LOT 005 A
FONT LOCKER
Manual · Version 1.0
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FONT LOCKERWhat it is
Each font you record here keeps its receipt and its licence tier, along with whose work it went on.
It is a filing cabinet, so that when somebody asks about a font on a job, the answer is already written down.
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FONT LOCKERContents

Contents

  1. 02What it is
  2. 04Before you start
  3. 05The window
  4. 06Getting started
  5. 07The model
  6. 09The screens
  7. 10Wording
  8. 11Scanning
  9. 12Getting it out
  10. 13Keyboard
  11. 14Limits
  12. 15Housekeeping
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FONT LOCKERBefore you start

What it needs

Your key
The app asks for your key once, at first launch, and checks it on your Mac. Keep it somewhere safe in case a Mac asks for it again. If you lose yours, write to support@oddlots.shop.
Requires
A Mac with Apple silicon. Tested on macOS 26.
Reads
Your Mac's font folders and any folder you add, and what each font declares about itself.
Gives back
A searchable library, dated printable PDFs, and a full export.
Never does
Modify, move, install, activate or delete a font. A test hashes every fixture file before and after a scan.
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FONT LOCKERThe window

Where things are

123456
1
The six screens. ⌘1 to ⌘6.
2
Search, and the filter.
3
The families, with each one's licence state.
4
LICENCE RECORD. The four states, and what you paid.
5
DOCUMENTS. The receipt, copied in.
6
What is missing, along the foot.
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FONT LOCKERGetting started
The main job

Filling the cabinet

  1. Add a folder⌘O. It is stored as a bookmark, so access survives a quit.
  2. Let it readOn an Apple silicon Mac, a test library of 12,000 font files was read in under six seconds, and a rescan with nothing changed took under a quarter of a second.
  3. Record what you knowPer family: the licence tier, what you paid, the foundry, the date. Attach the receipt.
  4. Record where it wentOne font, one project, one use. That triple is what makes the question answerable later.
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FONT LOCKERThe model

What hangs off a family

FAMILYREGULARITALICBOLDFACESLICENCEone per family, or not recordedDOCUMENTScopied in, and hashedUSESone font, one project, one way

In Font Locker the family is the licence-bearing unit. A face is a family plus a style. A .ttc is one file carrying several faces.

Four licence states

Not recorded, purchased, free, or came with macOS.

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FONT LOCKERThe model

Not recorded is a state

It is first-class, not an absence.

A font with no licence recorded is a font you have not got to yet, and the app says so in those words. It does not treat silence as a problem or as permission.

Splits and merges you perform are kept. A face already in the library stays in the family you put it in, and a merged-away family leaves its key behind as an alias so new faces matching it land where you put them. Splits and merges you make are kept through later reads. A split-out file that is both moved and changed is read as a new file and filed under its own name.

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FONT LOCKERThe screens

Six screens

What's missing ⌘1
Where a licence record is missing for a use you recorded.
Fonts ⌘2
The library. Every family, filterable, with its detail and its licence form.
Clients ⌘3
Who the work was for, and what went on it.
Reports ⌘4
Three dated PDFs: per client, per font, and what's missing.
Folders ⌘5
The sources you have added, and the banner that says what the app does not do.
Backups ⌘6
Snapshots of the library database, each one verified.
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FONT LOCKERWording

What it will not say

The app compares two records you entered and reports where one does not mention the other.

What it says is no licence recorded for this use, and never anything about whether you hold permission. It has no opinion about what a foundry's terms allow.

So a gap in the cabinet reads as a gap in the cabinet. What it means is yours to decide.

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FONT LOCKERScanning

What the scanner does

Reads without registering
Nothing the app does changes what fonts are available to other applications.
Folds variable instances
A variable font reports one entry per named instance. They are folded back into the face they belong to and counted, so the styles list stays readable.
Knows when not to fold
In a .ttc collection each face has its own descriptor, and folding those would collapse a real font into one row. The fold only applies where there are more descriptors than the file says it has faces.
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FONT LOCKERGetting it out

Getting it back out

Export everything
⇧⌘E. JSON, CSV, and a plain folder of your documents, with a README.txt inside explaining it. Nothing needs Font Locker to be readable.
What's missing as PDF
⇧⌘P writes it dated and ready to print. A test library of about 12,000 families came to 58 pages in under two seconds.
Back up now
⇧⌘B backs up the library database and verifies the copy. Attached documents are not part of a backup, and Export Everything is what carries them.
The library itself
One SQLite file, which Show in Finder in the File menu points to. To copy it, use Back Up the Library Now, which checks the copy. Attached documents aren't in it.
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FONT LOCKERKeyboard
Reference

Menus and keys

  • ⌘OAdd a Folder of Fonts
  • ⇧⌘OAttach Documents
  • ⌘RRead Folders Again
  • ⌘.Stop Reading
  • ⇧⌘EExport Everything
  • ⇧⌘PSave What's Missing as PDF
  • ⇧⌘BBack Up the Library Now
  • MenuFile › Rename Font Family…, Save Font Record as PDF… and Save Client's Fonts as PDF…
  • ⌘1 – ⌘6The six screens, in order
  • ⌘,Settings
  • MenuFont Locker › Check for Updates Once a Day, directly under Settings. It is ticked while the daily check is on.
  • MenuHelp › Check for Updates, and Help › Report a Problem
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FONT LOCKERLimits
Stated plainly

What it does not do

  • It has no opinion about permission. It reports where a record is missing, and nothing beyond that.
  • It knows every font in the folders it reads, not every font you own.
  • The free-licence hint reads a text field and offers a guess. It is a suggestion you accept or ignore, never a finding.
  • Font Locker has no account of any kind.
  • It does not install, activate or manage fonts. That is a font manager's job and this is not one.
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FONT LOCKERHousekeeping

Where things live

The library
~/Library/Application Support/Font Locker/Library.fontlocker. One SQLite file.
Schema version
Carried in the file itself. A library written by a newer Font Locker is refused rather than opened hopefully.
Your receipts
Copied into the app's own storage and SHA-256 verified at import, so moving or deleting the original afterwards does not matter.
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A
Font Locker

Lot 005 of the Oddlots catalogue. Made by Flamingo Films, LLC.

Pay once. No subscription, no account, no licence server, and no upgrade fee later.

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