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FontLab 8.3 and 8.4: what's new

Since the FontLab 8.2 release in August 2023, two major free updates have shipped: 8.3 in December 2023 and 8.4 in June 2024. Together they add over 200 new features and improvements. Here is the short version.

Both updates are free for all FontLab 8 users. FontLab 8.4 also marks a milestone: over 900 improvements relative to FontLab 7, and over 500 relative to the original 8.0 release.

FontLab 8.3 (December 2023)

  • Widgets — a new UI layer in the Glyph window that puts sidebearings, advance width, and kerning class assignment directly on the canvas. Click the number next to the glyph and type — no panel hunting.
  • Match Moves — adjust a node or handle in one master and the change propagates to all visible masters simultaneously. Essential for keeping a variable font family consistent without switching masters back and forth.
  • Glance on hover — move the pointer over any glyph cell, component reference, or element in the Font window and see a live contour preview without opening the glyph.
  • Export post-processing — run a custom Python script automatically after every export. Useful for renaming files, running a QA check, committing to Git, or copying to a test directory.
  • Glyph Package format — read and write .glyphspackage, the Git-friendly Glyphs format where each glyph is a separate file. Easier diffs, easier collaboration.
  • Apple Silicon native build — FontLab 8.3 runs natively on Apple Silicon Macs, up to 2× faster than the Rosetta 2 version on the same hardware. macOS Catalina (10.15) or later required.
  • Variable mark attachment — preview anchor-based mark positioning across all masters at once, so you can verify mark placement holds up across the interpolation range.

FontLab 8.4 (June 2024)

  • Variable components — drag handles in the Glyph window to change a component’s variation axis values in real time, without typing numbers into a panel.
  • Detach serifs from stems — extract serif elements from a glyph and convert them to reusable Smart Corner components, so editing the serif shape once propagates across the whole typeface.
  • UVS sequences — edit Unicode Variation Sequences for CJK ideograph variants and emoji, required for fonts targeting Japanese, Chinese, and Korean publishing workflows.
  • Tool-specific context menus — right-click with any tool (Text, Eraser, Brush, Pencil, Knife, Scissors, Thickness, and more) to get a menu relevant to that tool’s context.
  • Node and handle rendering — customize the size, shape, and color of nodes and handles. Useful on high-DPI displays where default node sizes can feel cramped.
  • Kerning preview — a visual overlay in the Glyph window showing the applied kerning value as a colored band between glyphs, making it easy to spot missing or anomalous pairs.
  • Better Help panel — context-sensitive articles that update as you switch tools, keeping relevant documentation one glance away.
  • Auto features on export — if a font has no OpenType feature definitions, FontLab generates a sensible default feature set at export time.

FontLab 8.4 and all prior 8.x updates are free for FontLab 8 license holders. Download the latest build from the FontLab product page and browse the FontLab 8 help site for full documentation.

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