2 major setbacks in setting up Extensis Suitcase TeamSync
So. We’ve weighed out all the options (considering pro’s and cons of different suppliers, software and scenario’s) and figured Extensis TeamSync would be the go-to tool for our next step in Font management. I mean, it’s all the benefits from server-side font management, without the hassle of managing the server! And with all our fonts in the cloud! WOO!
On top of that, by the time we decided Extensis would be our preferred tool, they had just launched the latest and greatest version of the client software, and it came a with hot new icon, I’m all fired up! 🔥
You can see how excited I was when I got approval to set TeamSync up and get it running. Unfortunately, my excitement was abruptly brought to an end when I started importing all our fonts into TeamSync shared Font Library.
@Extensis Consider me a fanboy, since I’m really hoping you can come up with a solution here 🙏
No error-report when fonts aren’t imported
I mean, we have preciously organised our fonts (physical files) on the server, and when I import 10 fonts, I expect either 10 fonts in the library, or at least X fonts in the library and some feedback on why font Y wasn’t imported. None of that unfortunately. For me that’s a major setback. Do you really expect me to manually import each font and check if it’s imported or not? I don’t think I set high expectations to just be sure all of our fonts are in the library, no?
We could overcome this problem since I’m really eager about the service & software Extensis is providing.
On to problem n° 2, and this is the actual show-stopper:
TeamSync doesn’t share font-classification throughout the team 😱
This is actually the reason why I want centralised font management, otherwise we could just stick with our fonts on the server and -pardon my french- just use Apple’s default Font Book ffs.
I could blame myself for not figuring that out *before* buying licences, but come on, have a look at this comparison table and can you blame me for believing ‘central font storage & distribution’ would include central font managment for classification?
And when browsing the forums, I’m not alone with these expectations.
What’s next?
Well if TeamSync can’t handle central font classifications, it’s useless for us. And we’ll have to reconsider the different server versions of FontXplorer or other players because I kind of lost faith in Extensis here. Did I mention we even have Portfolio set up as well?
So Extensis, I hope you actually consider a way to address these issues, I’m happy to share my thoughts with you. Just reach out on twitter, by phone or reply on my various support mails.
