# TypeSteward — a guide to the private beta

TypeSteward is a Mac app for converting font formats, repairing font families
and transferring kerning or metrics. It preserves your originals, writes new
output files and verifies the output by reading it back from disk.

## Start safely

Use the private build sent with your invitation. In the beta package,
`START-HERE.en.md` contains the exact installation and checksum details.
Requires macOS 12 or later on Apple silicon or Intel. The app currently uses
English; this guide is also available in German.

1. Open the supplied DMG, drag TypeSteward into Applications and launch that copy.
2. Click the gear icon → Settings → **Start 7-day trial**. The seven days start
   on activation, not download. Activation needs an internet connection;
   afterwards the trial works offline.
3. Start with a few fonts you are allowed to process. Keep a backup and check
   beta output before using it in production.
4. Choose one of the workflows below. Review choices and the destination before
   writing, then read the verification report and **Notes to review**.
5. Use **Show output in folder** (or **Show outputs in folder** for a batch) to
   select the exported files in your file manager.

## Convert — change the format

Add a font, folder or ZIP archive. Choose OTF, TTF, WOFF or WOFF2 output and a
destination; leave optional changes off unless needed. Start conversion and
inspect the report. One broken input does not stop the rest of a batch.

Example: prepare WOFF2 files from desktop fonts for a website. Supported legacy
fonts can also be converted to modern formats. Conversion is not always
lossless: an outline-format change can affect hinting. The report explains
preserved and changed properties instead of promising identical bytes.

## Family — repair names and style linking

Add related static fonts. Review proposed groups and family/style names, then
edit the shared family name or individual style names. Each face within one
family needs a unique style name, for example **Bold** and **Bold Italic**.
**Menu preview** shows how modern and legacy applications can group the result.

Only combine groups that belong together. Select them in the group overview,
choose a shared family name and use **Combine selected groups**. Selection alone
changes nothing. Combining groups shares naming metadata; files and glyph
shapes remain separate. It is not font mixing.

If writing is blocked, use **Review all conflicts** or **Show problem**. Folder
import scans subfolders too: an old Repaired folder may have supplied duplicate
entries. Remove those entries from the session; **Remove** does not delete the
files on disk. Write repaired copies and read their verification report.

## Transfer — copy selected kerning or metrics

Choose a **Source** font with the data to copy and a different **Target** font.
Inspect **Glyph matching**; ambiguous matches are never guessed. Select at
least one available category and review **What will happen**, structural
details and **Before and after** before writing a new target copy.

- For full kerning replacement, select **Explicit kerning pairs** and
  **Kerning classes**. A partial selection can conflict with retained target
  kerning. Use **Replace all kerning** or **Transfer without kerning** if prompted.
- For a small metrics test, select just **Advance widths** or
  **Vertical metrics and line spacing**.
- Independent sidebearing changes are available only for compatible
  TrueType-outline targets.

Selected categories **replace**, rather than add to, the corresponding target
data. Other categories are retained; target glyph shapes are not replaced.
Resolve **Needs attention** items before writing and inspect the output report.

## Notes, limits and privacy

**Notes to review** does not automatically mean an export failed. It explains
changes, limitations or source metadata. A blocking **Needs attention** message
before writing tells you what needs resolving.

Family supports static, single-face OTF, TTF, WOFF and WOFF2, not variable fonts
or collections. Export needed instances as static fonts first. Transfer is for
compatible static OTF/TTF fonts; unsupported structures or unsafe choices are
blocked. Font mixing, app translations and Windows are not part of this beta.
In the package, `KNOWN-LIMITATIONS.md` has further details.

Trial activation sends the product version and a one-way random installation
identifier over HTTPS. It sends no fonts, filenames, paths or reports. Font
processing stays local, with no automatic font, report or crash uploads.
After the seven-day trial expires, inspection, planning and existing reports
remain available; writing needs a valid licence. Reinstalling does not restart
the trial. TypeSteward does not grant additional rights to your fonts.

## Tell us what was confusing

Email [beta@typesteward.app](mailto:beta@typesteward.app). A GitHub account is not
needed. Include the app/macOS versions, workflow, steps, expected result and
actual result. Screenshots or reports help, but remove private details first.
Do not attach commercial fonts or confidential client material without first
agreeing on a secure way to send them. Nothing is sent automatically.

The package also includes `TEST-CHECKLIST.md` and `FEEDBACK-TEMPLATE.md` for a
complete test session. A confusing button or warning is useful feedback too.