anchor positions (such as anchors.top.x).
Basic arithmetic is supported as in number value tokens.
For example:
# glyph positioning such as in the 'cpsp' feature
pos a.alt <${period:LSB} 0 ${period:LSB*2} 0>;
# custom mark to base positioning
pos base b <anchor
${b:anchors.top_special.x}
${b:anchors.top_special.y}> mark @SpecialTopMark;
Option-click a glyph property token to show its value.
Glyph predicate tokens insert a space-separated list of glyph names.
The predicate determines the glyphs matched and inserted.
For example, $[script == "adlam"] expands to a list of all glyphs belonging to the Adlam script, and $[name endswith ".star"] expands to a list of all glyphs ending with a .star suffix.
When used in a feature class, predicate tokens can be written among other glyph names, like this:
period comma $[category == "Symbol"]
would expand to:
period comma at ampersand plus minus ...
Within prefixes and features, the predicate needs to be wrapped in square brackets, like this:
@Signs = [period comma $[category == "Symbol"]];
@SmallCaps = [$[case == smallCaps]];
The predicate can check for different aspects of a glyph:
- True/False
Check whether a boolean true or false condition applies.
For example, $[isAligned == true], $[hasHints == false], or $[isColorGlyph == true].
- Numbers
Check for numeric values of the glyph.
For example, $[countOfLayers == 3] or $[countOfUnicodes > 0].
Numbers are also used for glyph properties with a limited set of values.
For example, $[colorIndex == 5] (see Color Label for color numbers), $[case == upper] (use noCase, upper, lower, smallCaps, minor, or other for comparison), or $[direction == 2] (0: LTR, 1: BiDi, 2: RTL).
- Strings
Match a text string with a glyph property.
For example, $[name endswith ".sc"], $[script == "balinese"], or $[category == "Letter"].
- Objects
Access nested glyph data for comparison.
For example, $[layer.anchors.top.y > 600], $[layer.maxX > 300], or $["ipa" in tags].
Predicates can also be combined.
Write AND between two predicates if both need to be true.
Write OR if only one of the two needs to be true for the glyph to be included.
Write NOT before a predicate to invert it; that is, include all glyphs not matching the predicate.
If needed, use parentheses to group predicates.
For example:
$[script == "greek" AND case == upper]
$["todo" in tags OR NOT note contains "done"]
$["ipa" in tags OR ("lang" in tags AND case == lower)]
Glyph predicate tokens also support a special class(...) function that represents all glyphs contained in a feature class (@SomeClass).
Use it to check whether a glyph is in a given class, like this:
# all lowercase glyphs of the class @SomeClass
$[name in class(SomeClass) AND case == lower]
# the intersection of two classes
$[name in class(Narrow) AND name in class(TopMark)]
Option-click a glyph predicate token to show a list of all matching glyphs.
Feature code can be wrapped in #ifdef blocks to limit it to variable fonts.
Such a code block ends with a #endif line:
#ifdef VARIABLE
sub a by a.var;
#endif
Rules inside a #ifdef (if defined) block are included only in variable fonts.
Use #ifndef (if not defined) to include feature rules only in non-variable fonts:
#ifndef VARIABLE
sub a by a.static;
#endif
Variable-only blocks may contain OpenType feature variations.
These restrict substitution and positioning rules to a specific region of the designspace.
Define a feature variation by writing the condition keyword followed by the axis ranges to which the code following the condition should be limited:
#ifdef VARIABLE
condition 600 < wght < 900;
sub dollar by dollar.alt;
#endif
Axis ranges are written as the axis tag bounded by a lower and upper limit.
Write a less-than sign (<) between the limit value and the axis tag.
Note that, although the less-than sign is written for both the lower and upper limit, the lower limit actually behaves as if a less-than-or-equal sign (≤) was used.
An axis range can specify both a lower and upper limit, or only one of the two.
A condition can be restricted to multiple axis ranges.
Separate them with a comma.
The code following the condition is used only if all specified axis ranges match.
#ifdef VARIABLE
condition 600 < wght < 900, 70 < wdth < 90;
sub won by won.boldcondensed;
#endif
Position (pos) rules can be contextualized to specific regions of the designspace.
Write axis tags and their internal coordinates in parentheses, followed by the value to be used at that location of the designspace.
For example, in the cpsp feature:
pos @Uppercase 10; # static
pos @Uppercase 10 (wdth:80) 20; # variable
There can be multiple alternative values and axes:
pos @Uppercase 10 (wdth:80) 20 (wdth:40 opsz:28) 30;
The same works for the four-value syntax:
pos @Digit colon' <10 50 20 0
(wdth:80) 30 40 60 0
(wdth:40 opsz:28) 5 10 10 0> @Digit;
In a variable font, the position value interpolates smoothly along the specified axes.
Glyphs may be removed with a feature using the delete keyword (or its abbreviation: del).
Remove all occurrences of a glyph by writing its name after the delete keyword:
delete tonos;
Glyphs may also be deleted contextually.
Mark the glyph to be deleted by adding a single quote (') after its name.
Define the context by writing glyph names and classes before and after the marked glyph.
In the following example, tonos is only deleted when followed by Alpha:
delete tonos' Alpha;
The delete keyword is not supported by standard AFDKO-based tools.
Alternatively, substitute a glyph by the special keyword NULL to delete it.
This method also works when used with AFDKO tools outside of Glyphs.
sub tonos by NULL;
sub tonos' Alpha by NULL;
Lookups written inside a feature block are applied when the feature is enabled by the typesetting system.
Commonly, this is the intended behavior.
Some lookups, however, should not be applied directly by the feature.
Instead, they are used as part of a different lookup, for example via a chaining substitution.
In such cases, the definition lookup needs to be moved outside of the feature block.
In Glyphs, this is done by writing the lookup definition in a Prefix section.
However, since the Prefix code is placed before the Features code, and lookups are applied in the order in which they are written, such prefix lookups might get applied too early.
Resolve this issue by writing the standalone keyword before the lookup keyword when defining a lookup inside a feature.
This will apply the lookup only when used from other lookups, while keeping the order of the lookup unchanged.
For example, the following is a stand-alone lookup being used as part of a chaining substitution inside the ccmp feature:
standalone lookup demo {
sub gravecomb by gravecomb.case;
sub acutecomb by acutecomb.case;
} demo;
sub @Uppercase @CombiningTopAccents' lookup demo;
For lookups defined outside of a feature, the standalone keyword is redundant and will be ignored.
The standard feature syntax requires the name of a lookup to be repeated at the end of the lookup definition:
lookup some_descriptive_lookup_name {
# lookup code
} some_descriptive_lookup_name;
In Glyphs, the lookup name at the end may be omitted:
lookup some_descriptive_lookup_name {
# lookup code
};
In Glyphs, the language keyword may be followed by more than one language tag:
language ENG DEU FRA;
Without this syntax extension, rules that do not apply to the default language need to be repeated for every language for which they apply.
For example:
script latn;
language AZE;
sub i by idotaccent;
language CRT;
sub i by idotaccent;
language KAZ;
sub i by idotaccent;
language TAT;
sub i by idotaccent;
language TRK;
sub i by idotaccent;
The above code can be shortened to the following:
script latn;
language AZE CRT KAZ TAT TRK;
sub i by idotaccent;
Glyphs allows multiple substitution (one-to-many) to use classes instead of just single glyphs.
This works for both simple and contextual rules:
sub @Symbol by @SymbolLeft @SymbolRight;
sub @Left @Symbol' @Right by @SymbolLeft @SymbolRight;
The class that gets substituted (@Symbol in the example above) needs to have the same number of glyphs as the classes that it gets substituted by (@SymbolLeft, @SymbolRight).
If there is a single glyph or a class containing a single glyph on either side of the substitution rule, that glyph is repeated to match the count of the other classes in the substitution.
The lookupflag keyword resets any previous lookup flags and sets a new set of flags.
For example, to reset the previous flags and ignore marks in the current lookup, the following code line can be placed at the start of a lookup definition:
lookupflag IgnoreMarks;
When writing lookups, it is common to ignore any prior flags without setting new ones.
In the standard feature syntax this is done by using the special flag 0:
lookupflag 0;
As an alternative, Glyphs allows resetting lookup flags without setting new flags by simply defining an empty lookupflag statement:
lookupflag;
PostScript hinting is a method to improve display at low resolutions for fonts with PostScript/CFF outlines.
TrueType flavor OpenType fonts use a different method for hinting; see TrueType Hinting for details.
The eventual picture on the screen is created by a software called the rasterizer.
Hints help the rasterizer to create a more even glyph image.
Especially stems are harmonized to look similar across a line of text.
PostScript hints are simpler but also less flexible than TrueType hints.
Most hinting information revolves around determining which part of a letter is a necessary stroke element and should not be omitted at small sizes.
There are two kinds of hints.
Font-level hints or font-wide hints store general information that applies to the entire font and encompasses standard stems and alignment zones.
Glyph-level hints are little pieces of information placed inside a glyph that help the rasterizer stretch the outline across the pixel grid.
They can either be stem hints or ghost hints.
The best practice is choosing good font-level hints and letting an algorithm called the autohinter find the glyph-level hints.
Hinting only makes sense if the font has repeated regular features.
If the font is very irregular, like many handwritten fonts are, or like ornamental and grunge fonts, then hinting cannot help to improve the rendering.
Also, suppose a font is intended for exclusive use in environments where hinting information is ignored, like displays with a very high resolution, or on Apple hardware running macOS or iOS.
In that case, the hinting information is not used and will only make the font file larger.
Consider not hinting or disabling any existing hinting for such projects.
Note that PostScript hinting intends to create a sharper, more consistent pixel image at low resolutions.
That means that the outline will be distorted to achieve a better fitting on the pixel grid.
In other words, hinting does not preserve shapes; on the contrary.
Hinting does not make sense for fonts where the preservation of the shape is more important than a crisp pixel image, such as in connecting script typefaces and icon fonts.
Before adding glyph-level hinting, define a set of parameters that apply to all hinting throughout the font.
These font-level hints are stored in the so-called PostScript Private Dictionary inside the exported font.
For an in-depth discussion, see
Stem widths are the thicknesses of letter strokes.
A vertical stem is the width of a vertical stroke of a letter, for example, the thickness of the I, or the thicknesses of left and right curves of an O.
A horizontal stem is the thickness of a horizontal stroke movement, for example, the serifs or crossbars of A and H, or t and f, or the upper and lower curves of an O.
Standard stems are average values, as representative as possible, for as many stem widths in the font as possible.
The autohinter needs good standard stem values to recognize the stems and insert glyph-level hints automatically.
And the screen rasterizer can make use of these values to optimize the pixel rendering, especially synchronizing stem thicknesses across the whole font at low resolutions.
Try to find as few as possible and as representative as possible values for horizontal and vertical stem widths and enter them in the Masters tab of Font Info (File → Font Info… → Masters, Cmd-I).
See Stems for details on editing stem values in Font Info.
If two values are close to each other, consider merging them into one average value.
Quickly measure the thickness of stems by selecting two nodes and looking at the Info box (Cmd-Shift-I) or by switching to the Measurement tool.
See Measuring.
For instance, if the measured values are 68, 71, 72, 74, 75, 82, 83, and 85 for the vertical stems, pick 75 or 80 for the standard vertical stem because either would be a good median value for most of the stem measures.
By using a single stem value, the stems will scale more uniformly across low PPMs.
Theoretically, up to twelve stem width values can be considered for each orientation.
But the best practice of trying to find as few as possible will typically either result in a single representative value for all stems or in two values: one for lowercase and one for uppercase letters, or (in the case of horizontal stems) one for an average horizontal stroke, and one for the serifs.
Use a second or third value only if it is acceptable that the associated stems will have different thicknesses at the same pixel size.
For instance, for a vertical standard stem set at 70 units and another at 80 units, the first stem may be displayed two pixels wide, while the other stem may get three pixels at the same pixel size.
The first horizontal and vertical stem values are the most important ones.
Use a value that represents the most-used glyphs, typically the lowercase letters.
Other functions in Glyphs also use these values, such as the Cursivy algorithm or the Rounded Font filter.
Any stem values that follow are exclusively used for hinting.
The horizontal stems also play a role in TrueType hinting.
When interpolating between masters, stems with the same name in both masters are used to interpolate the in-between stem value.
When a font is rendered with very few pixels on a computer screen, all the x-heights should use the same amount of pixels vertically.
The same applies to ascenders of letters like f, h, or k, and to descenders of g, p or y, and to the heights of all capital letters.
For many designs, all letters should share the same baseline when rasterized at a low resolution.
But all these letters usually do not align precisely.
For instance, the bottom of a lowercase o will extend slightly below the baseline, while the serifs of an n may sit precisely on it.
Or the apex of an uppercase A may extend a little bit beyond the height of an uppercase H.
This difference, usually some ten to fifteen units, is commonly referred to as overshoot.
Alignment zones are a way to tell the rasterizer about the overshoots.
Overshoots cannot help to provide an optically balanced text at small pixel sizes, so their display should be suppressed.
More precisely, at low resolutions, any path constellation with a horizontal stem or ghost hint attached to it that reaches into an alignment zone will be vertically aligned to the base of the zone.
Alignment zones take two values: a position and a size.
The position is the vertical height of the zone, usually the vertical metrics, like x-height or ascender.
The position is sometimes also referred to as the flat edge of a zone.
The size is the thickness of the maximum overshoot that may appear at that position.
If the overshoot extends above the position (x-height, small caps height, cap height, ascender), the size value must be positive.
Such zones are referred to as top zones.
If, however, the overshoots extend below the position (typically for the baseline or descender), the size must be negative and is referred to as a bottom zones.
See Metrics & Alignment Zones for details on editing the alignment zones of a font master.
A typical alignment zone setup: top zones with positive sizes at ascender, cap height and x-height; bottom zones with negative sizes at baseline and descender.
Alignment zones should be as small as possible, so do not try to make them larger to be on the safe side
.
More precisely, the maximum size of an alignment zone is constrained by the blueScale value (see below), which implies that no zone must be larger than 240 ÷ (240 × blueScale − 0.98).
In any event, a zone must not be larger than 25 units.
There may be a maximum of 6 top zones, 5 bottom zones, and the baseline zone.
Zones must not overlap.
There must be a minimum distance of one unit between them; the larger, the better.
The baseline zone must have a position value of zero.
If the font uses an alternative grid (see
Grid Spacing & Subdivision), extend the scope of the zones by one unit in both directions to catch potential small rounding errors for vertical node positions.
That is, the position must be shifted by one unit and the size by two units.
Only the baseline zone must be kept at position zero while its size is increased by one unit.
Apart from the alignment zones and standard stems, there are more optional parameters in the Private Dictionary: blueFuzz, blueScale, blueShift, and Family Alignment Zones.
In Glyphs, set these values as custom parameters.
See the description in Glyphs when adding the custom parameters for more details.
If the font-wide parameters (alignment zones and standard stems) are correctly set, activate the autohinter by checking the Autohint option in the File → Export dialog.
Enforce this setting with the Autohint custom parameter.
Test the hinting in an Adobe application (see Previewing in Adobe Applications).
Write a test text and zoom out far enough to display the letters with a few pixels only.
Then zoom in using the operating system’s Zoom function (configurable in the Accessibility settings of the System Settings).
If necessary, tweak the font settings or manually hint a problematic glyph and re-export.
For details on manual hinting, see Manual hinting.
Flex hints: Nodes 1 and 3 are on the same level and inside the alignment zone, node 2 should be exactly on the flat edge of the zone.
The handles must stay inside the space defined by nodes 1 through 3.
If the font has cupped serifs or slightly tapered stems, the autohinter can automatically apply so-called flex hints.
Flex hints suppress the display of such shallow curves at low resolutions.
They cannot be set manually but are automatically applied when the font is exported.
For flex hinting to kick in, a few conditions must be met.
First, the blueShift value must at least be set to the depth of the cups plus one.
For example, if the serifs are cupped 5 units deep, blueShift should be set to 6 or more.
Set blueShift as a custom parameter in File → Font Info… → Font (Cmd-I).
Secondly, there are a few outline requirements.
The cup or tapering must be built from exactly two consecutive outline segments between three nodes.
The segments do not need to be symmetrical.
The first and third nodes must share the same X coordinate (for tapered stems) or the same Y coordinate (for cupped serifs).
The four handles need not be entirely horizontal (serifs) or vertical (stems), but the three nodes must be placed on the extremes of the two segments.
The overall depth must not exceed 20 units.
Thirdly, in the case of cupped serifs, it is recommended that the three points are completely submerged in the respective alignment zone.
For best results, the second node (in the middle) should be precisely on the flat edge of the zone.
And the other two nodes must reach into the zone.
This means that cupped bottom serifs reach a little bit below the baseline and into its bottom zone, which may seem counter-intuitive at first.
The implementation of PostScript hinting in Glyphs allows manual and automatic hints inside the same font.
Before resorting to manually inserting hints, try to get as far as possible with autohinting.
Only glyphs that do not display correctly at low resolutions will need manual intervention.
Manual and automatic hinting cannot complement each other inside the same glyph.
Any manually hinted glyph is excluded from the autohinting process.
Thus, when adding hints manually, the glyph must be hinted fully by hand.
There are two types of glyph-level hints, stem hints and ghost hints.
Stem hints describe a vertical or a horizontal stem or stem-like feature of a glyph, like a serif or a crossbar.
Ghost hints mark the top and bottom edges when a horizontal stem hint cannot be applied.
In combination with alignment zones, horizontal ghost and stem hints are important for the vertical alignment at the vertical font metrics, like the x-height or the ascender.
At low resolutions, the rasterizer will try to vertically align the edges of all hinted horizontal stems that reach into an alignment zone.
The horizontal hints must have their Y coordinates in common with the nodes that are supposed to align.
A single hint will do for all nodes it touches at its height.
Stem hints can overlap each other, for example, the vertical stem hints in the figure eight.
PostScript hinting does not allow overlapping of hints.
So, in cases like this, Glyphs will automatically insert pieces of information called hint replacement, which turns hints on or off for different parts of the glyph outline.
This handles issues related to overlapping hints.
In a Multiple Master setup, only hints in the main master will be considered.
In this case, make sure all manually set hints are linked to nodes on the outline (see Stem Hints).
See Hinting Multiple Masters for details.
In Edit View, choose Autohint from the context menu to get a good start.
This way, glyph-level hints will be inserted like the autohinter would have done it when the font is exported.
Edit these hints as described in the following sections.
Remember that a glyph is not automatically hinted at export if it contains manual hints so that no additional hints will be added at export.
Add a stem hint to a glyph by choosing Add Horizontal Hint or Add Vertical Hint from the context menu.
A gray bar with a number badge 
will appear.
The two numbers indicate the origin 
and size 
of the hint.
Adding a hint while two nodes are selected will link the hint to these nodes.
Adding linked hints this way even works on multiple node pairs at once, as long as each pair is on a separate outline.
For best results, always link hints to extremum nodes (see Extremes & Inflections).
Positioning of vertical stem hints (green) and horizontal stem hints (yellow).
Select a hint by clicking its gray number badge.
Shift-click to select multiple hints.
Edit the value of the selected hint in the Info box (View → Show Info, Cmd-Shift-I).
Press Tab to select the next hint, or Shift-Tab to go to the previous one.
Edit a hint graphically by dragging the blue marks at the edges of the hint.
The blue circle indicates the hint origin, while the triangle shows the size and orientation of the hint.
When one of the markers is dragged onto a node, Glyphs will link the hint to the position of the node.
Moving the node will also adapt the hint.
Delete the selected hints by pressing the Delete key.
In the exported OTF file, all stem hints must have a width greater than zero.
Glyphs will automatically correct hint directions at export to turn all stem hints positive.
Use ghost hints to vertically align the top or bottom of a glyph when horizontal stem hints are not applicable.
For instance, consider a sans-serif uppercase I.
The top needs to align with the cap height zone, the bottom with the baseline zone.
In a serif I, horizontal hints would apply to the serifs, but the sans-serif letter lacks the horizontal features necessary for a horizontal hint.
In this case, put a top ghost hint on the top of the I and a bottom ghost hint at the bottom of the I.
Similar situations occur on the top of a sans-serif L and at the bottom of a sans-serif P:
Positioning of ghost hints (blue) alongside regular stem hints.
The ghost hints work where no horizontal hints can be applied.
Create a ghost hint by Control-clicking or right-clicking a single node and choosing Add Horizontal Hint from the context menu.
Turn an existing hint into a ghost hint by Control-clicking or right-clicking the coordinate badge of a hint and choosing Make Ghost Hint.
The badge of a ghost hint only displays the position and its orientation.
An upward arrow ↑ a top ghost hint; a downward arrow ↓ indicates a bottom ghost hint.
Attach it to a point by dragging the blue circle onto a node.
Set the vertical orientation of a ghost hint by selecting it and clicking the upward 
or downward 
icon in the Info box (View → Show Info, Cmd-Shift-I).
PostScript hints, like TrueType hints, need to be defined for only the main master.
By default, that is the first master in the masters list.
Set the Get Hints From Master custom parameter in File → Font Info… → Font (Cmd-I) to mark a different master as the main master.
Provided the hints are linked to nodes on the outline and the paths are compatible, they will be transferred to the corresponding nodes in compatible masters at interpolation time.
Manual hints in other masters will be ignored unless there are no hints in the main master.
When using Alternate or Intermediate layers, insert hints in the layer that replaces the master layer carrying manual hints.
TrueType (TT) hinting optimizes the display of TrueType fonts at low screen resolutions.
PostScript/CFF flavor OpenType fonts use a different hinting method; see PostScript Hinting for details.
TrueType fonts employ quadratic splines.
These are different from the PostScript-style cubic splines that Glyphs uses.
When exporting to TrueType, all paths are converted to TrueType-style outlines on the fly, including all manually set hinting instructions.
Glyph-level TT hints, like PostScript hints, need to be defined for only the main master.
By default, that is the first master in the masters list.
Set the Get Hints From Master custom parameter in File → Font Info… → Font (Cmd-I) to mark a different master as the main master.
The technical details of TT hinting are too complex to mix manual and automatic hints.
Therefore, checking the Autohint option when exporting a TrueType flavor font will ignore any manual TT hints in the Glyphs file:
Glyphs uses TTF Autohint for autohinting TrueType fonts.
TTF Autohint can be configured in File → Font Info… → Export (Cmd-I) with the TTFAutohint options and TTFAutohint control instructions custom parameters.
See Show Point Indexes for details on how to get the point indexes needed for the control instructions.
If the Autohint export option is not checked, Glyphs includes the manual TT hinting instructions in the exported font.
Automatic hinting can also be used as a starting point for manual hinting; see Instructions for details.
TrueType hinting uses standard stem values and TT zones on each master.
Glyphs uses these font-level hints to replicate the glyph-level hints from the main master to all other masters.
Zones help unify the vertical alignment of shapes throughout the font.
When outlines are grid-fitted onto the screen pixels, vertical shape extrema that live in the same zone will be rounded to the same height, typically a pixel edge.
Place the zones at vertical metrics such as the baseline, descender, ascender, shoulder height, figure height, nabira height, cap height, rekha height, small caps height, or whatever else makes sense for the design.
A typical TrueType zones setup: top zones with positive sizes at ascender, cap height and x-height; bottom zones with negative sizes at baseline and descender.
By default, TT hinting uses the main alignment zones defined in File → Font Info… → Masters → Metrics.
Set up zones specific to TT hinting by adding the TTFZones custom parameter in File → Font Info… → Masters:
If the font already contains PostScript hinting zones, choose Get PS zones from the actions menu at the bottom-left of the window to import them as TT zones.
Add additional zones with the plus button and remove any selected zone with the minus button.
A font can have any number of TT zones.
Zones have the following properties:
The name identifies a zone in the list.
It can be arbitrary text, and each name must be unique.
The xHeight name is special: it is used for the x-height zone, which is treated differently in grid-fitting.
A zone with that name has a higher probability than other zones of rounding up at small sizes.
Names are shown in the Info box when using the TT Instructor tool and a Snap hint is selected.
The position determines the emplacement of the flat edge of the zone.
The flat edge is the offset from the baseline from which the zone is extending.
Negative positions are placed below the baseline.
The size defines the value of the flattening zone during the overshoot suppression.
A top zone has a positive size; a bottom zone has a negative size.
Top zones are meant for the top vertical extremes of shapes, like the x-height, shoulder height, cap height, or nabira height.
Bottom zones are meant for catching the bottom ends of shapes, like the baseline, the descender, or the bottoms of small figures such as numerators, inferiors, and superiors.
Ensure that the area defined by the position and the size encompasses all overshoots that are supposed to be flattened to the zone position by the rasterizer.
For instance, at the x-height, put the Position to the height of the lowercase x, and make sure the Size is large enough to catch all overshoots, like in the lowercase o.
This works similarly to PostScript alignment zones.
Link a zone to another zone with the Align option.
If a zone is aligned to another, the distance between the zone positions is rounded and applied to the zone.
This will result in more consistent transitions from one PPM size to the next.
Use this for zones that are very close to each other, perhaps even overlapping, and where it may be problematic if the zones diverge too far at low-resolution pixel renderings.
Aligned zones are displayed at the same height if their distance is less than half a pixel, one pixel apart if their distance is half a pixel, and so on.
(This property only applies to the main master.)
Click the delta 
button to fine-tune a zone at specific PPM sizes.
A table of buttons will be shown.
The columns of the table are the masters of the font, and the rows are PPM sizes.
Click a button to switch between rounding up 
, down 
, or no rounding 
.
The delta icon in the zones list is filled with the accent color if any button is set to rounding up or down.
Rounding is helpful if a zone is one pixel too low or too high at a given PPM size.
If it is too low, round it up; if it is too high, round it down.
Use the Hinting Preview to check for any zones that need to be rounded up or down.
(This property only applies to the main master.)
Click the globe 
button to limit the zone to a subset of glyphs.
The subset is defined like a Smart Filter.
See Smart Filters for details.
The globe icon in the stems list is filled with the accent color if any filters are set.
Stems help unify the displayed size of stroke thicknesses at low resolutions.
By default, TrueType hinting uses the standard stems of a master.
Define stems specifically for TT hinting by adding the TTFStems custom parameter in File → Font Info… → Masters.
Click the value field of the parameter to edit the stems:
If the font already contains PostScript stems, choose Get PS stems from the actions menu to import them as TT stems.
Add additional stems with the plus button and remove a selected stem with the minus button.
The following stem properties can be edited:
A hint is oriented in the X-direction or Y-direction .
Click the double arrow icon to switch between the two orientations.
The orientation of a hint describes the direction in which its points are moved.
An X-direction hint spans the thickness of a vertical stem.
A Y-direction hint spans the thickness of a horizontal stem.
The name labels the stem.
It can be arbitrary text, but it is a good idea to use descriptive names.
The average stem thickness.
In screen rendering, similarly-sized stems will be unified and displayed with the same number of pixels.
(This property only applies to the main master.)
Click the delta button to fine-tune a stem at specific PPM sizes.
This property works like the Deltas of TT zones.
Note that stem deltas are only applied for ClearType-style rendering modes (also referred to as Windows GDI).
(This property only applies to the main master.)
Click the globe button to limit the zone to a subset of glyphs.
This property works like the Filter of TT zones.
Use the TTFBlueFuzz custom parameter to extend all TT zones by a certain amount.
The specified amount will be added both above and below to each zone.
It defaults to 1 unit.
The parameter is helpful for testing stem values or for fixing imprecisions in interpolation:
Even if the drawings end up nicely in the zones in all masters, they may still drop out of them in interpolated instances.
Such imprecisions can occur due to rounding errors.
Test the font using the Hinting Preview to see if the zones work in all instances, and if not, increase the TTFBlueFuzz.
Add the parameter in File → Font Info… → Font, Masters, or Exports.
Adding it to the Font tab applies it to all instances equally.
If the parameter is instead added to the masters, it will be interpolated at export.
Add it to a single instance in Exports to overwrite the masters and font settings.
Add glyph-level hints with the TrueType Instructor tool 
(shortcut I).
Note that the TrueType Instructor tool uses shortcuts without modifier keys, which are usually reserved for tool switching.
Therefore, pressing A will not switch to the Annotation tool , but instead, it adds a Snap instruction.
Use the toolbar at the top of the window to switch tools.
A typical TT hinting setup.
Blue and red outlines are shown in the background.
In color, the hinting instructions overlapping the outlines are described in Instructions.
In the TrueType Instructor tool, three outlines are shown.
The outline of the current master is black.
The nodes and handles of this outline can be selected.
Nodes are shown as gray 
discs instead of green 
circles and blue 
squares.
Extra nodes are also shown, regardless of the View → Show Nodes → Extra Nodes setting.
The blue outline shows the outline of the current instance before TT hinting is applied.
Change the current instance by choosing from the menu next to the eye icon located at the bottom-left of Edit View.
Click the eye icon if the instances menu does not appear to the right.
If the selected instance corresponds to the current master, no blue outline is shown.
For example, when both the Regular master and the Regular instance are currently selected, the black and blue outlines overlap and only the black outline is shown.
The red outline shows the current instance after TT hinting and grid-fitting are applied according to the current rendering intent (Grayscale, ClearType, or DirectWrite) and the currently selected pixel size.
The outline is drawn with code from Microsoft and is the exact outline distortion used on Windows.
It is not shown if the glyph has no TT hints.
Note that the pixel preview in the background is only an approximate example.
Additional filtering happens between the red outline and the pixels appearing on-screen.
This filtering is subject to so many customizations (gammas, color modes, transparencies, …) that an exact pixel image cannot be predicted.
Toggle the display of the blue and red outlines with Show Pixel Preview from the context menu of Edit View.
With the TrueType Instructor tool active, the Info box has a pixel size field.
This field contains the pixels per em value (PPM) of the pixel image preview.
The PPM is the true pixel size of the font.
For example, consider a font with 1000 UPM and a pixel size of 12 PPM.
Then, one pixel is equivalent to 1000 ÷ 12 ≈ 83 font units.
Change the pixel size by entering a new value, or use the stepper buttons to increase or decrease the size.
With the pixel size field active, press the arrow keys Up and Down to change the value.
When the field is not active, press the Period (.) or Plus (+) key to increase the size and the Comma (,) or Minus (-) keys to decrease it.
The current hinting direction is controlled by the wavy arrow button in the Info box.
Click the button to toggle between vertical and horizontal hinting.
Pressing the X key also toggles between the two modes.
Vertical hints are used with horizontal stems and vice versa (see Orientation).
The hints of the other direction are shown dimmed and grayed-out in the background for reference.
They cannot be edited.
Hints are applied in chronological order.
The order is significant because hints build on top of each other.
When a hint is attached to a point on the outline, the point executes the movement implied by the hint and becomes a touched point.
After all hints have been applied, the positions of all remaining untouched points are interpolated between the touched points nearest in the point index order.
This is sometimes referred to as IUP, or Interpolate Untouched Points instruction.
Choose Show Point Indexes from the Edit View context menu to label all on-curve nodes with their point index (or point ID
).
These numbers are needed for the TTFAutohint control instructions custom parameter (see TrueType Hinting: Autohinting).
With the TrueType Instructor tool active, the Preview Area moves to the right side of Edit View and shows a list (or waterfall
) of the glyphs in Edit View set in the currently selected instance.
The list displays a preview of the hinted glyphs at each size from 8 PPM to 80 PPM.
View different preview sizes by dragging the list with the mouse cursor up and down.
This preview is also available in the Preview Panel (Window → Preview Panel).
The preview can be displayed at three scales: no scaling (1×), 2×, and 4×.
Control-click or right-click anywhere in Edit View and choose one of these scaling modes from the context menu.
Choose Show Preview Address… from the Edit View context menu to start a web server previewing the font similarly to the built-in Hinting Preview.
Glyphs will present a dialog window with a Web address.
Click Copy to copy the address.
Open the address in a web browser to see the preview page.
The Mac does not use TT hinting, so open the page on a virtualized Windows running on the Mac or another device connected to the same local network.
Add TrueType instructions by selecting nodes and choosing one of the available instruction types from the context menu.
Click and drag to reposition instructions.
Choose Autohint from the context menu to add some instructions automatically.
This action will add Snap and Stem hints, but not Shift, Interpolate, or Delta hints.
The result can be useful as a starting point for manual TT hinting.
Some glyphs cannot be autohinted.
In that case, the error message There was a problem compiling TrueType instructions appears.
Autohint the current glyph by pressing Cmd-Opt-Ctrl-Shift-I (configure the shortcut in the Commands section in the app settings).
This shortcut also works when multiple glyphs are selected in Edit View.
Remove all glyph-level hints from the current glyph by choosing Remove Hints from the context menu.
Snap instructions 
(shortcut A) round the position of previously untouched points to the nearest pixel edge.
Apply a Snap instruction by selecting one or more untouched points and pressing A or selecting Snap Point from the context menu.
Select a Snap instruction by clicking its purple badge.
The Info box (View → Show Info, Cmd-Shift-I) shows configuration options for the selected instructions.
From the pop-up menu located at the top of the Info box, choose one of the following options:
Auto: In vertical mode, the point will snap onto the pixel edge the zone is rounding to if it is inside a zone.
Configure the zone rounding with the TTFZones custom parameter.
Auto is typically the best option.
No Zone: Tells the instruction to ignore zones altogether.
In that case, it will only look for the nearest pixel edge.
The other options are the named zones (see TrueType Zones).
Choosing a zone will keep the node at a constant distance to the selected zone and ensure that the snapped node will not fall on the other side of the zone.
Note that these zone options are not intended for snapping a node to a zone.
Instead, it works similarly to the alignment of one zone with another zone in the TTFZones custom parameter.
The icon buttons on the bottom of the Info box indicate the rounding that the instruction triggers:
Stem instructions 
(shortcut S) round the positions of either two previously untouched points or one touched and one untouched point to a distance determined by the TT stem.
A Stem hint has an originating point and a target point (indicated by the arrowhead).
The target point is moved to follow the distortion of the originating point.
Stem hints can be added to multiple point pairs at the same time, provided an even number of points is selected.
Flip the origin and target points by choosing Reverse from the context menu on the Stem hint.
If a Stem hint starts in a zone, it will automatically snap the originating point in the zone.
A Snap instruction is therefore not needed for the originating node.
Select a Stem hint by clicking its sky-blue 
badge.
Configure the selected Stem hint in its Info box.
From the pop-up menu located at the top of the Info box, choose one of the
following options:
Auto: The hint will use the closest stem as defined in the TTFStems parameter.
This is the best mode, provided the stems are clearly distinct.
No Stem: The target points are not snapped to the grid; only their distance to the originating node is kept.
This means that the target point is moved only if the originating point is moved as well.
This is the best mode for higher shape fidelity in medium-range pixel sizes (not too small) or if the distortions in the resulting rendering environment are otherwise too important.
The other options are the named stems.
Select one of these options only if the auto mode would give the wrong results.
The icon buttons on the bottom of the Info box indicate the rounding that the instruction triggers:
Round 
rounds the target point to the nearest pixel edge.
Round up 
rounds the stem size up.
This will snap the target point to the pixel edge that is further away from the originating point.
If the Stem hint is pointing downwards, that will be below.
Round down 
rounds the stem size down.
This will snap the target point to the pixel edge that is closer to the originating point.
If the Stem hint is pointing downwards, that will be above.
No rounding 
(default) does not round the stem to any pixel edge, but will still round its size to the oversampling edges provided by the current rendering intent.
Round only in GDI ClearType 
works like the Round mode, but only for the GDI ClearType rendering intent.
If a stem is not adjacent to a zone, this mode can help keep at least one edge of the stem aligned with the closest pixel boundary.
This is useful for the middle bars in E and e, and best if combined with an Interpolate instruction:
The stem widths taken from the TTFStems parameter are rounded according to the oversampling of the respective rendering intent.
Stems should not be rounded (with the default No rounding mode) not to overwrite that.
Having stems that are not rounded to full pixel edges means that at least one side of the stem will get a gray border.
The resulting rendering is a little less sharp but much better preserves the details of the design.
It also produces fewer problems with distorted outlines, for example, fewer collapsed counters.
If there are three horizontal stems, select all three Stem hints by consecutively Shift-clicking them, then choose Make Triple Hint from the context menu.
The Stem hints will turn purple 
, indicating they are connected and will try to preserve at least one-pixel distance even in the worst of circumstances:
Shift instructions 
(shortcut F) transfer the movement of a touched (originating) point to an untouched (target) point.
This shifts the target point the same way the originating point is shifted.
Use Shift instructions to make sure that two parts of a glyph implement the same distortion.
Apply a Shift instruction by selecting a touched and an untouched point, and press F or choose Shift Points from the context menu.
Multiple Shift instructions with the same originating point can be added simultaneously, provided only one of the selected points is touched (originating point), and all others are untouched (target points).
Select a Shift hint by clicking its dark blue 
badge.
The icon buttons in the Info box indicate the rounding that the instruction triggers:
Round rounds the target point to the nearest pixel edge.
Round up rounds the target point to the nearest pixel edge above.
Round down rounds the target point to the nearest pixel edge below.
No rounding (default) keeps the transferred movement exactly as it is without any additional rounding.
This is typically the best mode for Shift instructions.
Round only in GDI ClearType works like Round, but only for GDI ClearType.
For example, consider the two legs of a Latin lowercase sans-serif n.
The left leg should get snapped in the baseline zone.
But, after adding a Stem hint for the shoulder between the two legs, the right leg is out of sync with the left leg.
This happens because, along the line of the path, the effect of the Snap instruction in the lower left is interrupted by the Stem instruction on the top.
Therefore, for the right leg, the ensuing IUP (interpolation of untouched points) can only extrapolate the distortion caused by the Stem instruction, not the Snap instruction.
Effectively, the Snap instruction is confined to the left leg.
Mitigate this by adding a Shift instruction from the touched (snapped) point on the left leg to one of the points on the right leg:
The Shift instruction duplicates the movement of the left leg to the right leg, making the target point a touched point.
This way, the right leg will always perform the same movement as the left leg.
The lowercase Latin m may use multiple Shift instructions:
Interpolate instructions 
(shortcut G) keep a previously untouched point at the same relative position to two touched points as in the original uninstructed outline.
Apply an Interpolate instruction by selecting two touched points and a third, untouched point.
Then press the G key or choose Interpolate from the context menu.
The main intention of Interpolate hints is to remedy unwanted side effects of IUP.
For example, use an Interpolate instruction to keep a middle stem at the same relative distance from the (already touched) outer stems, as in this lowercase e:
Select a Shift hint by clicking its green 
badge.
The icon buttons in the Info box indicate the rounding that the instruction triggers:
Round snaps the target point to the nearest pixel edge.
Choose this mode when adding a Stem hint on top of the target point.
Round up snaps the target point to the next pixel edge above.
Round down snaps the target point to the next pixel edge below.
No rounding (default) keeps the interpolated position and does not round it.
This is typically the best mode for Interpolate instructions.
Round only in GDI ClearType will snap to the nearest pixel edge for the GDI ClearType rendering intent; the others should remain unaffected.
Delta instructions 
(shortcut E) move a point up or down by exactly one pixel, but only in a specific static instance and a specific PPM size.
Delta hints are intended as final pixel corrections after all other hints have been applied.
Add a Delta hint by selecting any number of points and pressing E or choosing Delta from the context menu.
Select one or more Delta hints, click the Delta icon in the Info box, and configure them like the deltas of a TT zone.
See TrueType Zones: Deltas for details.
Delta hints should be used sparsely, if at all, and should be added last, after all other hints.
Delta hints are only available for vertical hinting and are ignored in variable fonts.
Instructions may be placed on any node shown in the TrueType Instructor tool.
However, path intersections are handled separately.
When a font is exported with the Remove Overlaps option selected, overlapping intersections are reduced to a single point.
Glyphs will move any hints on points that are removed as part of the overlap removal to the nearest resulting intersection point.
Thus, the following two hints are equivalent in non-variable fonts:
In variable fonts, overlaps are not removed.
Hints added to extra nodes, such as the right hint in the image above, are ignored.
When exporting variable fonts, only add hints to normal nodes, like the left hint in the image above.
Use the following custom parameters to further configure the TT hinting of the exported font files.
Add this parameter in File → Font Info… → Font (Cmd-I).
Set it to the pixel size, below which overshoots are collapsed to the flat edge of their zone.
The flat edge is the position of a zone as configured in the TTFZones parameter.
Add this parameter in either the Font or Exports tab in the Font Info window (Cmd-I).
The Font value is used for all instances where the parameter is not set.
This value controls the likelihood of a positive zone being pushed up a pixel.
It takes a small decimal number, typically something around 0.1 or 0.2.
The value is added to any positive zone position before rounding, and added twice to the x-height zone (the one named xHeight in the TrueType zones).
Its default value is 0.09375.
For example: At a certain font size, the small caps zone ends up at 6.45 px, and the x-height at 5.25 px.
Without any change, the small caps zone rounds and snaps to a height of 6 pixels, while the x-height ends up with 5 pixels.
But when setting the rounding threshold to 0.2, the small caps height ends up at 6.45 + 0.2 = 6.65 ≈ 7 pixels, and the x-height at 5.25 + 2 × 0.2 = 5.65 ≈ 6 pixels.
Add this parameter in File → Font Info… → Exports (Cmd-I).
The default value is 0.25, meaning that any hinted stem will be drawn with a minimum length of a quarter pixel, regardless of which PPM size if it has a stem hint applied.
If the default value does not fit the design, add this parameter with a custom minimum distance (in pixels).
Three custom parameters are added to the masters when opening a hinted TrueType font: CVT Table, prep Table Assembly, and fpgm Table Assembly.
These parameters contain the assembly code for the existing TT hinting and are rarely edited manually.
Instead, they are used not to lose the existing hinting instructions on export.
They correspond to the cvt, prep, and fpgm tables in the font.
Add this parameter in either the Font or Exports tab in the Font Info window (Cmd-I).
The Font value is used for all instances where the parameter is not set.
This parameter configures the grid-fitting and scan-conversion procedure for TrueType fonts.
It controls the two PPM thresholds at which the recommended on-screen rendering behavior changes.
The gasp table contains rendering recommendations for both a traditional Grayscale and a ClearType subpixel renderer.
However, keep in mind that a renderer may ignore the data stored therein.
The default threshold sizes are 8 and 20 PPM.
Because there are two thresholds, three ranges can be differentiated:
No Hinting & Symmetric:
Until the first threshold size, no grid-fitting is applied, and text is rendered with antialiasing wherever possible.
At very small sizes, the best appearance on grayscale devices can usually be achieved by rendering the glyphs in grayscale without using hints.
Hinting & Asymmetric:
Between the two threshold sizes, the renderer is recommended to apply grid-fitting and suppress grayscale.
At intermediate sizes, hinting and monochrome rendering will usually produce the best appearance.
In ClearType, the matter is handled asymmetrically: vertical grid-fitting is applied, while horizontally, subpixel rendering is used.
Hinting & Symmetric:
Beyond the thresholds, the rasterizer is instructed to apply grid-fitting and render the shapes in grayscale.
At large sizes, the combination of hinting and grayscale rendering will typically produce the best appearance.
The ClearType rasterizer is instructed to apply symmetric smoothing.
This uses antialiasing in the Y direction in addition to horizontal subpixel rendering.
At display sizes on screen, […] this new improvement of the Windows font renderer produces smoother and cleaner-looking type.
Glyphs offers a streamlined workflow for creating four types of color fonts: classic layer fonts, Microsoft-style CPAL and COLR OpenType tables, the Apple-style sbix OpenType table, and the Mozilla/Adobe-style SVG table.
Color fonts make use of multiple layers per glyph.
See Editing Multiple Masters for general information on working with multiple layers.
When working on a color font project, masters must share the same metrics and kerning pairs so that all color layers align.
Use the Link Metrics With First Master custom parameter in File → Font Info… → Masters to sync the metrics and kerning of the first master with all masters.
Add this custom parameter to every master except the first one.
Alternatively, add the Link Metrics With Master custom parameter, which can be linked to any other master, not just the first one.
Edit View shows colors for other glyphs when a color layer is selected in the current glyph.
The Preview area at the bottom of Edit View (activated with the eye button) and the Preview Panel (Window → Preview Panel) display a glyph in color when one of its color layers is selected.
The Text Preview (Window → Text Preview) displays the font as it would appear in Mac applications using Core Text (such as Text Edit or Pages).
Color fonts are regular OpenType fonts.
They are compatible with all OpenType flavors supported by Glyphs: PostScript/CFF (.otf), TrueType (.ttf), and WOFF/WOFF2.
However, color fonts only work in environments that support their display.
For instance, layered color fonts only work in applications that can put pieces of text precisely on top of each other, like most DTP software.
The four fonts which result in the stacked text.
Layered color fonts are separate fonts that are stacked on top of each other.
For such a font to work properly, the software environment in which it is used must support the stacking of text layers.
Layered color fonts have a color axis.
Add it in File → Font Info… → Font by clicking the plus button next to the Axes heading.
Name the axis Color and use a four-letter tag such as COLR.
Each color gets its own master.
Contrary to most other fonts, the masters of a layered color font are not interpolated.
This means that the masters of a layered color font are not required to be compatible for interpolation.
Signal this to Glyphs by adding the Enforce Compatibility Check custom parameter in the Font tab and unchecking it:
With this parameter disabled, add masters for each color layer.
Give each master a descriptive name like Front, Inside Light, Inside Shadow, or Outer Shadow.
In the Axes Coordinates section, set a different numeric Color value for each master; for example, 1 for the first master and 2 for the second.
Add a Master Color custom parameter to each master to define its preview color.
Note that custom parameters can also be added when multiple masters are selected.
This color is only used inside Glyphs; the font user can set the exported font files in any color.
Drag the Opacity slider in the color picker to use a semitransparent color for the preview.
Switch to the Exports tab, click the plus button located in the bottom-left and choose Add Instance for each Master.
This will add an exporting instance for each axis coordinate of the Color axis.
Edit color layers like normal master layers in Edit View.
By default, the currently selected master is shown.
Click the eye / buttons in the Layers palette to view multiple layers at the same time.
When working with layered color fonts, it is common to show all master layers.
The order of the masters in File → Font Info… → Masters is reflected in Edit View: the first master is shown on top, the second master one layer below, and so on.
Layered color fonts are exported as separate font files, one for each color layer.
These color layers use the instances as described in Initial Setup.
Glyphs can also convert a layered color font to an SVG color font that includes all color layers in a single font file.
For that, add a new instance in File → Font Info… → Exports and add the Color Layers to SVG custom parameter.
Then, add the Export SVG Table custom parameter to the same instance for the SVG data to be included in the export.
Ensure that the checkboxes of both custom parameters are checked.
Microsoft-style color fonts are fonts that contain two additional tables: CPAL (Color Palette) and COLR (Color).
These color fonts work like layered color fonts, but they export all color layers to a single font file instead of exporting one font file per layer.
In File → Font Info… → Font, add the Color Palettes custom parameter.
Click its value to edit the color palette.
Click the plus button to add additional colors to the palette.
Each color is identified by a color index counting up from 0.
Change colors by clicking a color 
swatch and choosing a different value with the color picker.
Select a row and click the minus button to delete a color.
Multiple color palettes can be defined.
Add additional color palettes by choosing Add Palette from the gear 
menu.
Click the column heading of a palette to remove it with Remove Palette.
See COLR/CPAL Fonts: Exporting for details on choosing a palette for each instance.
Confirm the edits to the color palettes with OK, or click Cancel to discard all edits and keep the palettes as they were.
CPAL/COLR color fonts are not supported by all applications.
In case an app cannot handle the color information, it displays the master layer.
The master is not displayed in apps that support CPAL/COLR color fonts.
Add color layers by clicking the plus button in the Layers palette (Window → Palette, Cmd-Opt-P) and choose Color Palette from the context menu on the layer.
Pick a color from the color palette by clicking the color swatch to the right of the layer name.
Choose either a predefined color or the asterisk (*) option.
The asterisk option uses the color that the font user defines.
Glyphs previews this color in black (or in white, for the dark system appearance).
Color Palette layers are named Color and the color index from the Color Palettes custom parameter.
Multiple layers of a glyph can have the same color, and some colors of the palette might not be used at all in a glyph.
Not all glyphs need to have the same number of color layers: some might only have a single color layer, while others have multiple layers for each color.
Exported instances of CPAL/COLR fonts use the first color palette by default.
Add the Color Palette for CPAL custom parameter to an instance in File → Font Info… → Exports to choose a different color palette for that instance.
Note that the color palette IDs start at 0 for the first palette.
Add additional palettes as described in Defining the Color Palette.
Remove all colors from an instance by adding an Export COLR Table custom parameter and unchecking it.
This will use just the fallback layer and discard the CPAL and COLR tables.
Glyphs can also convert a CPAL/COLR font to an SVG color font by adding the following custom parameters in File → Font Info… → Exports:
Check the Color Layers to SVG custom parameter.
Set Color Palette for SVG to the number of the palette that should be used for the conversion.
Palettes are numbered starting at 0.
The palette number is written in the column header in the Color Palettes custom parameter.
Check the Export SVG Table custom parameter for the SVG data to be included in the export.
Apple-style color fonts include an sbix table (Standard Bitmap Graphics) containing bitmap data of various resolutions.
Multiple images of various sizes may be assigned to each glyph.
Thus, the device displaying it can pick the most appropriate resolution.
In contrast to the other color font formats covered in this chapter, sbix fonts do not use vector but bitmap graphics.
These graphics may be prepared as PNG, JPEG, or TIFF images.
Each glyph contains a single image file.
However, images can be provided for different pixel sizes.
A glyph might contain a 512 × 512 pixel image, but also lower resolution versions at, for example, 128, 32, and 16 pixels.
While a single large image per glyph could be scaled down to fit every size below, including smaller sizes of images presents two advantages:
Providing images for smaller sizes allows fine-tuning the graphics for low-resolution output.
For example, the design might be adapted to read more clearly at smaller pixel sizes.
If smaller images are not included in the font, the text renderer needs to scale the large images down to the desired font size.
This can be slow, especially on low-end devices, and use more energy, which is relevant to mobile devices.
Images are scaled up by the text renderer when using a font size above the largest image dimensions, resulting in blurry glyph images.
Create the graphics in an image editing application and export them at the desired sizes.
This size is measured in pixel units, not in font size units.
For example, export images at heights of 512, 256, 32, and 16 pixels.
The differently sized images for a glyph must all share the same aspect ratio.
This aspect ratio is width ÷ height.
So, if the image version with a height of 512 pixels is 512 pixels wide (512 ÷ 512 = 1, a square), all other images must also be square.
If one image is twice as tall as it is wide (256 ÷ 512 = 0.5), all other images for that glyph must share the aspect ratio of 0.5.
When adding these images to a Glyphs file, they are not copied into the Glyphs file, but merely referenced.
Moving, renaming, or deleting the image files will break these references.
Therefore, it is best practice to place the images in a folder next to the Glyphs file.
The master layer does not contain glyph outlines.
However, some software—such as Google Chrome and Adobe Photoshop—use the bounding box of paths on the master layer as a mask for the bitmap images.
Therefore, it is a best practice to place tiny paths in the bottom-left and top-right of the master layer, like here:
These tiny paths can also have their nodes on the same single point, thus hiding the path.
The red node background 
that Glyphs shows for overlapping nodes can be ignored in this case.
This bounding box, highlighted in green in the image above, is used by Glyphs to place the images on their color layers.
Color layers for the sbix format are named iColor layers.
Add iColor layers by clicking the plus button in the Layers palette (Window → Palette, Cmd-Opt-P) and choosing iColor from the context menu on the layer.
The name of an iColor layer includes its size, for example, iColor 512 or iColor 24.
Double-click a layer entry in the Layers palette to change its size.
Scale images by changing this iColor pixel size.
Images appear smaller if the entered pixel size is larger than the image, and they appear larger if the entered size is smaller than the image.
Add iColor layers for each image resolution.
Note that changing the width of the master layer also changes the width of all of its iColor layers.
Glyphs includes the sbix table in exported font files if iColor layers are present in the font.
Discard the sbix table by adding an Export sbix Table custom parameter to an instance and unchecking it.
Glyphs can convert sbix color fonts to SVG color fonts.
This allows the color font to be used in software that supports SVG color fonts, but not sbix fonts.
Add the SBIX to SVG custom parameter to an instance and set its value to the desired pixel size at which Glyphs will convert the sbix image data to SVG data.
For example, setting this parameter to 128 uses the iColor layers sized at 128 pixels, if any, otherwise the smallest iColor layers above 128, and if there are none at or above that size, the next largest available iColor layers.
Uncheck Export sbix Table and set the SBIX to SVG parameter to export an SVG-only color font.
The Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) image format can contain both vector and bitmap data.
An SVG color font uses SVG files to display glyphs.
SVG color fonts are also referred to as OpenType-SVG or SVG-in-OpenType.
Glyphs provides three methods for creating SVG color fonts:
convert a layered color font, CPAL/COLR font, or sbix font to SVG;
use SVG files created in a graphic design app;
create the SVG images inside Glyphs.
See the respective sections for details on how to convert other color font formats to SVG:
In Edit View, add an SVG layer by clicking the plus button in the Layers palette (Window → Palette, Cmd-Opt-P) and choose svg from the context menu on the layer.
An SVG image can also contain bitmap data, which may be useful for fonts imitating handwriting (like the sbix format).
Drag an SVG file onto the layer to use it for that glyph.
When adding SVG images to a Glyphs file, they are not copied into it, but merely referenced.
Moving, renaming, or deleting the SVG files will break these references.
Therefore, it is best practice to place the files in a folder next to the Glyphs file.
Resize and reposition the SVG image on the glyph layer like any other image.
See Manipulating Images.
Changing the width of the master layer also changes the width of its SVG layer.
In case an app cannot handle the SVG data, it shows the master layer.
The master layer is not shown in apps that support SVG color fonts.
SVG glyphs can be created using color layers.
Add a color layer by clicking the plus button in the Layers palette (Window → Palette, Cmd-Opt-P) and choose Color from the context menu on the layer.
Color layers are named Color and display a color spectrum 
disc.
Draw paths on a color layer like on any other layer.
By default, the drawn shapes are filled with a gray color.
Edit the style of the selected paths in the Attributes inspector located at the bottom of the Palette (Window → Palette, Cmd-Opt-P).
Toggle the display of the Attributes inspector with View → Show Info (Cmd-Shift-I).
By default, the Attributes inspector contains controls for the stroke and fill of the selected paths.
Click the plus button next to the Attributes heading to show additional controls.
The Shadow, Inner Shadow, and Pattern Image options cannot be exported to SVG; they are used when exporting to PNG or PDF with Filter → Glyph as Image.
Change the color of an attribute by clicking the color swatch button.
A red stroke through the swatch 
indicates a fully transparent color.
Enter a stroke width in the text field next to the Stroke heading.
The stroke width is measured in font units.
For example, entering 12 will add a 12 unit wide stroke along the path.
An empty stroke width field assumes a value of 0.
By default, the stroke is centered on the path.
Choose the left or right stroke alignment to move the stroke inside or outside the path.
Change the stroke color by clicking the color swatch button.
Click the minus button to remove the stroke by setting the stroke width to 0 and the color to transparent.
Change the fill color by clicking the color swatch button.
Click the minus button to remove the fill by setting the color to transparent.
The fill control is not shown when a gradient is added to a path.
Click the plus button next to the Attributes heading to add a Gradient effect to the selected paths.
A gradient replaces the Fill attribute.
There are two types of gradients: linear 
and radial 
gradients.
Click an icon to change the type.
A gradient has at least two color stops.
These are indicated as small 
knobs on the bottom of the gradient bar.
Click a knob to edit the stop color.
Add additional color stops by clicking anywhere on the gradient bar.
Remove a color stop by dragging its knob away from the gradient bar.
In Edit View, knobs control the position of the gradient.
For a linear gradient, two knobs control the start and end position of the gradient.
For a radial gradient, a single knob controls the origin of the gradient.
Export color layers with path attributes to SVG by adding the Color Layers to SVG custom parameter in File → Font Info… → Exports.
If this parameter is checked, Glyphs uses the paths and attributes from the Color layers to produce an SVG table and adds it to the exported font file.
Extend Glyphs with scripts and plug-ins.
There are many existing scripts and plug-ins that can be freely downloaded from the Plugin Manager.
Commercial extensions are also available online.
Write custom extensions to satisfy specific needs.
All scripts and most plug-ins are written in the Python programming language.
For these to run inside Glyphs, ensure that Python is set up in the settings.
Browse a selection of freely available scripts, plug-ins, and modules in Window → Plugin Manager.
At the top of the window are two groups of filters.
Filter the extensions by whether they are installed with the All, Installed, Not Installed buttons.
Filter by extension type with the Plugins, Scripts, Modules buttons.
Enter a keyword in the search field located in the top-right of the window to search by extension name, description, or the name of the extension vendor.
Install an extension by clicking the green Install button beside it.
Uninstall an extension by clicking its Remove button.
Glyphs needs to be relaunched for newly installed plug-ins and modules to be available.
Newly installed scripts can be loaded without relaunching Glyphs by holding down the Option key and choosing Script → Reload Scripts (Cmd-Opt-Shift-Y).
Updated versions of extensions are installed automatically.
Enlarge preview images to their full size by clicking on them.
Click the gray link below the extension description to view its website.
Some extension vendors accept donations via 
PayPal and 
Ko-fi.
Click the icon to open the donation page.
New extensions are added regularly to the Plugin Manager.
Open a pull request at the Glyphs plug-in repository to add a new entry or contact the Glyphs team on the Glyphs forum or directly per email.
See Creating Scripts and Creating Plug-ins for details on creating new extensions.
Plugin Manager lists extensions from the main repository, accessible to all users.
Add alternative repositories as described in Alternate Plugin Repositories.
These will also show up in the Plugin Manager, but only for users that have registered the same alternative repository in their Glyphs setup.
Scripts are written in the Python programming language and can automate every part of Glyphs.
Some scripts require specific modules to be installed; install these from the Modules tab in the Plugin Manager.
Access all installed scripts from the Script menu.
Many scripts show a short description when the mouse pointer rests on its menu item for a few seconds.
Click a menu item to run the script.
Assign a keyboard shortcut to a script to run it with a key press.
See Shortcuts for details.
Re-run the last script with Cmd-Opt-R or from the bottom of the Script menu.
The Script menu reflects the files of the Scripts folder.
Open the Scripts folder with Script → Open Scripts Folder (Cmd-Shift-Y).
Reload the Script menu by holding down the Option key and choosing Script → Reload Scripts (Cmd-Opt-Shift-Y).
Add scripts by creating a file ending in .py in the Scripts folder.
The part of the filename before the .py is arbitrary, but for clarity, it is recommended to name the file as it should appear in the Script menu, for example, Some Script.py.
Create subfolders to group scripts.
Inside the Python file, add a comment at the top with the following format:
# MenuTitle: Script Name
Replace Script Name with the name that should be displayed in the Script menu.
Add a description that is shown when the mouse pointer rests on the menu item by writing the following code below the # MenuTitle line:
__doc__="Description"
Replace Description with a short description of the script.
The description can span multiple lines:
__doc__="""
This description spans multiple lines.
Here is the second line.
"""
For writing the actual script, consult the Glyphs Python API documentation.
On the Glyphs website, there is a tutorial series from the first steps of programming in Python up to writing advanced scripts.
Viewing the code of existing scripts is also a great way to learn.
If any questions arise, feel free to ask on the Glyphs forum or contact the Glyphs team directly.
Plug-ins add a variety of capabilities and functionalities to Glyphs.
They can be grouped into the following types:
Reporter plug-ins (file name suffix .glyphsReporter) draw additional information in Edit View and are controllable with a Show … menu item at the bottom of the View menu.
Filter plug-ins (.glyphsFilter) process glyph layers.
They are accessible from the Filter menu.
Some can be run using the Filter custom parameter (see Filters as Custom Parameters).
Palette plug-ins (.glyphsPalette) add entries to the Palette (Window → Palette, Cmd-Shift-P).
See Palette for details.
File Format plug-ins (.glyphsFileFormat) add support for opening and exporting additional file formats.
Tool plug-ins (.glyphsTool) add additional tools to the toolbar.
These tools extend Edit View with new features.
General plug-ins (.glyphsPlugin) add functionality not covered by one of the above types.
Install plug-ins from the Plugin Manager with a single click.
Plug-ins are loaded when Glyphs launches, so Glyphs needs to be relaunched for newly installed plug-ins to be loaded.
Some plug-ins require specific modules to be installed; install these from the Modules tab in the Plugin Manager.
Manually install a plug-in by dragging and dropping it onto the Glyphs app icon in the Dock.
Installed plugins are moved to the Plugins folder.
The Plugins folder is located next to the Scripts folder.
Do not manually move plug-ins to the Plugins folder since that interferes with the security system of the Mac.
Uninstall a plug-in by deleting it from the Plugins folder.
Plug-ins are written in Python or Objective-C using the Glyphs SDK.
The Glyphs SDK (Software Development Kit) is an open-source set of templates for creating Glyphs plug-ins.
The templates are available for both Python and Objective-C.
The Writing Plug-ins tutorial introduces the basic concepts of plug-in development.
See the Glyphs Python API documentation and Glyphs Objective-C API documentation for a complete reference.
If any questions arise, feel free to ask on the Glyphs forum or contact the Glyphs team directly.
The Glyphs SDK also offers methods for interoperating with Glyphs from an external application.
In addition to the SDK, Glyphs supports the Open Scripting Architecture, allowing for automation via AppleScript or JavaScript.
Regular expressions (often abbreviated as regex) can be used in some search fields to search for text patterns.
For example, [LlDd]caron matches any of the following: Lcaron, lcaron, Dcaron, and dcaron.
Characters that have a special meaning in patterns (such as . or ?) can be found by prefixing them with a backslash \, for example, \. or \?.
.
Matches any character (a, ., -, a space, …).
[abc]
Matches any character within the square brackets.
For example, [ae]acute matches both aacute and eacute.
[^abc]
Matches any character that is not within the square brackets.
For example, [^au]-cy matches e-cy and o-cy but not a-cy or u-cy.
\d
Matches any digit: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.
\D matches any character except for digits.
For example, A\.00\d matches A.000 and A.003 but not A.00F or A.123.
\w
Matches word characters: letters, digits, and the underscore (_).
This is the same as writing [a-zA-Z0-9_].
For example, \w+ finds a and alpha, but not a-cy.
\W matches any character except for word characters.
?
Matches the preceding pattern zero or one time.
For example, oe? finds both o and oe; [ae]?breve finds abreve, ebreve, and breve; and grave(comb)? finds both grave and gravecomb.
*
Matches the preceding pattern zero or multiple times.
For example, A.* finds A, AE, Atilde, and Alpha.
+
Matches the preceding pattern one or multiple times.
For example, A.+ finds AE, Atilde, and Alpha, but not A.
{n}
Matches the preceding pattern n times.
For example, a{5} only finds aaaaa and \d{3} finds 000 and 123 but not 12 or 1234.
{n,m}
Like {n}, but finds the preceding pattern between n and m times.
n may be 0 and m may be left off not to set an upper limit.
a{0,1} is the same as a?, a{0,} is the same as a*, and a{1,} is the same as a+.
For example, \d{3,5} finds 123, 1234, and 12345, but not 12 or 123456.
Useful patterns include:
a.*
Matches any glyph that starts with a.
.*a
Matches any glyph that ends with a.
.*-.*
Matches any glyph that contains a hyphen.
.*\..*
Matches any glyph that contains a dot.
.*\.\d+
Matches any glyph that ends in a dot followed by digits.
\D*\.\d{3}
Matches any glyph that ends in a dot and three digits and does not contain any digits before that.
When finding and replacing with regular expressions, use \1, \2, … to insert parts of the found pattern in the replacement.
The parts must be enclosed in round parenthesis in the find pattern.
In the replacement pattern, use a backslash followed by the number referencing the parenthesized part.
For example, search for (\d)(\d) and replace it with \2\1 to swap two digits (15 becomes 51 or 03 becomes 30).
See also Search Field.
When editing OpenType layout feature code, click the snippets button located in the bottom-right of the window.
Choose Show Snippet Folder to reveal the folder in which additional snippets can be placed.
Snippets are defined in property list files (.plist) named FeatureSnippetsNAME.plist where NAME is the name of the snippets group.
For example, create a file named FeatureSnippetsDecomposition.plist:
(
{
title = "Soft Dotted";
code = "lookupflag UseMarkFilteringSet @TopMark;
sub @SoftDotted' @TopMark by @Dotless;";
},
{
title = "Decompose Precomposed";
code = "sub @Precomp' lookup decomp @Mark;";
}
)
Glyphs can automatically generate many OpenType features if it finds glyphs with certain names in the font.
| Tag | Name | Description |
|---|
aalt
| All Alternatives
| Glyphs automatically builds the aalt feature based on all features that substitute glyphs.
|
liga
| Standard Ligatures
| Join the glyph names of the components with an underscore (_).
Some common ligatures (f_f_i, f_f_l, f_f, fi, fl, lu_lakkhangyao-thai, ru_lakkhangyao-thai) are automatically placed in the liga feature; all others go into dlig by default.
Force a ligature into the liga feature by adding the .liga suffix to its name, for example, f_b.liga or yi_yi-cy.liga.
|
dlig
| Discretionary Ligatures
| Join the glyph names of the components with an underscore (_), for example, f_odieresis.
|
hlig
| Historical Ligatures
| Ligatures with longs, or with a .hlig or .hist suffix.
|
rlig
| Required Ligatures
| Add .rlig to the ligature name.
Also triggered by lam_alef-ar, lam_alefHamzaabove-ar, lam_alefHamzabelow-ar, lam_alefMadda-ar, lam_alef-ar.fina, lam_alefHamzaabove-ar.fina, lam_alefHamzabelow-ar.fina, lam_alefMadda-ar.fina, lam_alefWasla-ar, lam_alefWasla-ar.fina.
|
c2sc
| Small Capitals from Capitals
| Add .sc, .c2sc, or .smcp to the glyph name.
For separate sets for c2sc and smcp, use .c2sc for uppercase glyph names and .smcp for lowercase glyph names.
|
smcp
| Small Capitals
| Add .sc or .smcp to the glyph name.
|
c2pc
| Petite Capitals from Capitals
| Add .pc, .c2pc, or .pcap to the glyph name.
|
pcap
| Petite Capitals
| Add .pc or .pcap to the glyph name.
|
sups
| Superscript
| Add .sups to the glyph name.
Or extend figure names with superior, without the period, for example, onesuperior.
|
subs
| Subscript
| Add inferior, .sinf or .subs to the glyph name.
If the font does not differentiate between subscript and scientific inferior, use one set of .subs glyphs, and Glyphs will create both features with it.
|
sinf
| Scientific Inferiors
| Add inferior, .sinf or .subs to the glyph name.
|
afrc
| Alternative Fractions
| Add figures, slash, and any of these nut fraction glyphs to the font: oneovertwo, zerooverthree, oneoverthree, twooverthree, oneoverfour, threeoverfour, oneoverfive, twooverfive, threeoverfive, fouroverfive, oneoversix, fiveoversix, oneoverseven, twooverseven, threeoverseven, fouroverseven, fiveoverseven, sixoverseven, oneovereight, threeovereight, fiveovereight, sevenovereight, oneovernine, twoovernine, fourovernine, fiveovernine, sevenovernine, eightovernine, oneoverten, threeoverten, sevenoverten, nineoverten, oneovereleven, twoovereleven, threeovereleven, fourovereleven, fiveovereleven, sixovereleven, sevenovereleven, eightovereleven, nineovereleven, tenovereleven, oneovertwelve, fiveovertwelve, sevenovertwelve, elevenovertwelve, oneoveronehundred.
|
frac
| Fractions
| The frac feature is generated from the .numr, .dnom, and fraction glyphs.
If they are not present in the font, then the feature will be composed of any pre-built fractions mentioned in the afrc above.
|
dnom
| Denominators
| Add .dnom to the glyph name.
|
numr
| Numerators
| Add .numr to the glyph name.
|
onum
| Oldstyle Figures
| Add .osf (for proportional oldstyle figures) or .tosf (for tabular oldstyle figures) to the glyph name.
Can be applied to other characters as well, for example, currency signs.
|
tnum
| Tabular Figures
| Add .tf (for tabular figures) or .tosf (for tabular oldstyle figures) to the glyph name.
Can be applied to other characters as well, for example, currency signs.
Do not use the figure suffix for the default figures; for example, if the default figures are proportional oldstyle figures, do not use figures with a .osf suffix.
|
pnum
| Proportional Figures
| Add .osf (for proportional oldstyle figures) or .lf (for proportional lining figures) to the glyph name.
Can be applied to other characters as well, for example, currency signs.
|
lnum
| Lining Figures
| Add .lf (for proportional lining figures) or .tf (for tabular figures) to the glyph name.
Can be applied to other characters as well, for example, currency signs.
|
ordn
| Ordinals
| Automatically built if default figures, numero, ordfeminine, and ordmasculine are found in the font.
|
ornm
| Ornaments
| Add .ornm to the glyph name of letters A–Z or a–z.
Also, make sure the bullet glyph is in the font.
|
hist
| Historical Forms
| Add .hist to the glyph name.
|
case
| Uppercase Forms
| Add .case to the glyph name or .lf to the name of a figure.
|
cpsp
| Capital Spacing
| Add uppercase letters to the font, and choose Capital Spacing from the plus menu in the bottom-left of File → Font Info… → Features.
|
locl
| Localized Forms
| Add .loclXXX to the glyph name, where XXX represents the three letter language tag, for example, .loclENG for English, or .loclSVE for Swedish.
There is also a built-in list of glyphs that trigger localizations:
idotaccent, i.TRK or i.loclTRK: trigger i substitutions for TRK, AZE, CRT, KAZ, and TAT if i is present.
Scommaccent, Tcommaaccent, scommaaccent, and tcommaaccent: trigger substitutions for ROM and MOL if Scedilla, Tcedilla, scedilla, and tcedilla are present.
periodcentered.loclCAT (add a .case suffix for uppercase; L_periodcentered_L.loclCAT, l_periodcentered_l.loclCAT; or the legacy Ldot, ldot: trigger ella geminada (punt volat) substitutions for CAT if L, l, and periodcentered are also present in the font.
Iacute_J.loclNLD and iacute_j.loclNLD, or Jacute and jacute: trigger accented ij substitutions for NLD if Iacute, iacute, J, and j are present.
six-ar and numbers with .urdu suffix (for example, four-persian.urdu) will trigger URD localization for Persian.
|
cv01–
cv99
| Character Variants
| Add .cv01 through .cv99 to the glyph name.
Note that the OpenType spec recommends grouping related alternative glyphs into the same feature. Use manual feature code if there are multiple alternatives for a glyph; for example, place the following code in a single cv## feature: sub a from [a.alt1 a.alt2 a.alt3].
|
ss01–
ss20
| Stylistic Set
| Add .ss01 through .ss20 to the glyph name.
Stylistic sets can be named.
|
salt
| Stylistic Alternates
| By default, Glyphs will duplicate the ss01 feature in salt.
Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop make use of this feature in their OpenType palettes.
|
swsh
| Swashes
| Add .swsh to the glyph name.
|
titl
| Titling
| Add .titl to the glyph name.
|
init
| Initial Forms
| Add .init to the glyph name.
|
medi
| Medial Forms
| Add .medi to the glyph name.
|
med2
| Medial Forms
| Add .med2 to the glyph name.
Used only with the Syriac script.
|
fina
| Terminal Forms
| Add .fina to the glyph name.
|
fin2
| Terminal Forms
| Add .fin2 to the glyph name.
Used only with the Syriac script.
|
fin3
| Terminal Forms
| Add .fin3 to the glyph name.
Used only with the Syriac script
|
fwid
| Full Widths
| Add .full or .fullwidth to the glyph name, and emspace will substitute space.
|
hkna
| Horizontal Kana Alternates
| Add .hori to a Katakana or Hiragana glyph name.
|
hojo
| Hojo Kanji Forms
| Add .hojo to the glyph name.
Use it for JIS X 0212–1990 Kanji Forms.
The respective unsuffixed default glyphs should be JIS X 0213: 2004 shapes.
|
hwid
| Half Widths
| Add .half to the glyph name, end enspace will substitute space.
|
ital
| Italics
| Add .italic to the glyph name.
|
pkna
| Proportional Kana
| Add .proportional to a Katakana or Hiragana glyph name.
|
pwid
| Proportional Widths
| Add .proportional to the glyph name.
|
qwid
| Quarter Widths
| Add .qartwidth to the glyph name.
|
ruby
| Ruby Notation Forms
| Add .ruby to the glyph name.
|
twid
| Third Widths
| Add .thirdwidth to the glyph name.
|
vkna
| Vertical Kana Alternates
| Add .vert to a Katakana or Hiragana glyph name.
|
vrt2
| Vertical Alternates and Rotation
| Add .vert to the glyph name.
|
abvs
| Above-base Substitutions
| Triggered by certain base and mark combinations in South Asian scripts.
|
akhn
| Akhands
| Triggered by a number of letter and ligature glyphs in South Asian scripts.
|
blwf
| Below Base Forms
| Triggered by halants and .below glyphs in combination with a range of other glyphs in South Asian scripts.
|
blws
| Below-base Substitutions
| Triggered by certain letter combinations in South Asian scripts, such as Gujarati letters with a .straight suffix or specific halant combinations in Oriya.
|
cjct
| Conjunct Forms
| Triggered by conjunct clusters in South Asian scripts.
|
half
| Half Forms
| Triggered by half-form glyphs ending in Halfform in conjunction with halant in South Asian scripts.
|
nukt
| Nukta Forms
| Triggered by nukta ligatures ending in Nukta and the script abbreviation, in conjunction with the same glyphs without nukta, in South Asian scripts.
|
pref
| Pre-base Forms
| Triggered by a halant in certain letter constellations in South and Southeast Asian scripts.
|
pres
| Pre-base Substitutions
| Triggered by certain matra and conjunct constellations in South Asian scripts.
Define width variants with number suffixes, for example, iMatra-deva.01 through iMatra-deva.20, and the feature generator will pick the appropriate width variant for each conjunct.
|
psts
| Post-base Substitutions
| Triggered by a halant glyph in combination with script-specific base and matra constellations, such as eMatra-kannada with .base and .base.e glyphs in Kannada.
Applies to South Asian scripts only.
|
rkrf
| Rakar Forms
| Triggered by rakar ligatures in conjunction with the isolated glyphs and halant in Devanagari, Gujarati, and Malayalam.
|
rphf
| Reph Forms
| Triggered by ra-deva, halant-deva and reph-deva, or an analogous glyph structure in other South Asian scripts.
|
vatu
| Vattu Variants
| Triggered by the presence of specific lookups in the rkrf feature.
|
ccmp
| Glyph Composition and Decomposition
| A wide range of glyph constellations in various scripts will trigger the automatic creation of ccmp.
For instance, idotless and jdotless next to i, j and combining top marks will trigger a ccmp lookup for Latin, which replaces the dotted with the dotless glyphs before top marks.
|
mark
| Mark to Base Positioning
| Add anchors without underscores to base letters, like top or bottom, and add combining marks (for example, acutecomb) with underscore anchors (for example, _top or _bottom) to glyphs in the font.
Their width is automatically set to zero at export.
This GPOS feature is not added to the Features tab but calculated at export.
|
mkmk
| Mark to Mark Positioning
| Add combining marks (U+0300 and above) with both underscore (for example, _top) and non-underscore anchors (for example, top) to glyphs in the font.
This GPOS feature is not added to the Features tab but calculated at export.
|
Custom parameters provide additional settings and are identified by their property and have a value.
In this appendix, the properties are printed in bold.
The short description next to it explains the respective values and the function of the parameter.
Parameters can be added to the Custom Parameters field of the Font, Masters, and Exports tab of File → Font Info (Cmd-I).
Enabled parameters are displayed in black; disabled parameters are displayed in gray.
Quickly disable a parameter by unchecking the checkbox to the left of its property name.
Custom parameters in camelcase (exampleName) are defined in the UFO specification and change the font information.
In contrast, capitalized ones (Example Name) are specific to Glyphs and usually change something in the font (for instance, run a filter on the outlines).
UFO parameters follow the naming convention for Font Info properties outlined in the UFO 3 specification published in March 2012.
Glyphs also makes use of a simplified naming convention.
Wherever possible, leave out the prefix of the keyword.
For example, instead of openTypeNameDescription, use description, or blueScale instead of postscriptBlueScale.
Both long and short versions work side by side.
- Add Class
string Add an OpenType class to the font. The first word must be the class name (without the at sign), followed by a semicolon, and the new class code.
- Add Feature
string Add an OpenType feature to the font. The first word must be the feature tag, followed by a semicolon, and the new feature code. It will be put at the end of the list, so it may not be in the right order.
- Add Prefix
string Add an OpenType prefix to the font. The first word must be the prefix name, followed by a semicolon, and the new prefix code.
- ascender
string Overrides the Ascender value for a certain script. The values will be preferred for glyphs associated with the script in the Edit view. As value, enter the lowercase name of the script, followed by a colon and the value, e.g., cyrillic: 720. Use multiple parameters for multiple scripts.
- Autohint
boolean Forces autohinting for the given instance, regardless of the setting in the Export dialog
- Axis Location
list Remaps a master or instance from the internal design space coordinates to values that are exposed in a variable font user interface (external coordinates
). This can be useful if your internal design space coordinates do not already adhere to the suggestions of the OpenType specification.
- Axis Mappings
Creates an avar table by mapping internal design coordinates to external coordinates exposed to the user. Put the internal coordinate into the left column, and the external coordinate in the right column. Or, add and edit values by clicking and dragging in the chart. The range for the internal coordinates is determined by the actual axis positions of the masters in Font Info → Masters, whereas the range for external coordinates is determined by the Axis Location parameters in Font Info → Masters.
Note that axis mappings work only per axis, and cannot be adjusted for different positions of other axes. This is a limitation of the avar implementation, so you may have to compromise on one of the mappings or pick an average value as the target mapping.
- blueFuzz
integer BlueFuzz value. This corresponds to the Type 1/CFF BlueFuzz field. From the Type 1 specification: The number specifies the `units to extend (in both directions) the effect of an alignment zone on a horizontal stem. If the top of a horizontal stem is within BlueFuzz units (in character space) outside of a top-zone, the interpreter will act as if the stem top were actually within the zone; the same holds for the bottoms of horizontal stems in bottom-zones. The default value of BlueFuzz is 1.
Adobe themselves state that BlueFuzz was intended to compensate for slightly inaccurate coordinate data.
They therefore suggest adjusting the alignment zones themselves as well as explicitly setting BlueFuzz to zero. Because a non-zero value for BlueFuzz extends the range of alignment zones, alignment zones must be declared at least (2 × BlueFuzz + 1) units apart from each other. Therefore, a default BlueFuzz value of 1 implies that alignment zones should be at least 3 units apart from each other.
- blueScale
float PostScript BlueScale value. This corresponds to the Type 1/CFF BlueScale field. Controls the font size until which overshoot display is suppressed. Calculated as (pointsize at 300 dpi – 0.49) ÷ 240, e.g., 0.039625 for 10 points at 300 dpi. If you do not set the value yourself, blueScale defaults to 0.037, which corresponds to 9.37 points at 300 dpi or 39 pixels per em. This means that, in this case, overshoots will be visible if at least 40 pixels are used to display an em. The maximum blueScale value depends on the sizes of your alignment zones. The maximum pointsize at 300 dpi is calculated as 0.49 + 240 ÷ largest alignment zone size, which corresponds to a PPM (size in pixels per em) of 2.04 + 1000 ÷ largest alignment zone size. The product of (maximum pointsize – 0.49) × (largest alignment zone height) must be less than 240.
For example, your largest zone is 21 units deep, thus: 2.04 + 1000 ÷ 21 = 49.659, so the maximum PPM at which overshoots can be suppressed is 49. The corresponding maximum pointsize is 0.49 + 240 ÷ 21 = 11.919 points at 300 dpi, thus the blueScale value cannot exceed (11.919 – 0.49) ÷ 240 = 0.04762.
- blueShift
integer PostScript BlueShift value. This corresponds to the Type 1/CFF BlueShift field. Default value is 7. Extends for very small glyph features beyond the font size indicated by blueScale. Overshoots inside an alignment zone are displayed if: (a) they are equal to or larger than BlueShift and (b) if they are smaller than BlueShift but larger than half a pixel. E.g. blueScale is set to suppress overshoots until 32 PPM, blueShift is 6, overshoots are 12 units deep. The stroke endings are slightly slanted and extend 5 units below the baseline. Between 0 and 32 PPM, the baseline will be kept completely level. Starting at 33 PPM, the overshoots will kick in. But the stroke endings will stay flat, because 5 units do not cover half a pixel until 100 PPM.
- capHeight
string Overrides the Cap Height value for a certain script. The values will be preferred for glyphs associated with the script in the Edit view. As value, enter the lowercase name of the script, followed by a colon and the value, e.g., adlam: 680. Use multiple parameters for multiple scripts.
- CJK Grid
integer Number of rows and columns of a dotted-line grid displayed when editing CJK glyphs. You can set number of rows and columns separately with the CJK Grid Horizontal and CJK Grid Vertical parameters. No grid is displayed when none of these parameters are set. This parameter can be localized like the CJK Guide parameter.
- CJK Grid Horizontal
integer Number of columns of a dotted-line grid displayed when editing CJK glyphs. This parameter can be localized like the CJK Guide parameter.
- CJK Grid Vertical
integer Number of rows of a dotted-line grid displayed when editing CJK glyphs. This parameter can be localized like the CJK Guide parameter.
- CJK Guide
string Percentage of inset for CJK guide squares, e.g., 10 for 10 percent. If set, Glyphs will display a second square guide for the virtual body in CJK glyphs. You can localize the parameter by preceding the value with the script name, e.g., kana:5. If you want to define virtual bodies for more than one script, add more CJK Guide parameters.
list Sets the appropriate bits of the ulCodePageRange1 and ulCodePageRange2 entries in the OS/2 table. This field is used to specify the code pages encompassed by the font file in the cmap subtable for platform 3, encoding ID 1 (Microsoft platform).
Every activated code page is considered functional. Each of the bits is treated as an independent flag and the bits can be set in any combination. The determination of functional
is left up to the font designer, although character set selection should attempt to be functional by code pages if at all possible.
- Color Layers to COLR
boolean If turned on, will produce COLR and CPAL tables with the color information stored in a color setup, from the masters that have a Master Color parameter.
- Color Layers to SVG
boolean If turned on, will produce an SVG table with the color information stored in CPAL Color layers, or, in a layered-font setup, from the masters that have a Master Color parameter.
- Color Palette for CPAL
integer Index of the color palette (as defined in the Color Palettes parameter) that is supposed to be used for the CPAL OpenType table.
- Color Palette for SVG
integer Index of the color palette (as defined in the Color Palettes parameter) that is supposed to be used for the SVG OpenType table. Useful only in conjunction with the Color Layers to SVG parameter.
- Color Palettes
list Define color palettes for export as a CPAL OpenType table in Microsoft-style
CPAL/COLR color fonts. This parameter allows Glyphs to display a preview of color glyphs in Font and Edit view.
- Compatible name Table
boolean Exports a legacy name table as expected by some Mac apps (in particular Quark XPress and FontExplorer). It improves grouping of font styles in the font menu of those apps, but may break functionality elsewhere, especially Microsoft Office. Therefore, caution is advised in the use of this parameter.
- compatibleFullNames
Sets name table ID 18, Compatible Full Name
, a Mac-only name which is intended to be preferred over ID 4 (Full Name
). If not set, the value for name table ID 18 is calculated from Family Name plus space plus Style Name of the respective instance. On the Macintosh, the menu name is constructed using the FOND resource. This usually matches the Full Name. If you want the name of the font to appear differently than the Full Name, you can insert the Compatible Full Name in ID 18.
Caution: since this may lead to a situation where Mac and Windows use different full names for the same font, it may break cross-platform interoperability of documents.
- copyrights
Copyright statement. Overrides the entry in the Copyright field in the Font tab of the Font Info. Corresponds to the OpenType name table ID 0, Copyright notice
.
- cvt Table
string List of values for the cvt (control value table). When you open a TTF in Glyphs, the application will store the existing cvt values in this parameter. This is intended to preserve existing TT hinting for reexporting, and certainly not to be edited manually. Remove this parameter if you want to do your own TrueType instructioning.
- Decompose Brace Layers
boolean In variable font exports, decompose components that point to glyphs with intermediate layers a.k.a. brace layers
. Default is on.
- Decompose Components
boolean Decompose all components on export. Useful for situations where the environment cannot handle components correctly, such as eraly implementations of Variable Fonts in legacy macOS versions. Will increase file size. Only makes sense for TrueType fonts; CFF-based fonts will always decompose.
- Decompose Components in Variable Font
boolean When exporting a (TT-based) variable font, all components will be decomposed to outlines. This option is intended to circumvent a CoreText rendering bug in macOS versions prior to Mojave 10.14.5, which affected the spacing of composite glyphs with changing LSB values under certain circumstances. Since the resulting variable font contains no more components, its file size can be expected to increase dramatically.
- Decompose Glyphs
list At export, decomposes the composite glyphs listed. This can be useful if you want to avoid changing of composites when one of the components is being changed with the Rename Glyphs parameter.
- Default Layer Width
integer Newly created glyphs and layers will have the specified width rather than the default 600 units, or 1000 units for CJK glyphs, or 200 units for corner components. If you prefix the value with a (lowercase) script name and a colon, the specified layer width will only be applied to glyphs of that script, e.g., cyrillic: 400 or adlam: 450. Add multiple parameters for multiple scripts.
- descender
string Overrides the Descender value for a certain script. The values will be preferred for glyphs associated with the script in the Edit view. As value, enter the lowercase name of the script, followed by a colon and the value, e.g., arabic: -300. Use multiple parameters for multiple scripts.
- descriptions
Description of the font. Corresponds to the OpenType name table ID 10: description of the typeface. Can contain revision information, usage recommendations, history, features, etc.
- Design Grid
string Number of rows and columns of a dotted-line grid. Mostly used for CJK design. It can take three values: [script:]horizontal,vertical
- designers
Name of the designer. Overrides the Font Info → Font → Designer entry for the given instance. Corresponds to the OpenType name table ID 9, name of the designer of the typeface.
- designerURL
string The URL of the designer. Overrides the Font Info → Font → Designer → URL entry for the given instance. Corresponds to the OpenType name table ID 12, URL of typeface designer (with protocol, e.g., http://, ftp://).
- Disable autohinting for glyphs
list Excludes listed glyphs from the PostScript autohinting at export time. (TT autohinting cannot be disabled on a per-glyph basis.) This can be useful if some glyphs do not lend themselves for hinting, e.g., ornaments.
- Disable Masters
list Disables all specified masters. Intended mainly for specific production workflows, or for testing purposes, e.g., to see if interpolation still behaves as expected if you leave out one of the intermediate masters.
- Disable Subroutines
boolean If set, CFF outline subroutinization is disabled when the font is exported. Use this (a) when the font has complex outlines with many nodes and does not export at all, or (b) for testing purposes when the font has many glyphs, e.g., a CJK font, and takes too long to compile every time you export.
- DisableAllAutomaticBehaviour
boolean Will disable most of the automatic stuff on export.
- Don't use Production Names
boolean If checked, Glyphs will not automatically rename glyphs of the final font file according to the internal glyph database, but export the current glyph names. Some applications and systems, amongst which the text engine of OS X 10.4, expect the AGL naming scheme, though. This is equivalent to the File → Font Info → Other Settings → Use Custom Naming setting, and intended for users who want to employ their own custom naming scheme.
- EditView Line Height
float Sets the line height for text set in an Edit tab. Useful if you have unusual vertical metrics, and the default leading seems inappropriate. Has no effect on the exported font file.
- Elidable STAT Axis Value Name
string Declares the style name of the instance as elidable for the axis specified in the parameter’s value. As value, use the four-letter tag of the respective axis. Typically, you will add this parameter in the regular style, and you will add one for each axis for which the name is an elidable display string. Example: In a two-axis setup, an instance called Regular has two Elidable STAT Axis Value Name parameters, one with wght and one with wdth as parameter values. A display string is deemed elidable if it is left out when combined with other display strings. Usually this is the case for default-style names like Regular
, Normal
, or the like. The semibold weight combined with regular width is usually just called Semibold
, not Semibold Regular
; or the normal weight in combination with the italic style is simply called Italic
, not Regular Italic
. Thus, the display name Regular
is considered elidable.
- Enforce Compatibility Check
boolean Forces compatibility checks between all masters. Compatibility is only checked for a pair of masters if they are both required for interpolating one of the instances defined in File → Font Info → Instances. Useful if you have no instance between certain masters, but still need to keep them compatible, e.g., for a variable font.
- Export AAT
boolean Toggles the export of Apple Advanced Typography (AAT) instructions as entered in File → Font Info → Features → Prefix → morx. If morx instructions are present in Font Info, they will be compiled into a morx table by default. This parameter is intended as an option to prevent its export, and thus create a pure OpenType font.
- Export COLR Table
boolean Toggles the export of CPAL and COLR tables. If all conditions are met, CPAL and COLR tables will be compiled and exported by default, though. This parameter is intended as an option to prevent their export.
- Export Folder
string Adds a subfolder to the default export destination. Please make sure to use only characters that are valid in folder names.
- Export Glyphs
list Exports all glyphs listed, regardless of whether the glyph was set to export or not.
- Export kern Table
boolean On export, will write an old-style kern table in addition to the kern feature in the GPOS table. Only affects in TrueType exports (i.e., .ttf or TT-flavored webfonts). All group kerning will be expanded into all possible singleton pairs. This means that you will have to subset before using this parameter, otherwise you risk a table overflow. Use of this parameter is strongly discouraged, and only makes sense in rare edge cases where support of defunct or legacy software is necessary. Only use it if you know what you are doing.
- Export Mac Name Table Entries
boolean Control if Macintosh name table entries are exported (they are by default). So this is meant to disable the Macintosh names.
- Export morx Table
boolean Inserts a morx (extended glyph metamorphosis
) AAT table into the exported font. Takes the contents of a prefix with the name morx in File → Font Info → Features, written in MIF code (metamorphosis input file). For this to work, the ftxenhancer command line tool of the Apple Font Tools must be installed. For more information, refer to the documentation included with the Apple Font Tools.
- Export OpenType
boolean Toggles the export of most OpenType tables. If disabled, and if morx data is entered in File → Font Info → Features → Prefix, will export a pure AAT font.
- Export PostScript Hints
boolean If set, will force export of PostScript hinting (default). Can be used for suppressing PostScript hints when its boolean value is turned off.
- Export sbix Table
boolean Toggles the export of an sbix table. If all conditions are met, an sbix table will be compiled and exported by default, though. This parameter is intended as an option to prevent its export.
- Export STAT Table
boolean Toggles the export of the STAT table. A STAT table will be compiled and exported by default, though. This parameter is intended as an option to prevent its export.
- Export SVG Table
boolean Toggles the export of an SVG table. An SVG table will be compiled and exported by default, though. This parameter is intended as an option to prevent its export.
- Export TrueType Hints
boolean If set, will force export of TrueType hinting (default). Can be used for suppressing TrueType hints when its boolean value is turned off.
- Export vmtx Table
boolean Forces or suppresses the export of a vmtx (Vertical Metrics
) table. Can be useful if you have top and bottom sidebearings set in your glyphs, but want to export a horizontal variant of your font only. OpenType spec: vmtx
- Family Alignment Zones
list This parameter can help create a more consistent screen appearance at low resolutions, even if the overshoots differ in the individual weights. It is a good idea to reduplicate the alignment zones of the most important font in your family, usually of the Regular or Book instance. A rasterizer will then try to align all weights if the height difference between the individual weight and the family alignment is less than one pixel. Important: For this mechanism to work, family alignment zones must be compatible with the alignment zones set up in the masters.
- familyNames
Font family name. Overrides the entry in the Family Name field in the Font section of the Font Info. Corresponds to the OpenType name table IDs 1 and 4. Used to calculate IDs 3, 4 and 6.
- Feature for Feature Variations
string Define the OpenType feature into which glyph variant substitutions (a.k.a. Bracket tricks
) are written in OpenType variable fonts. Default is rvrn.
- fileName
string Name for the font file, without the dot suffix, i.e., without .otf, etc. Gives you the chance to export two versions of the same font style name without the second file overwriting the first one.
- Filter
string Triggers Glyphs filters or app functions in an instance, after decomposition of composite glyphs. The values for the built-in filters are as follows:
AddExtremes
Autohinting
HatchOutlineFilter; OriginX: x; OriginY: y; StepWidth: distance; Angle: angle; Offset: thickness
OffsetCurve; x; y; makestroke; position/auto
RemoveOverlap
Roughenizer; segmentlength; x; y; angle
RoundCorner; radius; visualcorrection
RoundedFont; stem
Transformations; LSB: ±shift*; RSB: ±shift*; Width: ±shift; ScaleX: percent; ScaleY: percent; Slant: degrees; SlantCorrection: bool; OffsetX: amount; OffsetY: amount; Origin: select
Replace all words in italics with your values: The boolean values (makestroke, visual correction, bool) are 1 for yes and 0 for no. The value for position/auto must be a floating point number where 0.0 represents 0%, and 1.0 stands for 100%, or the string auto for Auto Stroke. The stem value in the RoundedFont syntax is optional. The select value in the Transformations syntax can be a number from 0 to 4, representing the five options displayed in Filter → Transformations → Transform → Origin: cap height (0), half cap height (1), x-height (2), half x-height (3), baseline (4).
If you want a filter to be applied only to some glyphs, add include: or exclude:, followed by space- or comma-separated glyph names, e.g., RemoveOverlap; exclude:a,b,c.
If you are using third-party filters, refer to their documentation for the parameter string. In particular, the include and exclude options may not be available.
If you want to apply filters before decomposition, use these values with a PreFilter parameter.
- Fit Curve Panel Settings
Use this parameter to store the minimum and maximum percentages for the Fit Curve panel in the right sidebar. As parameter value, use two numbers, separated by a comma, e.g., 57, 72
. Once set, the parameter value will pick up changes you make in the Fit Curve UI.
- fpgm Table Assembly
string Assembly code for the fpgm (font program) table. When you open a TTF in Glyphs, the application will store the existing fpgm code in this parameter. This is intended to preserve existing TT hinting for reexporting, and certainly not to be edited manually. Remove this parameter if you want to do your own TrueType instructioning.
- fsType
list A list of bit numbers indicating the embedding type. The bit numbers are listed in the OpenType OS/2 specification. Corresponds to the OpenType OS/2 table fsType field. Type flags. Indicates font embedding licensing rights for the font. Embeddable fonts may be stored in a document. When a document with embedded fonts is opened on a system that does not have the font installed (the remote system), the embedded font may be loaded for temporary (and in some cases, permanent) use on that system by an embedding-aware application. Embedding licensing rights are granted by the vendor of the font. The OpenType Font Embedding DLL Specification and DLL release notes describe the APIs used to implement support for OpenType font embedding and loading. Applications that implement support for font embedding, either through use of the Font Embedding DLL or through other means, must not embed fonts which are not licensed to permit embedding. Further, applications loading embedded fonts for temporary use (see Preview & Print and Editable embedding below) must delete the fonts when the document containing the embedded font is closed.
You can set fsType to one of these five states:
Installable: Fonts with this setting indicate that they may be embedded and permanently installed on the remote system by an application. The user of the remote system acquires the identical rights, obligations and licenses for that font as the original purchaser of the font, and is subject to the same end-user license agreement, copyright, design patent, and/or trademark as was the original purchaser.
Forbidden: Restricted License embedding: Fonts that have only this bit set must not be modified, embedded or exchanged in any manner without first obtaining permission of the legal owner. Caution: For Restricted License embedding to take effect, it must be the only level of embedding selected.
Editable: When this bit is set, the font may be embedded but must only be installed temporarily on other systems. In contrast to Preview & Print fonts, documents containing Editable fonts may be opened for reading, editing is permitted, and changes may be saved.
Preview & Print: When this bit is set, the font may be embedded, and temporarily loaded on the remote system. Documents containing Preview & Print fonts must be opened read-only;
no edits can be applied to the document.
Subsetting forbidden: When this bit is set, the font may not be subsetted prior to embedding. Other embedding restrictions also apply.
- gasp Table
Sets the gasp table (grid-fitting and scan-conversion procedure
) for TrueType fonts. It controls the two PPM thresholds at which the recommended on-screen rendering behavior changes. The gasp table contains rendering recommendations for both a traditional grayscale and a ClearType subpixel renderer. However, keep in mind that a renderer may ignore the data stored herein.
This table contains information which describes the preferred rasterization techniques for the typeface when it is rendered on grayscale-capable devices. This table also has some use for monochrome devices, which may use the table to turn off hinting at very large or small sizes, to improve performance.
The default threshold sizes are 8 and 20 PPM. Because there are two thresholds, three ranges can be differentiated:
no hinting & symmetric: Until the first threshold size, no gridfitting is applied, and text is rendered with antialiasing wherever possible. At very small sizes, the best appearance on grayscale devices can usually be achieved by rendering the glyphs in grayscale without using hints.
hinting & asymmetric: Between the two threshold sizes, the renderer is recommended to apply gridfitting and suppress grayscale. At intermediate sizes, hinting and monochrome rendering will usually produce the best appearance.
In ClearType, the matter is handled asymmetrically, i.e., vertical gridfitting is applied, while horizontally, subpixel rendering is used.
hinting & symmetric: Beyond the thresholds, the rasterizer is instructed to apply gridfitting and render the shapes in grayscale. At large sizes, the combination of hinting and grayscale rendering will typically produce the best appearance.
The ClearType rasterizer is instructed to apply symmetric smoothing, i.e., to use anti-aliasing in y direction in addition to horizontal subpixel rendering. At display sizes on screen,[…] this new improvement of the Windows font renderer produces smoother and cleaner-looking type
(Now Read this: The Microsoft Cleartype Font Collection, Microsoft 2004, p. 14).
- Get Hints From Master
string Defines which master is taken as source of manual PS and TT hints, sometimes also referred to as the main master
. Hinting in other masters will be ignored. If not set, manually entered hints will be taken from the first master listed in File → Font Info → Masters. This also affects treatment of TTFStems and TTFZones parameters: only in the indicated master, the UI for those parameters will provide the delta and range buttons.
- glyphOrder
list Sets the order of glyphs in both the working file and the final font. Glyph names need to be separated by newlines. You can copy and paste the content of a List Filter. Glyphs not listed but still in the font will be appended after listed glyphs, in the default order that Glyphs employs.
- Grid Spacing
integer Set the coordinate precision for the resulting CFF font, in font units. The value corresponds to the quotient of the Grid Spacing value divided by the Subdivision value in File → Font Info → Other Settings. At export time though, any Grid Spacing value smaller than 1.0 will result in coordinate precision a hundred times finer than the default unit-grid rounding. In other words, all parameter values smaller than 1 are equivalent to 0.01. The purposes of this parameter is to avoid too coarse rounding of point coordinates in very thin interpolations. Any Grid Spacing value equal to or larger than 1.0 will result in grid-unit rounding. In other words, it any value greater than 1.0 is equivalent to 1.0. The parameter has no effect on TrueType outlines, which cannot have higher coordinate precision.
- Hangul Composition Groups
list Defines composition groups for Hangul type design. Pick a key Jamo glyph and similarly formatted variants for automated composition of complex Hangul composites.
- Has WWS Names
boolean Sets bit 8 of the fsSelection entry in the OS/2 table: According to the OpenType specification, this bit indicates that the font has name table strings consistent with a weight/width/slope family without requiring use of name
IDs 21 and 22.
This makes sense only if the naming of your font already adheres to the WWS scheme.
- hheaAscender
integer Height of the ascender as stored in the hhea (horizontal header) table. Typographic ascent (distance from baseline of highest ascender).
The hhea vertical metrics are mainly in use on Mac apps, including browsers on the Mac. Therefore, unless you have to maintain backwards compatibility with legacy software, it is recommended to keep the hhea values in sync with the typo* values, and make sure that Use Typo Metrics (fsSelection bit 7) is switched on.
For a detailed discussion of vertical metrics, see the Vertical Metrics tutorial.
- hheaDescender
integer A negative integer describing the depth of the descender as stored in the hhea table. Typographic descent (distance from baseline of lowest descender).
For a discussion of the hhea values, see hheaAscender..
- hheaLineGap
integer The recommended interlinear whitespace as stored in the hhea table. Typographic line gap. Negative values are treated as zero in some legacy implementations.
For a discussion of the hhea values, see hheaAscender.
- Ignore custom GlyphData file
boolean If set, will ignore the content of a GlyphData.xml next to the .glyphs file, or in a Info subfolder next to the .glyphs file.
- Ignore out of bounds instances
boolean Ignore all instances that are outside of the design space (e.g. when subsetting).
- Ignore Vertical Hints
boolean In a TrueType export, will ignore all stem hints that are linked to a vertical stem definition, as set forth in a TTFStems parameter. Makes sense in exports intended for subpixel rendering, or for webfont exports where you want to keep the file size as small as possible. Only affects manual TT hinting, does not apply to TTF Autohint or PS hinting.
- Import Font
Reference a different .glyphs file, and all glyphs of the referenced file that are not in the host font, will be hot-linked, in the order of their layers and masters, as if you had copied the glyphs from one file to the other. The glyphs will be visible and typeable in Font and Edit view, but locked. Useful for splitting design work between multiple users, or sharing smart components between files.
- Import Master
Reference a master in different .glyphs file, and it will be hot-linked into the host file, as if you had added it into File → Font Info → Masters. Interpolation values must be set compatibly in both files. Add one parameter for each master you want to hot-link.
- Instance Preview
list Changes the preview string of an instance in File → Font Info → Instances from the default Aang126
to the glyph names listed.
- InterpolationWeightY
float Vertical interpolation value. In an instance, you can differentiate between interpolation along the x axis and interpolation along the y axis by introducing this custom parameter. For it to take effect, it must differ from the interpolation weight of the instance. Be careful, as this can lead to deformation in diagonals. We advice to keep the InterpolationWeightY close to the normal Weight interpolation value.
E.g., there are two masters at weight 20 and 100, and an instance with a weight interpolation value of 50. The vertical stems look correct, but the horizontals look too thin. They would look right at 60, but then the verticals would appear too thick. So, you keep your instance at 50, but add the custom parameter InterpolationWeightY with a value of 60. Now, the vertical stems (x coordinates) are still interpolated with 50, and the horizontals (y coordinates) with 60.
- isFixedPitch
boolean Sets the isFixedPitch flag in the post table. Indicates whether the font is monospaced. Software can use this information to make sure that all glyphs are rendered with the same amount of pixels horizontally at any given PPM size.
⚠️Danger: Will sync the width of all glyphs with the width of the space glyph This can be overwritten by adding a .monospace number value in the master settings.
- Italic Style Linking
boolean In the STAT table of variable fonts, adds a Format 3 (style linking) AxisValue for the Italic (ital) axis, linking the Regular (ital=0) to the Italic (ital=1). Should not be added to (exclusively) italic fonts. Use this parameter for forcing or suppressing the style linking rather than relying on the built-in automation.
- italicAngle
string Overrides the Italic Angle value in File → Font Info → Masters either for a certain script or for the whole font. The values will be preferred for glyphs associated with the script in the Edit view. As value, enter the lowercase name of the script, followed by a colon and the value, e.g., latin: 7. Use multiple parameters for multiple scripts. The number must be an angle in clockwise degrees from the vertical. Also useful for upright fonts with an angle other than 0°, because macOS may interpret non-zero angles as italic. Affects the CFF ItalicAngle, the post italicAngle, the x offsets of the OS/2 subscript and superscript values, as well as the hhea caretSlopeRise and caretSlopeRun entries.
- Keep Glyphs
list List of glyph names for all glyphs that will be kept in the exported font. All other glyphs will be discarded, and kerning and automatic feature code will be updated accordingly. Useful for webfont subsetting in order to achieve smaller file sizes
Can use the same wildcards and category searches as the Remove Glyphs parameter. Uses of Remove Glyphs and Keep Glyphs are mutually exclusive.
- Keep Kerning in one Lookup
boolean Will attempt to fit all pair adjustment
kerning into the first GPOS lookup.
This is a workaround for a bug in Microsoft apps where kerning outside the first lookup is ignored. If turned off, Glyphs will default to separating kerning into lookups based on the glyph categories.
- Keep Overlapping Components
boolean If set, Glyphs does not decompose composite glyphs with overlapping components, such as in Ccedilla. Useful for post-production of TrueType fonts. Has no effect on CFF exports.
- Keep Transformed Components
boolean Does not decompose composite glyphs with transformed (horizontally or vertically scaled, or vertically shifted) components. Useful for post-production of TrueType fonts. For release-ready production, we do not recommend using this parameter, as it may interfere with TT hinting in affected glyphs. The parameter has no effect on CFF exports.
- Keep UI-Font Bounding Box
boolean Prevents conjuncts from stacking below in South Asian scripts, by altering the automated feature code for the cjct feature accordingly. Useful for intended use in environments where vertical stacking is limited, e.g., in user interfaces, hence the name. Currently only implemented for Oriya.
- licenses
License description. Corresponds to the OpenType name table ID 13, the description of how the font may be legally used, or different example scenarios for licensed use. This field should be written in plain language, not legalese.
- licenseURL
string URL for the license. Corresponds to the OpenType name table ID 14. URL where additional licensing information can be found.
Make sure it starts with the protocol specification, typically https://.
- Link Metrics With First Master
boolean If checked, keeps the side-bearings and the kerning of the respective master (in which the parameter is entered) in sync with the first master. In effect, you only have to space and kern the first master. This is especially useful for color fonts or fonts that should not change their metrics throughout their weights.
- Link Metrics With Master
string Same as Link Metrics With First Master (see above), except that it specifies the name of the master to which kerning and spacing is linked to. If you use this parameter, it is advisable to make sure that all masters have unique names.
- Local Interpolation
string Apply different interpolation values for specified glyphs. The string must contain a semicolon-separated list of interpolation values for each axis, followed by another semicolon, an include: statement and a comma-separated list of glyph names. For a single-axis setup, a single interpolation value suffices. E.g., 120; include: a, g, s uses interpolation value 120 just for the glyphs a, g and s, while all other glyphs are interpolated according to the interpolation value of the respective instance.
- MakeOTF Compatibility Mode
boolean If checked, the font created by Glyphs will have its OpenType Layout tables comparable to that created by Adobe’s makeotf program. This can be useful when the feature code for those tables was written with specific makeotf behavior in mind, or if the font is meant to be used in applications that rely on makeotf-compatible output.
- manufacturers
Manufacturer Name. Overwrites the Manufacturer as set in Font Info → Font. Corresponds to the OpenType name table ID 8, Manufacturer Name
.
- manufacturerURL
string Manufacturer or Vendor URL. Overwrites the Manufacturer URL as set in Font Info → Font. Corresponds to the OpenType name table ID 11, URL of font vendor (with protocol, e.g., http://, ftp://). If a unique serial number is embedded in the URL, it can be used to register the font.
- Master Background Color
string Sets the canvas color of a master. The canvas assumes the specified color when the respective master is active in Edit view.
- Master Background Color Dark
string Like Master Background Color, but for Dark Mode.
- Master Color
string Color used for the display of the filled outline of the master in question. Useful also to preview layer fonts (multiple fonts intended to be set on top of each other with different colors). Only effective inside Glyphs, does not export into the OpenType font file.
- Master Color Dark
string Like Master Color, but for Dark Mode.
- Master Icon Glyph Name
string Name of the glyph that is is to be used for the respective master button displayed in the top left corner of the font window when two or more masters are present in File → Font Info → Masters.
- Master Stroke Color
string Color used for the display of outlines of the master in question, visible when the Select All Layers tool (Shift-V) is active. Only effective inside Glyphs, does not export into the OpenType font file.
- Master Stroke Color Dark
string Like Master Stroke Color, but for Dark Mode.
- meta Table
list Add a meta (Metadata
) table to your font export:
dlng (Design languages): languages or scripts of the primary user audiences for which the font was designed. This value may be useful for selecting default font formatting based on content language, for presenting filtered font options based on user language preferences, or similar applications involving the language or script of content or user settings.
slng (Supported languages): languages or scripts that the font is capable of supported. This value may be useful for font fallback mechanisms or other applications involving the language or script of content or user settings. The declarations provided by the slng value should be the same as or a superset of those provided by dlng. Implementations that use slng values in a font may choose to ignore Unicode-range bits set in the OS/2 table.
Each of the entries takes a comma-separated list of ScriptLangTag entries. Each ScriptLangTag is a hyphen-concatenated string for language, script and region (ISO 3166-1, Alpha-2), compliant to IETF BCP 47, but only script is required. E.g., Cyrl for Cyrillic, sr-Cyrl for Serbian written in Cyrillic, and sr-Cyrl-BA for Serbian written with Cyrillic in Bosnia and Herzegovina. OpenType spec: meta Languages, scripts and regions
- Name Table Entry
string A custom entry for the OpenType name table. The syntax is one of the following three:
nameID; nameString
nameID platformID; nameString
nameID platformID encID langID; nameString If not specified, platformID will be assumed as 3, and successively, encID as 1 (Unicode), and langID as 0x0049 (Windows English). If only platformID is specified as 1, then both encID and langID will be assumed as 0 (Mac Roman, and Mac English).
The nameID can be anything except 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6, which cannot be set through this parameter. The platformID can either be 1 for Macintosh or 3 for Windows. The optional encID and langID represent either Windows or Macintosh encoding and language IDs, depending on the platformID. They must be numbers between 0 and 65536, and can be entered in decimal, octal or hexadecimal form. The AFDKO Syntax specification stipulates that decimal numbers must begin with a non-0 digit, octal numbers with a 0 digit, and hexadecimal numbers with a 0x prefix to numbers and hexadecimal letters a-f or A-F.
- note
string Arbitrary note about the font. This is not exported in the final OpenType font, only stored in the .glyphs file. Setting the font note as a custom parameter is equivalent to setting it in File → Font Info → Notes.
- Optical Size
string Builds the Optical Size OpenType feature (feature tag size
), with encoded size menu names for Mac and Windows. Requires a string with five semicolon-separated values: