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After yesterday’s post on 30 curly, swirly, commercial use fonts, you might need help using glyphs (those alternate letters) that are included with your OTF fonts. I’ve actually covered this is in previous post, but with the release of Silhouette Studio version 4 – it’s even easier now!
Read this first!
This tutorial covers Silhouette Studio version 4 and higher, but glyph support is only included with Designer Edition, Designer Edition Plus, and Business Edition.
If you are using the basic (free) version of Silhouette Studio or Cricut Design Space, click here for a Windows tutorial or click here for a Mac tutorial.
Just an FYI: You’ll only find glyphs in OTF fonts. Learn more in this post.
How to Use the Glyph Panel in Silhouette Studio Version 4 – Windows & Mac
- Open Silhouette Studio and type a word in your favorite OTF font that includes glyphs. This tutorial features Amastery Script.
- On the right hand side, click the text style panel tool. It’s an ‘A’ and I’ve circled it in the screenshot below. (You can also go to ‘Panels’, ‘Text Style’ from the navigation menu at the top.)
- Now that you’ve got the text panel open, click the glyph icon near the top. From the glyph panel, you can see all the glyphs for a given font. (Tip: You can make them bigger using the slider at the bottom.)
- Highlight the letter you want to change in the word you typed, then click on the glyph to replace it. In this example, I changed the ‘h’ in Christine to a fancier ‘h’.
- That’s it! If you’d like to use a glyph and not necessarily substitute a letter, you can do that by selecting the text tool, opening the glyph panel, and choosing a glyph. It’ll pop up on your mat as shown in the screenshot below.
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Awesome tutorial! Thank you. This is way easier than before.
I am slowly getting used to version 4.
My pleasure John! It is so much easier!
THIS might be the push to finally get me to upgrade to V4! Thanks for the tutorial 🙂
Happy to share! After you get used to the change, version 4 is fantastic!
Thank you, great tutorial. I had no idea this was there. Now I need a way to keep up with all the fonts I own…
Awesome Diana!
I have the lastest version of Silhouette Studios but don’t have the “glyph” button on my text tool. Thought maybe it only shows up if there are glyphes so I installed some new fonts that we’re OTF and we’re suppose to have then. Still no button.
Hello! I’m using 4.1.339.
I love using the glyphs panel! It makes designing with fonts so much easier. Love the new look of your website too!
Yes! So much easier! And, thank you!
Very helpful. Glad I found your blog.
Glad to hear, Lori!
I can’t seem to make the glyphs icon appear. I have version 4 and I have Amastery in OTF installed. I do have Designer Edition. I am not sure what I am doing wrong. Any tips?
Hello! I’m using 4.1.339 and don’t have problems.
Thanks for the tutorial Christine. I don’t have OTF fonts installed – I usually install TTF. Does that mean I can’t use the glyphs in the Sil program the way you describe? I can access the glyphs but I just can’t seem to change the letter to the desired glyph….I have thousands of fonts but they are all TTF’s so this would be a huge bummer for me if they have to be OTF’s
Yes, glyphs are only in OTF fonts. Here’s a comparison between TTF and OTF: https://cuttingforbusiness.com/2016/01/27/fonts-otf-versus-ttf-what-is-the-difference/
Christine, hello
I’m using Business Edition 4 and the glyphs button does not show up in my text style box at all. No matter what font I’m using.
Is there any suggestion to help resolve this?
Thank you
Be sure you have the latest stable version installed. If that doesn’t solve it, reach out to Silhouette for assistance.