ESA Fonts FAQs
ESA fonts stand out above other popular embroidery font formats because they’re professionally digitized for embroidery, not simple stitch file fonts. Whereas other stitch file fonts may look pretty, they are not overly adjustable. ESA fonts give you the option to be adjusted, resized and reshaped according to your needs. ESA fonts will behave exactly the same as the pre-digitized fonts that come with Hatch. You can break them apart, you can automatically add the proper underlay and use all the lettering tools, including monogramming letters. Check out the video below to learn more.
No, ESA fonts will only work with Wilcom Hatch, Wilcom E series and Janome MBX V5 Digitizer.
The ESA fonts will only work with the V5 version of the Janome software: Janome MBX V5 digitizer.
The ESA fonts will work with any version of Hatch. Please keep in mind that in terms of modules, ESA fonts only work with Personaziler, Composer and Digitizer (not Organizer).
The ESA fonts will work with Hatch (any version), the Wilcom E series and Wilcom’s Janome MBX v5 Digitizer software programs.
The path on your computer is:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Wilcom\Hatch Embroidery Software V1\USERLETW
If you are working with Janome MBX V5 Digitizer, look for the Digitizer file instead of the Hatch file. For more information on installing ESA fonts, check out this step by step video.
Although you can use Truetype fonts in Hatch, you can’t use any BX fonts in Hatch. BX fonts are specific for another embroidery program.
There is no difference between the ESA fonts and the built in fonts in Hatch. The built in fonts that come with your Hatch or Wilcom software are ESA fonts.
You can use your alphabet designs in Hatch, but you must bring them into Hatch one at a time. Remember that the pre-digitized fonts are stitch files, and they don’t have the same editing capabilities as regular ESA fonts.
No you can’t install the pre-digitized fonts in Hatch, although you can open them as you would any other embroidery design. The pre-digitized fonts that you have are stitch files similar to any other embroidery design.
Alphabet letters are stitch files and therefore can’t be edited much. You should not resize the alphabet fonts. ESA fonts can be loaded into your computer once and then you can use them the same as any font that comes with Hatch. You can pick the font, type the lettering on the keyboard and you can use any lettering art on them, monogramming and you can resize the fonts, too. The minimum size requirement for the font is written right in the title, so you don’t have to guess. ESA fonts are better, easier and will stitch out better than any other type of font.
An alphabet font, (also referred to as a digitized font, or pre-digitized font) is not really a font, it is a style of letter designs that are in the stitch file format (PES, XXX, etc.) and you wil have a folder that contains separate files for each letter (eg A.pes, B.pes). Each of these files are stitch files, or embroidery designs, so they have limited capabilities – you cant resize these designs, or skew or change them much, because they are stitch files. An ESA font is an actual font that you can load into your computer once, and use as a keyboard font. ESA fonts are professionally digitized for embroidery. It is easier to type on the keyboard with an ESA font than bring in each letter separately.
Yes! You can use any of the lettering tools, including lettering art with ESA fonts the same as any other built in font that comes with your Wilcom software.
Yes, the break apart tool will work with the ESA fonts – ESA fonts work the same way as any other built in font, so any of the lettering tools will work with ESA fonts.
ESA is the type of file that the font is created with. It stands for “Embroidery Specific Alphabet”… However, we think that ESA could stand for “EXTRA SPECIAL ALPHABET”.