diff --git a/Lib/robofab/objects/objectsFL.py b/Lib/robofab/objects/objectsFL.py
index 2f5c55079..6b03d4fdc 100755
--- a/Lib/robofab/objects/objectsFL.py
+++ b/Lib/robofab/objects/objectsFL.py
@@ -659,11 +659,12 @@ class RFont(BaseFont):
 		return self.newGlyph(glyphName)
 
 	def newGlyph(self, glyphName, clear=True):
-		"""Make a new glyph"""
-		#if generate:
-		#	g = GenerateGlyph(self._object, glyphName, replace=clear)
-		#else:
-		g = NewGlyph(self._object, glyphName, clear)
+		"""Make a new glyph."""
+		# the old implementation always updated the font.
+		# that proved to be very slow. so, the updating is
+		# now left up to the caller where it can be more
+		# efficiently managed.
+		g = NewGlyph(self._object, glyphName, clear, updateFont=False)
 		return RGlyph(g)
 	
 	def insertGlyph(self, glyph, name=None):
@@ -1121,7 +1122,6 @@ class RFont(BaseFont):
 					# there is no reason to keep the location in the lib.
 					if glyph.lib.has_key(postScriptHintDataLibKey):
 						del glyph.lib[postScriptHintDataLibKey]
-				glyph.update()
 				if bar and not count % 10:
 					bar.tick(count)
 				count = count + 1
@@ -1162,6 +1162,8 @@ class RFont(BaseFont):
 				self.lib.update(fontLib)
 				if bar:
 					bar.tick()
+			# update the font
+			self.update()
 		# only blindly stop if the user says to
 		except KeyboardInterrupt:
 			bar.close()
diff --git a/Lib/robofab/tools/toolsFL.py b/Lib/robofab/tools/toolsFL.py
index be87c8dbc..c8aff19a1 100755
--- a/Lib/robofab/tools/toolsFL.py
+++ b/Lib/robofab/tools/toolsFL.py
@@ -201,9 +201,10 @@ def makePSFontName(name):
 #
 #
 
-def NewGlyph(font, glyphName, clear=False):
+def NewGlyph(font, glyphName, clear=False, updateFont=True):
 	"""Make a new glyph if it doesn't already exist, return the glyph.
-	font  is either a FL Font or RF RFont object.
+	font is either a FL Font or RF RFont object. If updateFont is True
+	the (very slow) fl.UpdateFont function will be called.
 	"""
 	font = unwrapFont(font)
 	if isinstance(glyphName, unicode):
@@ -213,7 +214,8 @@ def NewGlyph(font, glyphName, clear=False):
 		new = Glyph()
 		new.name = glyphName
 		font.glyphs.append(new)
-		fl.UpdateFont(FontIndex(font))
+		if updateFont:
+			fl.UpdateFont(FontIndex(font))
 		glyph = font[glyphName]
 	elif clear:
 		glyph.Clear()