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I just need some piece of software to quickly open a font file and check what's inside. Requirements:

  1. Ability to open a font file.
  2. Having a standalone portable version (usually, it's just a .zip archive instead of setup.exe installer) which will never need administrative rights to run. It also means that .NET/Java applications are not acceptable.
  3. Open-source/free.

EDIT
I forgot to clarify a few things.

Firstly, I need to define what I mean by "font viewer". It is not the application that shows me a portion of text typed in the selected font, it is the application with the interface similar to BabelMap. The reason of my dissatisfaction with BabelMap is that it's not a font viewer, it's a character map which shows me the entire Unicode grid, but... what should I do with such a grid? Suppose I open a font that contains only 100 glyphs. What will I see? A giant Unicode grid with many thousands of empty cells and a small amount of cells showing how its corresponding char looks in the font??? This type of interface seems totally useless for me. I expect to see a grid with all glyphs contained in the font, but without glyphs not supported by the font, and without empty (unused) cells.

Secondly, I need to note that the application should not be limited to installed fonts (that is, located in "Windows/Fonts" directory)! I need to open a font file which may be located in any directory, without having to "install" the font. The application should provide something like a standard "File > Open" dialogue box, and allow me to select any font file.

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2 Answers 2

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NexusFont has a portable version available for Windows. It was written by JungHoon Noh. It allows you to view and compare font files. It is completely free.

I have used it extensively, and I can recommend it.

Here is a screenshot: Screenshot
Source: xiles.net

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  • Thank you, but this application does not comply with my requirements. I edited the question.
    – lyrically wicked
    Commented Apr 27, 2016 at 8:51
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I've used two Font Viewers that are portable, open source, gratis, will show fonts in other folders, and will display all characters in the font package but not in a grid. You can download and try them, if you wish.

1 - my preferred viewer - http://us.fontviewer.de/Download/

2 - http://www.ampsoft.net/utilities/FontViewer.php

Hope these will help!

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  • It looks like dp4 (fontviewer.de) will meet the querent's needs.
    – Jeff Zeitlin
    Commented Sep 6, 2019 at 13:58

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