Font Management Solution: Bitstream Font Navigator
Just yesterday, out of sheer desperation, I called out for a font management solution for Windows. One that was fast, easy, and supported OpenType. Today, I found the solution, and to my surprise it’s the program I’ve been using all along!
Bitstream Font Navigator 5
I have used Bitstream Font Navigator 4.0 for ages. It’s worked flawlessly. The left pane shows all your fonts, or allows you to browse, the right pane shows installed fonts. You can drag and drop between the two panes. Bottom left holds font groups, and bottom right holds a preview. Fantastic. So much the more pain that Font Navigator 4 didn’t support OpenType.
I looked on Bitstreams website for updates, but the product had been discontinued. I thought that meant the end of using Font Navigator, so I started looking at other solutions. I tried Font Expert 2004 and Typograf, the latter which was the best of the choices. Neither was nowhere near Font Navigator.
While searching, however, I found that Corel had purchased Font Navigator from Bitstream, and to my joy had continued developing it! Only, it was part of their CorelDRAW Graphics Suite, and had been so since Bitstream sold it to them.
Download
It is ironic, that the best font management solution on the Windows platform, ever, can only be obtained as a secondary sub-product of the CorelDRAW Graphics Suite. Such a product deserves a packshot and a price tag.
Fortunately, a trial download of CorelDRAW Graphics Suite is available, and Font Navigator 5.0 build 118 is included. Even better, the version of Font Navigator 5 that comes along with this trial seems to have no limitations whatsoever. Once downloaded, Bitstream Font Navigator 5 resides in the “Utilities” section of the installer. On the downside, you have to open a free account at Corel, and download a whopping 186 mb trial version of CorelDRAW Graphics Suite, only to get 700 K worth of font management. But it is worth it. So go. Go now!
Features of Font Navigator 5
Just to add further incentive to going through this hassle, Bitstream Font Navigator 5 sports the following features.
- Postscript Type 1 & 3, OpenType and TrueType support
- The ability to cycle through fonts for quick preview
- Drag & drop installation / uninstallation of fonts
- Ability to create font groups
- “Find-as-you-type” font list search
- No “Time-Out”—Software will work forever
So is this shebang free? Well, for all I can tell, it certainly seems so. For one, it is officially available in a trial download. Secondly, while the main applications of the trial are definately limited, Font Navigator seems to have no restrictions at all. Too good to be true? Let’s hope not.
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Thank you so very much for this discussion about Bitstream Font Navigator.
I’m setting up my new Win 7 machine and Bitstream Font Navigator ver. 2 (which shipped with Word Perfect) would not allow me to install fonts. I couldn’t find version 3, which I have somewhere on another machine.
I downloaded Corel Draw trial version from the link you provided in this thread and the auto-installer allowed me to choose what I wanted to install ( Bitstream Font Navigator only) AND it’s Verson 6.0!
It’s slick and it works fine with my WIN 7 machine. It allows me to install and un-install fonts.
I’d looked all day for an answer to the problem I was having and finally asked Google the right question and came up with your page. Thanks so very much.
I just wanted to let you know that you made a difference!!
Problem with Bitstream Font Navigator.
Hi. I’ve been using Bitstream Font Navigator for years and never had problems with it.
Today, I just can’t get it to work properly. There is a mismatch between the font catalog and the font sample. For example, WetPaint shows Geometr706 BlkCn BT in the font sample panel (lower right window). This starts hapening at the middle of the “Contents catalog list”. What could be the reason. Is my font catalog list too big (~14000 fonts). Is my font source corrupted? Anyone have an opinion on this matter?
Note: I am using Windows7. I had the same problem with Vista.
Thanks in advance for your input on this one…
Fabrice
Sorry to say but I downloaded the CorelDraw trial and after the thirty days, when I tried to use FontNav I got a “your 30 days are up” message.
If only Corel would offer FontNav as a stand-alone utility, I’d buy it. I used to have the free version but I could not find a back-up when my hard drive crashed.