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Add to SafariWhen comparing FontBase vs TypeIt4Me, the Slant community recommends TypeIt4Me for most people. In the question“What are the best text expansion apps for macOS?” TypeIt4Me is ranked 2nd while FontBase is ranked 7th. The most important reason people chose TypeIt4Me is:
Not too thin, not too bloat. Very approachable.
Question Ranking
Pros
Pro It saves you from having to install fonts
Pro Works fast with a lot of fonts
Pro Free to use
FontBase is free.
Pro Wonderful minimalist interface with good choice of controls
Pro Get Google Fonts on your system in a few seconds
Pro Syncs font database from Dropbox easily
Fontbase allows you to easily set up watch folders allowing you to sync your font libraries directly from any cloud-based storage provider.
Pro Regular free updates
Pro Affordable upgrade option
Pro Just right
Not too thin, not too bloat. Very approachable.
Pro No subscription
TypeIt4Me is relatively inexpensive. There's a $19.99 one-off payment and that's it. No recurring monthly fee after that (though they do charge an optional $8.99 fee to upgrade to a new version every few years).
Pro Relatively easy to use
Other text expanders do the job but are really difficult to use, with complicated interfaces to learn. By contrast, TypeIt4Me is relatively simple and intuitive. It also has a detailed instruction manual for when you do want to get into the power features.
Pro Has been actively developed for decades
The developer has been supporting TypeIt4Me since the 1990s and clearly cares about maintaining the product.
Pro Good support
First class customer care.
Pro Related notepad app for iPhone and iPad
The Mac version of TypeIt4Me can sync snippets via iCloud with TypeIt4Me Touch (an iOS note-taking app with built-in TypeIt4Me text expansion support, available as a separate purchase).
Cons
Con Must open it everytime to activate fonts
FontBase's main pro is its main drawback - not needing to install fonts is great, but opening files using fonts not installed may not show them properly unless FontBase is also opened.
Con Crashes with many fonts
Con It doesn't grab fonts when using the package features in Adobe software
You will have to manually grab the font folders from your library. As the fonts aren't actually installed locally, Adobe software can't see the font nor export it with your project.
Con Virtually non-existent support
Generally get one response and then dead silence.
Con Does not display all fonts, and there is NO support at all
No help/support, no spec, no tech page or forum.
Con It doesn't make adding, activating or sorting through fonts any easier
When dragging font and font folders into the library you will still need to search for them and manually activate. The ability to search and sorting fonts is very limited.
Con Makes Adobe programs run slow and crash
Con Ask to buy
Search filter is need to buy.
Con Less sophisticated feature set
If you're switching from TextExpander you may miss one or two power features like fill-ins that don't have direct equivalents. There's usually a workaround that achieves roughly the same outcome, though.
Con Infrequent updates
It's a great app but there tend to be quite long intervals between major new versions.
Con Language support
The TypeIt4Me app interface itself is available in English, French, Italian, German and Spanish but the Help / instructions are only available in English. If your English is not strong, this could be frustrating.
