How to Duplicate a Glyph Slot in FontForge

Duplicating a glyph slot entirely within FontForge allows you to create new variants, accented characters, or backup copies of existing shapes without starting from scratch. This article provides a straightforward walkthrough on how to fully clone an existing glyph—including its contours, advance width, layers, and hints—into a new or empty glyph slot using standard FontForge commands.

Step 1: Locate and Select the Source Glyph

  1. Open your font project in FontForge.
  2. In the main Font View window, scroll through the grid to find the glyph you want to duplicate.
  3. Click on the glyph slot once to select it.

Step 2: Copy the Source Glyph Data

  1. With the source glyph selected, navigate to the top menu and select Edit > Copy (or press Ctrl + C on Windows/Linux, Cmd + C on macOS).
  2. FontForge will load all data associated with that slot—including foreground outlines, background layers, instructions, and advance metrics—into the clipboard.

Step 3: Choose the Target Glyph Slot

  1. In the Font View window, locate the target slot where you want the duplicate glyph to reside. This can be an empty, unassigned slot or a pre-defined Unicode slot.
  2. If you need a new slot that does not currently appear in the encoding, go to Encoding > Add Other Encoding Slots... and specify the number of slots to add.
  3. Click on the destination slot to highlight it.

Step 4: Paste the Duplicate Glyph

  1. Go to the top menu and click Edit > Paste (or press Ctrl + V on Windows/Linux, Cmd + V on macOS).
  2. The entire contents of the original glyph slot are now copied into the destination slot. This creates an independent duplicate of the vectors, meaning any future edits made to the duplicate will not alter the original.

(Note: Do not use Edit > Paste Into or Edit > Paste Reference if your goal is an independent duplicate, as references link back to the parent glyph and will mirror its changes).

Step 5: Update the Glyph Information

  1. With the newly created duplicate slot selected, go to Element > Glyph Info... (or press Ctrl + Shift + I / Cmd + Shift + I).
  2. Under the PS Names tab, rename the glyph to a unique name to prevent postscript naming conflicts.
  3. If necessary, assign a new Unicode value or leave it unencoded depending on your font's intended architecture.
  4. Click OK to save the changes.