Feature Request: List Filter Sync

Hi guys, I hope all is good!

One thought that I keep coming back to is 'Wouldn’t it be great if I could import and sync list filters to text files?

We store our core character sets in list filters and tend to make updates to our set’s quite often, adding new glyphs as and when new discoveries are made. These lists are stored as text files and for a complete team update, there is often a lot of copy and pasting involved and along with that the potential for human error. Syncing each List within the app directly to the relevant text file path would be quite useful for making sure everyones data in the design team is accurate and up to date.

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Excellent idea, but in the meantime you can achieve it by editing your CustomFilter.plist in TextMate or another editor whenever changes occur. After editing just give everyone a copy of the revised file.

A simple text file would still be easier.

I’m thinking about two options. One is to add an Python function to access the filters. Secondly, make it read multiple filter files from the info folder. That way you could symlink a file from Dropbox or a GitHub repo and be always up to date.

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@George_Thomas we often run projects concurrently, jumping between each which have different character sets as and when we receive client feedback. Having a group of Filter Lists that can be synced to the central database path would definitely be more helpful for us.

@GeorgSeifert interesting! Symlink from the Info folder could work. Just wondering from a UX perspective, would it be possible to set-up a new Preference in User Settings? ‘Remote List Path’ or something like that, along with a ‘Reload’ button. Just thinking about ease of use for non-coders.

I had a look at the filter and general custom sidebar code. I would suggest to add custom language entries in this case.

Making a List filter by gradually adding selected glyphs, would accumulate glyphs to end of the list.
Would be great to have a resetting button that re-lists the filter synced with the same glyphs order as the main Glyphs window.

You can select all glyph you need, copy the glyph names and paste them into a List filter. Adding a extra button for this would be to specific and difficult to explain and would not be useful enough.

I really wish list filters lived in the .glyphs file, rather than in some central repository in the app. Every single typeface I make has its own custom glyph complement. This means that each time I do a typeface, the list of filters in my sidebar gets more crowded, even though I only ever need to access the relevant one for face. Also, I work on both a laptop and a desktop Mac, syncing files through Dropbox. But my list filters must be cut and pasted manually, even when Dropbox has brought the rest of the file up to date. And there’s no way I can tell which machine has the latest list filter if I don’t remember which machine I was using when I last added or deleted a glyph.

Am I missing something? What’s the rationale for centralizing typeface-specific list filters? Is there a workaround that will let a non-coder update list filters along with the rest of the work file?

You can put a CustomFilterName.plist file in the same directory as the .glyphs file that includes your custom list.

From: New Features in Glyphs 2.5 | Glyphs

You can now have sidebar entries just for specific .glyphs files. Here is how: Create a .plist file (based on the CustomFilter.plist in the Glyphs Application Support folder), call it CustomFilter, followed by a custom name, and the .plist suffix, e.g., CustomFilter BigProject.plist. Then, place it next to the .glyphs file. Next time you open the font, you will see an extra list of smart filters and list filters. Very handy for managing your glyph sets for specific projects:

If that doesn’t work for you and you want help, send me a note and I’ll see about drafting a quick file to work from, Max.