Suitcase for Windows 11.0.1

For anyone working in print production, Extensis Suitcase is one of those apps that works tirelessly without appreciation. It may lack the glamour of QuarkXPress or InDesign, but it’s become a vital part of any production workflow nonetheless.

This revision for Suitcase brings it up to date with the latest Windows incarnation, Vista. Like the Mac version, it offers fail-safe font management in an easy to navigate interface. Installing fonts and previewing them is a drag-and-drop doddle, while the ability to group fonts in sets via Project is also a boon.

Auto-font activation is a notable new feature, which brings fonts into play only when they’re needed by an open document. A further revision is Font Vault, which prevents fonts being lost or accidentally deleted from your system. There’s also a new search option enabling you to trawl by version, font type or even foundry. A bonus comes bundled in the form of the FontDoctor utility, which works very well at identifying duplicated fonts and resolving the type of nasty typeface issues that can plague heavy design documents.

However, there are limitations to Suitcase in its standalone version. For instance, Auto-font activation is a great time and power-saving ritual, but if you’re experimenting with typefaces in Photoshop or Illustrator, you must preload manually any fonts you wish to use. That said, with full CS3 support, it’s a niggle rather than a serious inconvenience.