Copy/Paste Glyph/Character from one font file to another

Question

I have two different font files FontFile1.otf and FontFile2.otf. I want to copy Unicode character at position 1759 from FontFile1.otf to FontFile2.otf. How can i do that?

I tried to do it using FontForge and Fontographer but the paste doesn't seem to work (paste is disabled, and the menu item doesn't enable). Are there any specific instructions for copy/paste? Is there any other tool i can use?

Osborn

Answer 1

Open both fonts in the same FontForge instance then you'll be able to copy glyphs from one to the other.

Petterson

Did not work for me on Windows 10 with the latest FontForge. – Quintuplet

This worked for me on Win10. Opened one instance, and then used the file menu to open the second font rather than opening it from the folder. – Distressed

That seems to be the case with Linux as well (at least with version 20201107). Opening them separately from a file manager doesn't seem to work, – Nupercaine

Answer 2

Well, you may try to write a script for FontForge. If codepoint 1759 (by the way hexadecimal or decimal?) is not present in FontFile2.otf you may do (untested):

Open("FontFile1.otf");
Select(0u1759);
Copy();
Open("FontFile2.otf");
Select(0u1759);
Paste();
Generate("FontFile3.otf", "", 4);

You can also use the MergeFonts() function to merge all font glyphs, copying all non-existing glyphs from A to B.

Lindo

Answer 3

@rustyx's solution didn't work for me.

The only workaround I could find:

1. Shift-click all the characters you want to copy across
2. Edit > Select > Invert Selection
3. Right click > Clear
4. Element > Merge fonts
5. Select your other file

Which ends in the same result, though I admit it's a bit tedious.

Quintuplet

Answer 4

I found a solution on another message board that helped me. I simply needed to uncheck "Enable Syncing" in the X11 -> Preferences.

Sepia

Where is this "X11 -> Preferences" found? Can you elaborate? – Dextrous

Answer 5

I actually made this account just to answer this question. Open Fontforge, choose a font and open it -> in the same window, go to: file -> open -> choose the other font. There, you can copy and paste from one font to another.

Subtile