Hi Yehuda,
I emailed Erwin about this. Here is his response:
At present, Browse and Groups are both doing the same thing.
Yes for 95%.
Windows allows shortcuts so you can get to the same place from different
starting points. I think that is what Yehuda is refering to. That would
be a great improvement if it can happen.
True. I’ve added it to the wish list. Do post your message to the forum so he can see, he’s not the only want who would like to see this feature in MainType.
In the meantime, perhaps “Columns” can help you. Here is what I have done.
I moved all of my uninstalled fonts onto a second hard drive (you can now get 200 gigs for $50) and sorted them into a 1 Fonts folder (1 to keep it at the top of the list) containing sub-folders and sub-sub folders as I see fit.
Browse allows me to search for all the weird places I have stashed fonts, and parts of my 1 Groups folder by sub-folder, or the whole collection.
Groups can be moved to this same folder by selecting:
Tools, Options, General, Groups.
Browse and Groups behave a little differently, so experiment to find which you like best. Using both of them allows quick comparing of different folders without losing your place.
Columns allows me to move any column to any order I choose. Click any column head, and everything is resorted by that category. Click again and the sort is reversed.
I usually move Panose to the head of the list. This gives me near instant access by Panose groups to any font containing Panose Information.
For those fonts that have not been “Panosed,” I am free to use Font Creator to make any Panose assignment I wish in the accepted Panose System, OR use the unused sections of first digit 0, 1, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D, E, or F any way I want. The succeeding digits give millions of possible combinations for sorting.