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Release notes

Hellbox (formerly Font Proof) has been in development since 2022 and went public in early 2026. It has been improving fast ever since. Here is everything that has shipped, newest first.

New name, same app: Font Proof is now Hellbox.

  1. 1.30.0

    Latest August 5, 2026
    • Letter spacing is now entered in tracking units: thousandths of an em, so 5 means 5/1000 em, one font unit per gap at 1000 UPM. Arrow keys step 1, shift-arrows step 10, and you can type decimals straight into the field. Grid labels print trk +N. Existing documents are unchanged; their values just display in the new unit.

  2. 1.29.1

    August 5, 2026
    • Fixed: a busy Glyphs can no longer freeze Hellbox. If Glyphs was holding its run loop (a plugin window or dialog open), opening or creating any document hung indefinitely. The connection handshake is now bounded and retries on its own once Glyphs is free.
    • Fixed: Save as Template captures the whole document. Header and footer, linked text files (kept as live links), page orientation, custom page colors, layered fonts, and markup all survive the round trip now, and creating a document from a template applies every one of them.
    • Fixed: template thumbnails render with the document's own colors and orientation.
    • The template save sheet's opt-out toggles now fully exclude what they name; "Position" is now "Header & Footer".

  3. 1.29.0

    August 5, 2026
    • Placeholders: type HH$HH and the line expands one per glyph. Iterate over lowercase, caps, figures, punctuation, every drawn glyph, or your own list ("ox ffi" works, clusters stay whole). The classic spacing-control workflow without typing 182 lines by hand.
    • Spacing Strings template: one click inserts the seven control frames with the placeholder already on.
    • Insert Template: pour any template's text into the current section from the new content settings popover, which also gathers Save as File, Save as Template, Attach File, Generate, and the Style Tags / Placeholder toggles in one place.
    • Fixed: repeated-flow columns with per-column sizes now paginate until every column finishes; welcome-screen thumbnails refresh after updates and no longer cache degraded renders.
    • MCP: update_section_settings gains expand_placeholders, placeholder, placeholder_set, placeholder_custom, and parse_style_tags.

  4. 1.28.0

    July 31, 2026
    • Printing now asks for the proof's own paper size and prints at actual size, so 35pt on screen is 35pt on paper.
    • Page orientation saves with the document. Landscape proofs reopen landscape.
    • Switching between Portrait and Landscape re-renders the proof right away.
    • New Proofs settings, so every new proof starts with the page setup, header and footer, and colors you want.
    • Your printers appear at the top of the page size menu with the paper they are loaded with.
    • Copy settings from the proof you are working on, or apply your defaults to it.

  5. 1.27.2

    July 30, 2026
    • More non-English weight names resolve correctly, including Kräftig and the rest of the German weight ladder.

  6. 1.27.1

    July 30, 2026
    • Italic style pairing now understands non-English weight names, so families like Extraleicht Kursive resolve to the matching italic face.

  7. 1.27.0

    July 30, 2026
    • Hinting Preview (experimental). Core Text never executes hint programs, so a font can look perfect in Hellbox and come out different in Acrobat, in print, or on Windows. Tap H over any proof to see it rendered through FreeType with your hints executed (tap again to exit, or hold H to peek). G and J step through dpi presets: screen presets show hinted grayscale rasterization, print presets show the grid-fitted outlines. Find it in the View menu.
    • Hyphenation option per section, in the advanced typography settings. Line breaks use the section's language and render the font's own hyphen.
    • Choose the font and size of page headers and footers in Proof Settings, including page numbers and the date. Any installed font.
    • Printing from Hellbox now prints at actual size instead of scaling down.
    • Flipping a page-size preset to landscape keeps the preset instead of switching to Custom, and page dimensions can display in millimetres or inches.
    • Keyboard zoom snaps to clean increments (103% zooms to 125%, not 128%).
    • Smoother scrolling across section boundaries.

  8. 1.26.0

    July 29, 2026
    • Section drag-reorder works from anywhere on a row, every time. Double-click a section to rename it; Return and right-click still work.
    • The content editor is resizable: drag the divider under it. The height persists.
    • Style tags recognize italic style names across languages (Kursiv, Italique, Corsivo, Cursiva, and more), so families like Extraleicht Kursive resolve as italics without manual mapping.
    • Page footer dates follow your system's date format by default, with ISO 8601 and US options in Proof Settings.

  9. 1.25.0

    July 29, 2026
    • New <glyphname> style tag: <glyphname>f_f_short</glyphname> inserts the exact named glyph, including unencoded glyphs you can't type: ligature components, contextual alternates, stylistic-set glyphs. The glyph renders directly with no shaping, so calt and other contextual triggers never fire on it.
    • Same markup as drawbot specimen builders that use <glyphname> elements in proofing .txt files, so those files work in Hellbox unchanged.
    • If a font has no glyph by that name, the name renders as literal text. Inside a styled span the glyph follows the resolved style when it has one and falls back to the section's base font when it doesn't. Mix mode protects these spans like any other hand-written tag.

  10. 1.24.0

    July 28, 2026
    • Style tags. Wrap any string in your proof text to style it inline: <b> and <i> resolve to the family's real bold and italic, weight roles like <light> and <black> resolve to the nearest weight of whatever family you proof, and any OpenType feature tag works as an element: <smcp>, <frac>, <ss01>. Works in typed content, linked .txt files, and headless CI renders. Fonts without a feature or weight render the span unstyled, so one marked-up file stays portable across a library.
    • Select text and press Cmd+E for a compact tag picker; Cmd+B and Cmd+I wrap directly. Feature-tag chips in the OpenType panel copy their tag on click.
    • Tag styles mapping: choose exactly which font Bold, Italic, and any weight role resolves to, with the automatic pick shown.
    • Mix mode: hand-tagged spans always render as written and the shuffle distributes around them. New Tags only option gives one flowing stream styled purely by your tags, no sliders.
    • Exporting a mixed section to a file writes portable role tags instead of positional indexes wherever possible.
    • Code samples are safe: only registered feature tags parse, so HTML in a specimen renders as text; a per-section toggle turns tag parsing off entirely; backslash escapes a literal tag.
    • Three one-time tips introduce the tag picker, the Cmd+click Glyphs gesture, and Tags only, each dismissable, never at launch (macOS 14+).

  11. 1.23.0

    July 27, 2026
    • The menu bar grew up. A new Section menu holds everything section-scoped: Duplicate, Delete, Combine and Uncombine Cells, Save Section as Template. File is now strictly file lifecycle, with icons at the anchors. Font Manager lives in the Window menu, Proof Settings in File, and Focus Mode in View where it belongs.
    • Delete Section finally exists beyond the Delete key: Cmd+Delete, the Section menu, or right-click a section in the sidebar.

  12. 1.22.1

    July 27, 2026
    • Cmd+click now opens the exact glyph you clicked, by name. Alternates open as a.ss01, ligatures as the ligature glyph, and unencoded glyphs in a Glyph Set open too. Select a string and hit Return and the drawn glyphs go over, alternates included.
    • Glyph gestures now work in every section type: Compare Styles (all layouts), Glyph Set, Alternates, and vertical text, merged cells and per-cell fonts included.
    • If the source .glyphs file isn't open, Cmd+click reopens it in Glyphs and lands in the right document. The missing-fonts dialog gained an "Open in Glyphs" button too.
    • Drawn glyphs now speaks more than Latin. Arabic, CJK, Cyrillic, Greek, Thai, and more: fonts with no Latin generate proof text from their own script, and fonts with several scripts proof every drawn script, each in its own paragraph.
    • Auto font size fixed for installed system fonts, for feature and case changes, and for generated content in Columns & Rows. Cell labels and the page footer now report the real rendered sizes.
    • Merged cells in RTL and vertical layouts anchor correctly (no more text drawing off the page), and the grid picker mirrors to match the page in those flows.
    • Snappier section switching in the sidebar.

  13. 1.22.0

    July 27, 2026
    • The proof and Glyphs are now a round trip. Hold Cmd and the glyph under your cursor lights up; click it and it opens in Glyphs, ready to edit. Select a whole string and hit Return to send that over instead (also in the right-click menu). Fix the outline, save, and the proof has caught up before you switch back.
    • Click anywhere in the proof to clear a text selection.
    • Print. Cmd+P (File > Print) sends the live proof PDF straight to the system print dialog.

  14. 1.21.1

    July 26, 2026
    • Generated text now works in Compare Styles sections: every style sets the same words, drawn from the glyphs the whole family shares.

  15. 1.21.0

    July 26, 2026
    • New: proof text generated from your drawn glyphs. Click the wand in the content editor and Hellbox writes running copy using only the letters your font actually has outlines for — each font's page from its own inventory, updating as you draw. Works in Simple text, Waterfall (as a display phrase), and Columns & Rows (whole sections or individual cells).
    • Generated text is seeded and stable: new glyphs extend the text instead of rerolling it. Reroll with the dice, choose Short/Medium/Long, and detach it into editable text whenever you want to take over.
    • Every drawn letter is guaranteed to appear, and with Auto size the text fills the page edge to edge.
    • Grids: a cell size you set explicitly now always wins over Auto, and when cells differ, every cell gets a label so settings are comparable at a glance.
    • Snappier hover states in the inspector.

  16. 1.20.2

    July 24, 2026
    • Proof documents are now portable: headless rendering finds fonts next to the .fontproof file (or in a fonts folder beside it) when the original paths don't exist. This enables proofing in CI; see the new guide at hellbox.com/docs/ci.

  17. 1.20.1

    July 24, 2026
    • New Help menu item: Email Support opens a message to jake@hellbox.com with your version prefilled.

  18. 1.20.0

    July 24, 2026
    • New: proof fonts straight from the terminal. Run "Hellbox --proof MyFont.otf proof.pdf" for a template-based proof with no document setup. See the CLI docs on hellbox.com.
    • Proofs no longer substitute a system font for characters your font doesn't have yet. Missing glyphs render as your font's own .notdef (a box, or a blank if your .notdef is empty), so works-in-progress read true.
    • Working with versioned Glyphs files (MyFont-01, MyFont-02) no longer creates duplicate fonts: identical names get labeled with their source file, and adding a newer version replaces the older one, keeping your order and settings.
    • Fixed stale outlines rendering after a live re-export under the same font name.
    • Fixed inconsistent instance labels in the Editors tab for some weight-name spellings.
    • Removed the redundant Inline Styling menu from section controls; font mixing lives in the Fonts panel.

  19. 1.19.2

    July 16, 2026
    • The font version in page headers and footers now reads as "v1.234".

  20. 1.19.1

    July 16, 2026
    • Fixed erratic page selection when clicking quickly between pages in different sections.

  21. 1.19.0

    July 15, 2026
    • Export PDF now remembers each document's destination; Export PDF As gives you the save dialog.
    • New optional "Font version" token for page headers and footers.
    • One "Hide blank glyphs" toggle replaces the two separate empty/missing glyph switches, and applies in every glyph grid mode.
    • Fonts proofed live from Glyphs now render with merged outlines (no more seams where contours overlap).
    • Fixed a scrolling loop between single-page sections.
    • The content flow control now sits directly above the section text editor.
    • Better connection diagnostics when fonts open in Glyphs don't appear.

  22. 1.18.3

    July 14, 2026
    • Fixed an issue where a valid license could ask to be re-entered after relaunching the app.
    • Fixed the in-app purchase and trial links.

  23. 1.18.2

    July 14, 2026
    • Improved license activation reliability.
    • General maintenance under the hood.

  24. 1.18.1

    July 13, 2026
    • Fixed a crash that could occur when fonts were installed or changed while Hellbox was running.
    • General maintenance under the hood.

  25. 1.18.0

    July 12, 2026
    • Stability improvements and under-the-hood maintenance.

  26. 1.17.0

    July 11, 2026
    • Glyphs 4 support. Hellbox now connects to whichever Glyphs is running, including the Glyphs 4 alpha, and prefers the newest version when 3 and 4 are open together. Live reload, instance selection, and export all work in both.
    • Built-in section templates no longer duplicate themselves in the template picker.

  27. 1.16.1

    July 9, 2026
    • Turning off Contextual Alternates and Ligatures now actually turns them off. These features are on by default in macOS text rendering, and the toggle was not reaching the font. Thanks to Steve for the report.
    • More features detected. Fonts that keep their ligatures in calt (like coding fonts) and system fonts with Apple-style AAT features (like Hoefler Text) now list their features correctly. Access All Alternates is no longer offered as a toggle, since it is a glyph-palette feature that scrambles running text.
    • Much faster Glyphs workflow. Selecting an instance from an open Glyphs file and live-reload updates now skip ship-time export steps (autohinting, subroutines) that do not affect proofs. Large fonts benefit the most.
    • Accurate font counts. The built-in placeholder font no longer inflates the toolbar count or feature lists in documents started from fontless templates.

  28. 1.16.0

    July 8, 2026
    • Documents remember where you were. Reopening a proof restores your window size and position, selected section, page, and zoom.
    • The proof stays put while you work. Edits that shrink the document no longer send the view back to page 1, and scrolling across section boundaries is smooth.
    • Faster Welcome window. Recent document thumbnails render in the background and cache, so the Recent tab opens instantly.
    • Cleaner saving. Save panels and window titles drop the .fontproof extension, and new document windows open centered instead of drifting to a corner.
    • Editors tab. The Live tab is now Editors: fonts group by source file with one Select All per file, and designspace files ask which instances to import.
    • Hide missing glyphs, properly. The Glyph Grid option now also hides glyphs that exist in your source but have no outlines yet.
    • Vertically centered single-cell layouts no longer overflow the page bottom, OpenType features survive very long Columns text, thumbnails resize with their rail, the toolbar font count no longer counts the built-in placeholder, and two crashes in template and recent-document previews are fixed.

  29. 1.15.0

    July 3, 2026
    • Save As. A File menu Save As command (Shift-Cmd-S) to save a copy of your proof.
    • Apply and sync fonts across documents. The Font Manager can Apply Fonts to All Open Documents, plus a new Keep Fonts in Sync option that keeps every open document's fonts matched automatically.
    • Combined PDF exports always use your latest fonts.
    • Line break mode for Columns and Rows. Multiple fonts continue in one flow instead of page breaking.
    • Per-cell typography works again on cells that follow the section content.
    • Live reload is faster and more reliable with multiple documents open: one export per save shared across documents, no duplicate error alerts, and a single rendering overlay.

  30. 1.14.0

    June 29, 2026
    • Auto font sizing everywhere. Mix and Line break layouts now size to fit the page, and Columns and Rows can size each grid cell to its own box, with per-cell control when you want it.
    • Include in export, per section. Keep working or reference sections out of the exported PDF without deleting them.
    • Hide missing glyphs so your proofs stay clean when a font does not contain a character.
    • Select All and None in the instance and Glyphs font pickers for much faster setup with large families.
    • Automatic update checks are on by default, so you will be told when a new version is ready.
    • Refinements: the Simple section type rounds out the clearer section names, a clearer way to purchase a license, reliable license-key pasting on older macOS, and a fix for a crash when connecting to a live Glyphs session.

  31. 1.13.1

    June 29, 2026
    • Maintenance release. The built-in MCP server (for AI and automation workflows) now exposes the full 1.13.0 feature set: per-cell overrides, the Line break font layout, and font mixing. No changes to the app interface.

  32. 1.13.0

    June 29, 2026
    • Per-cell overrides in Columns & Rows. Every cell inherits the section's typography, font, OpenType features, and content until you change it. Select a cell, edit any control, and it becomes that cell's own; reset a cell to fall back to the section. A clear Section and Item path lets you step in and out, and a section's linked text file can now be overridden per cell.
    • Line break font layout. For multi-font Basic and Waterfall sections, stack each font's content one after another in a single flow instead of a page per font. Page headers list only the fonts shown on that page.
    • Undo and redo. Command-Z and Shift-Command-Z now step back and forward through your edits.
    • Experimental: early support for proofing from more font-editor sources.
    • Two section types renamed: Glyph Grid is now Glyph Set, and Style Comparison is now Compare Styles.

  33. 1.12.0

    June 20, 2026
    • Columns & Rows: each grid cell now shows its active OpenType features as a label, so per-cell feature comparisons are self-documenting. Labels wrap and stay aligned across columns, with their own show and hide control.
    • The page header's active-features line is hidden automatically when features vary per cell, since the per-cell labels tell the real story.

  34. 1.11.0

    June 20, 2026
    • Columns & Rows: set OpenType features per grid cell, so you can compare feature sets side by side.
    • New tools for the Font Proof MCP: render a proof to images and check it, validate layout (font coverage and overflow), and find installed fonts that cover a script.
    • Performance and stability fixes for large multi-page proofs.

  35. 1.10.1

    June 19, 2026
    • Headless PDF rendering so the Font Proof MCP tools can export and check proofs without opening the app.
    • Behind the scenes fixes.

  36. 1.10.0

    June 19, 2026
    • Glyph Grid: choose what to show (typed text, every glyph, or only glyphs that have alternates), and group each glyph with its stylistic alternates side by side.
    • Glyph Grid: compare styles laid out separately or combined together, with new icon controls.
    • Variable fonts: pick which named instances to proof when you add a designspace or variable font.
    • Headers and footers: optional line that lists the active OpenType features on the page.
    • Faster exporting from the toolbar, with the export name defaulting to your document.
    • Polish and fixes.

  37. 1.9.0

    June 17, 2026
    • Fixed proofs that could fail to open when a newer setting was missing; they now open reliably.
    • Polish and fixes.

  38. 1.8.1

    June 17, 2026
    • Restored the native full height sidebar and its toggle button.
    • New animated Live Reload switch.
    • Toolbar layout refinements, visual polish, and bug fixes.

  39. 1.8.0

    June 16, 2026
    • Saving now works like a standard Mac app. Save with Command-S when you choose (no autosave), and Font Proof asks before discarding unsaved changes when you close a document.
    • The File menu gained Open Recent, Duplicate, Rename, Revert to Saved, and Close (Command-W).
    • Fixed a section's controls lingering after you edit it and then click a page in another section.
    • Combine on PDF export now lists every open document in tab order, including the current one, so you choose exactly what to combine and in what order.

  40. 1.7.0

    June 16, 2026
    • Configurable page header and footer. Set independent top and bottom bands, each placing the title, font info, page number, date and time, or your own custom text into a left, center, or right slot.
    • New "Print only" option for the date and time, so the timestamp stays out of the on-screen preview but still appears on export. On by default.
    • Duplicate or rename a section straight from the sidebar with a right-click. Command-D also duplicates.

  41. 1.6.2

    June 16, 2026
    • Closing a document with unsaved changes now prompts you to save, instead of silently autosaving over your file.

  42. 1.6.1

    June 16, 2026
    • Layered fonts now have the same show/hide and solo controls as the other fonts in the Font Manager.
    • Consistent remove control across all font rows.

  43. 1.6.0

    June 16, 2026
    • Layered fonts: stack several monochrome font files as one multi-color specimen, ideal for chromatic families like Klaket, across every section type.
    • Fixed vertical CJK proofs so rotated Latin sits centered on the column axis for any font.
    • Fixed a crash when paging through a layered proof.
    • Fixed the last line being cut off, plus a blank extra page, when centering content at a line height below 1.
    • Fixed color sliders not responding while editing a layered font's colors.
    • The Font Manager window is now resizable, and the Proof Fonts toolbar no longer truncates.

  44. 1.5.1

    June 15, 2026
    • Fixed a bug where adding a section, changing a section's type, or choosing New from Template did nothing in the released app. Menu clicks work again.

  45. 1.5.0

    June 14, 2026
    • Standalone imported fonts now live-reload: re-export an .otf or .ttf and the proof updates automatically.
    • Live Reload is now a single master switch for every source (Glyphs, UFO and designspace, watched folders, and imported fonts). It is on by default and saved with each document; turn it off to freeze the proof.
    • Fixed a case where the proof could revert to an older version a few seconds after a live reload.

  46. 1.4.1

    June 14, 2026
    • Live reload now works for .designspace projects: edit a master in your editor (such as RoboFont) and save, and the proof updates.
    • Your chosen variable-font axis (such as weight) is now kept when a source recompiles, instead of resetting to the default.

  47. 1.4.0

    June 14, 2026
    • Comparison sections now flow across multiple pages when you have many fonts, instead of cramming them onto one page and cutting fonts off.
    • Watch a folder: Font Proof keeps your proof in sync as fonts and sources change. Add a folder with Add Fonts, and manage watched folders from the Add menu.
    • Watched folders compile UFO and designspace sources inside them: a folder with a designspace proofs the variable font; a folder of UFOs proofs each as a static.

  48. 1.3.0

    June 14, 2026
    • Proof UFO and designspace sources directly. Add a .ufo or .designspace and Font Proof compiles and live-updates it as you edit the source.
    • Watch a folder of fonts: point Font Proof at a folder and the proof stays in sync as fonts are added, changed, or removed.
    • Duplicate a font in the proof to compare different variable-font axis settings side by side.
    • Fixed Weight sorting so Ascending and Descending now order correctly.

  49. 1.2.1

    June 13, 2026
    • Compatibility and toolbar fixes.

  50. 1.2.0

    June 10, 2026
    • Font Proof now runs on macOS 14 (Sonoma). Previously it required macOS 15.
    • Fixed blank lines that could appear in Style Comparison sections at certain point sizes.
    • Fonts now sort by their actual weight values, so weights like ExtraLight and SemiBold land in the right order.
    • Fixed an issue where the update dialog could open behind the welcome window.

  51. 1.1.0

    June 4, 2026
    • New: a variable font axis editor. Adjust weight, width, and other axes per font with sliders or exact values; the proof updates when you let go.
    • New: an Add Fonts button to pick font files straight from your computer, no dragging required.
    • Variable fonts now show their axis coordinates everywhere their name appears, including in exported proofs, so you always know which instance you are looking at.
    • Fixed: dragging fonts in from Finder no longer makes the Font Manager window disappear.
    • Fixed: variable fonts no longer show a doubled style name (for example "Goiters Regular Regular").

  52. 1.0.1

    June 3, 2026
    • Fixed: re-importing an edited font now refreshes its OpenType feature list. Features you added appear and features you removed disappear, instead of the old set sticking around.

  53. 1.0.0

    June 2, 2026
    • Generally available.

Before 1.0

Hellbox (then called Font Proof) was in active beta from 2022, shaped by the type designers who tested early builds and sent feedback along the way. Thank you to everyone who helped make it better.

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