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Making a handwriting font with Pendrilo Type: printing the template, scanning, checking and installing

Pendrilo Type turns your handwriting into a font you can install and use in other programs, such as Word and Canva. You write each letter on a printed template, scan or photograph the pages, and Pendrilo Type traces the letters into a font. This takes some care at the start, but the steps themselves are simple.

Pendrilo runs on Windows 10 and 11 during the beta.

Start a new handwriting font

Choose File → New and pick Handwriting font. You can name the font at any time under Font Details….

Print the template

  • 1. Click Print Template….
  • 2. Choose the Paper: US Letter or A4.
  • 3. Optional: tick Handwritten feel to add two extra pages for each lowercase letter. You'll write those letters twice more, which lets the font vary from one repeat to the next. See "Handwritten feel" below.
  • 4. Optional: under Ligatures, add pairs of letters you normally join, such as ff or th.
  • 5. Save the PDF and print it at 100%. Don't choose "fit to page", or the boxes won't line up with the letters you write.

Write on the template

Write one character in each box, using the pen you'll be happy with in the final font. Stay inside the box. Pendrilo Type removes the faint guide lines when it traces the pages, so you don't need to erase anything.

Scan or photograph the pages

  • 1. Scan each page, or take a photo of each one in good, even light. Avoid shadows and glare.
  • 2. Click Add Scans or Photos… and choose the pictures. PNG, JPEG and TIFF files all work.
  • 3. Click Make My Font.

The pages can be in any order, at any angle, even upside down. Each page carries a code that tells Pendrilo Type which page it is. Pendrilo Type straightens each page, removes the guide lines, and turns each letter into smooth outlines. It also sizes the letters, sets them on the baseline, and spaces and kerns them for you.

Check and adjust the letters

Every letter appears in the grid in the middle of the window. Click a letter to open it.

  • The arrow buttons nudge the letter. The − and + buttons make it smaller or larger.
  • Replace with Image… traces a PNG, JPG or SVG file into that letter instead.
  • Back to the Traced Letter undoes your changes and traces the letter again from the scan.
  • Add an Alternate adds another version of a letter. Apps can offer alternates as stylistic options.

If the letters look too wobbly or too heavy, adjust the tracing settings on the left:

  • Smoothing: a low setting keeps every wobble of your pen. A high setting makes curves smoother.
  • Stroke weight: makes the letters bolder or lighter.
  • Evenness: how much Pendrilo Type evens out the sizes of letters and the weight of the pen.

After you change these, click Retrace All Letters to trace every letter again from your scans.

Handwritten feel

If you wrote the lowercase letters the extra times, tick Handwritten feel. When a letter repeats in a word, as the two o's in "book" do, the font uses a different version each time, so the text doesn't look stamped. Under the preview, Without handwritten feel shows the difference.

Set the font details

Click Font Details… to set the Font name, Style, Designer, Version, Copyright and License.

Under Embedding, choose Installable (recommended). This lets the font be embedded in PDFs, including the print PDFs you upload to KDP.

Run Font Check

Click Font Check to look the font over before you use it. Fix any problems it reports, then check again.

Install or export the font

Install on This Computer installs the font for you, without needing administrator rights. Afterwards it appears in Word, Canva, Cricut Design Space and Pendrilo Formatter. If any of those programs were already open, restart them to see the font.

To save font files instead, click Export… and choose a folder:

  • OTF: OpenType, for Windows and Mac apps. This is the recommended choice.
  • TTF: TrueType, for older apps and Cricut Design Space.
  • WOFF2: for websites.
  • UFO: the editable source, for other font editors.

If Font Check found problems, Export says so and offers Export Anyway…. Fix the problems first if you can, because a font with problems may not work as you expect in every program.