Save Custom Workspace Layouts in FontForge

FontForge does not feature a dedicated system for saving and switching between named custom workspace presets. However, the application automatically remembers your last-used window sizes, positions, and active panels across sessions. Users can achieve layout persistence through FontForge’s built-in preferences, adjust window behavior modes, or manually back up configuration files to create reusable workspace profiles.

Automatic Layout Persistence

FontForge automatically records the state of your workspace upon exiting the application. When you rearrange glyph windows, metrics views, and tool palettes, the software writes these coordinates to its preferences file upon a clean shutdown. When you relaunch FontForge, it restores the open dialogs and panels to their previous positions on your screen. If FontForge crashes rather than closing normally, these coordinates may fail to save.

Multi-Window Mode vs. Tabbed Interface

You can fundamentally change how FontForge organizes its workspace by toggling between a traditional multi-window environment and a unified tabbed interface:

  1. Open FontForge and navigate to File > Preferences.
  2. Select the Generic or Appearance category (depending on your FontForge version).
  3. Locate the setting for window behavior, often labeled Open Windows in Tabs or MDI (Multiple Document Interface).
  4. Enable tabs for a consolidated single-window workspace, or disable it if you prefer free-floating windows for separate glyphs, palettes, and metrics.
  5. Click OK and restart FontForge for the changes to apply.

Workaround: Creating Layout Presets via Preferences

Because FontForge writes window dimensions and positions directly to configuration files, you can manually create layout presets by managing these files:

  • Linux: ~/.config/fontforge/
  • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/FontForge/ or ~/.config/fontforge/
  • Windows: %APPDATA%\FontForge\

To create a reusable preset:

  1. Arrange your windows and toolboxes to your desired layout in FontForge.
  2. Close the application cleanly so the layout writes to disk.
  3. Locate the preferences file in the configuration directory.
  4. Copy the file and rename it (for example, preferences_dual_monitor or preferences_compact).
  5. To restore a specific layout later, close FontForge, copy your saved preset file back into the directory, and rename it to preferences.

Using Operating System Window Managers

Due to the limitations of FontForge's classic X11-derived interface, font designers often rely on operating system tools to manage multi-window layouts. Utilizing virtual desktops (Spaces on macOS, Task View on Windows, or Workspaces on Linux) allows you to isolate FontForge windows from other applications. Additionally, third-party tiling window managers or window-snapping utilities can instantly force floating FontForge dialogs and glyph windows into organized grid layouts.