There’s a better way to work. Anywhere.Work can't always happen in the office. You need a smart way to take itwith you, wherever you go. Adobe Acrobat DC is the world's best PDFsolution. And it’s all you need to scan, convert, sign, and managedocuments on any device.
Desktop publishing (DTP) is the creation of documents using page layout software on a personal ('desktop') computer.It was first used almost exclusively for print publications, but now it also assists in the creation of various forms of online content. Desktop publishing software can generate layouts and produce typographic-quality text and images comparable to traditional typography and printing. Swift Publisher is a page layout and desktop publishing app for Mac. This software provides all you need to create effective desktop publishing materials, such as flyers, brochures, catalogs, magazines, booklets, newsletters, calendars, posters, menus, cards, Facebook and Twitter covers, ad banners and many more. License: Shareware, $20 - $28. Welcome to Scribus, a page layout program for Linux, FreeBSD, PC-BSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris, OpenIndiana, Debian GNU/Hurd, Mac OS X, OS/2 Warp 4, eComStation, Haiku and Windows. Since its humble beginning in the spring of 2001, Scribus has evolved into one of the premier Open Source desktop. Jan 10, 2011 PageStream is a creative and feature-rich desktop publishing/page layout program available for Windows, Macintosh OS X, Linux, and Amiga. PageStream's interface allows you to interactively design your pages as they will appear in your final product. Mix text, images and drawings to create something as small as a business card or postage stamp, or as large as an entire volume of. Ultimate Software Bundle for Mac OS X. Image Editing. Video Editing. 14 Complete software programs for Mac OS X. This item is a collaboration of open source programs and I am able to distribute under open source licensing.
License: Demo, Acrobat Pro DC $15/mo
Developer/Publisher: Adobe
Modification Date: October 24, 2019
Requirements: Mac OS X 10.11 or higher - 64-bit
Download File Size: 2.4 MB Installer
Acrobat Reader 19.021.20047 Adobe Acrobat Reader DC software is the free global standard for reliably viewing, printing, and commenting on PDF documents. Acrobat Reader has a new modern look. This includes a full set ofcommenting tools to add sticky notes, highlight text, and use lines,shapes, and stamps on your PDFs. Easily e-sign any document or form. Type responses on your PDF, add youre-signature or initials, and send the form electronically. Use smartautofill to make form-filling faster.
License: Freeware
Developer/Publisher: Adobe
Modification Date: October 1, 2019
Requirements: Mac OS X 10.11 or higher - 64-bit
Download File Size: 210.7 MB
Affinity Publisher 1.7.3 Bring your vision to life with Affinity Publisher, the next generationof professional publishing software. From magazines, books, brochures,posters, reports and stationery to other creations, this incrediblysmooth, intuitive app gives you the power to combine your images,graphics and text to make beautiful layouts ready for publication.
License: Buy, $50
Developer/Publisher: Serif Labs
Modification Date: October 1, 2019
Requirements: Mac OS X 10.7 or higher - 64-bit
Download File Size: 415 MB
BookLightning 1.7.4 BookLightning is a Mac OS X 10.3 native utility for imposing PDF filesinto booklets, either for further processing or to print directly on aduplex or non-duplex printer. Operation couldn't be simpler: just drop aPDF file on the BookLightning icon, and it will create a new PDF withthe pages of the original file arranged on sheets that are twice thesize, two up and arranged so that they will form a booklet of theoriginal size when folded in the middle. BookLightning does its job veryquickly, generating the new PDF file typically takes less than a second. For non-duplex printers, BookLightning splits the front and back pages,allowing two-sided booklets to be printed in two passes. To create a booklet that will be created by printing on and foldingletter size paper ( 8.5 x 11 ), set up your original document's pagesize to half that size: 5.5 x 8.5. This is exactly the size that theindividual pages will appear at in the final booklet, because two ofthem have to fit on each side of the letter size sheets. For users withISO 'A'-style paper sizes, just drop down one size from the size of thepaper you will be printing on.
License: Demo, $10
Developer/Publisher: Marcel Weiher
Modification Date: December 15, 2011
Requirements: Mac OS X 10.7 or higher - 64-bit
Download File Size: 3.0 MB - 1.7.4
Download File Size: 3.2 MB - 1.7.3 Demo
Cheap Impostor 3.3 Cheap Impostor is a simple yet powerful alternative to fancy pageimposition software. It doesn't offer all the features of high-endimposition software (which costs hundreds of dollars). Hence the name.However, if you want to print and bind booklets, magazines, or even longbooks, this program might be all the imposition software you need.
License: Shareware, $35
Developer/Publisher: Dylan McNamee
Modification Date: March 17, 2013
Requirements: Mac OS X 10.6 or higher - 64-bit
Download File Size: 654 Kb
Cisdem PDF Converter OCR 7.5.0 Convert PDF to Word, PPT, Text, Rtfd, ePub, Html, Keynote, Pages, Image,and create/merge files to PDF accurately with advanced Mac PDFconverter. Keep original layout without data loss. Cisdem PDF Converter OCR with OCR to convert scanned PDFs and images into editable files
License: Demo, $60
Developer/Publisher: Cisdem Inc.
Modification Date: October 22, 2019
Requirements: Mac OS X 10.10 or higher - 64-bit
Download File Size: 388.6
Combine PDFs 5.4 Find a group of PDFs on your Mac, highlight them, and right-click.Choose the Services menu near the bottom. If all went well, you shouldsee Combine PDFs in the list. Choose it.
License: Shareware, $30
Developer/Publisher: Monkeybread Software
Modification Date: August 19, 2019
Requirements: Mac OS X 10.10 or higher - 64-bit
Download File Size: 20 MB
Combine PDFs Service 2.0 Drop some PDF or picture files on the application or the main window.Reorder or remove pages as you want. Enter some meta information likethe Title and save the new PDF. Analysing and processing of PDFs maytake a while.
License: Freeware
Developer/Publisher: Brooks Duncan
Modification Date: June 8, 2015
Requirements: Mac OS X 10.6.8 or higher - 64-bit
Download File Size: 129 Kb
FineReader Pro 12.1.13 Delivers the reliability you'd expect from a world-leader in OCR software.Easily transform paper documents, PDFs and digital photos of text intoeditable and searchable files. No more manual retyping or reformatting.Instead you can search, share, archive, and copy information fromdocuments for reuse and quotation - saving you time, effort and hassles.
License: Demo, $120
Developer/Publisher: ABBYY
Modification Date: October 4, 2019
Requirements: Mac OS X 10.11 or higher - 64-bit
Download File Size: 614.7 - Demo
Download File Size: 610.3 - App Store
Download File Size: 614.7 - Update
ghostscript 9.27 An interpreter for the PostScript language and for PDF.
License: AGPL License is Freeware
Developer/Publisher: Artifex Software, Inc.
Modification Date: April 4, 2019
Requirements: macOS
Download File Size: 42.3 MB
Homebrew installation: $ brew install ghostscript
gv 3.7.4 GNU gv allows to view and navigate through PostScript and PDF documentson an X display by providing a graphical user interface for theGhostscript interpreter. gv is a improved derivation of Timothy O. Theisen's Ghostview,originally developed by Johannes Plass.
License: Freeware
Developer/Publisher: Free Software Foundation
Modification Date: March 17, 2013
Requirements: macOS, Ghostscript, X11
Download File Size: 759 Kb
Homebrew installation: $ brew install gv The following 3 dependencies will be installed if you install gv with Homebrew: Ghostscript, Pkg-config and X11.
iCalamus 2.19 iCalamus offers an easy approach to DTP, and is an excellent choice forcreating simple posters to complex magazines, scientific works and forbook publishing. iCalamus is the multi-lingual, frame-oriented desktoppublishing solution for OS X. Working with precise measurement units is a breeze. Out of the box,iCalamus offers flexible masking options with many predefined,dynamically changeable frame shapes. Users may build virtual copies formultiple document elements and change them afterwards with just a fewmouse clicks. iCalamus can import all image and text formats which are supported by OSX. Easily grab text content from large PDF documents for further textprocessing. Images from digital cameras, scanners or iPhoto librariescan be imported, as well as complete web pages. Print output supportsall printers, and iCalamus can optionally output documents in variousPDF formats (e.g. PDF-X, encrypted PDF, PDF Fax).
License: Demo, $55
Developer/Publisher: Lemke Software
Modification Date: February 7, 2019
Requirements: Mac OS X 10.11 or higher - 64-bit
Download File Size: 143 MB
InDesign 14.0.2 Craft elegant layouts at your desk or on the go. The industry-leading page design and layout toolset lets you work acrossdesktop and mobile devices to create, preflight, and publish everythingfrom printed books and brochures to digital magazines, eBooks, andinteractive online documents.
License: Demo, Starting at $20/month
Developer/Publisher: Adobe
Modification Date: April 3, 2019
Requirements: macOS 10.13 or higher - 64-bit
Download File Size: 2.3 MB Installer
iStudio Publisher 1.4.1 Create stunning documents with iStudio Publisher. Powerful and intuitivepage layout software for desktop publishing. Designed exclusively forMac. Featured by Apple in ‘Apps for Designers’, iStudio Publisher is perfectfor designing anything you want to layout and print, and comes withworld class support.
License: Demo, $30
Developer/Publisher: iStudio Software
Modification Date: July 31, 2018
Requirements: Mac OS X 10.7 or higher - 64-bit
Download File Size: 23.7 MB
Label Printer Pro 7.37 Create professional results with incredible ease. Easy to use softwareis perfect for any of your labeling projects from return addresses tosimple to create, eye popping business cards. With easy to use image support you can make incredible name tags, CD/DVDlabels Post Cards, Tent Cards and even T-Shirts.
License: Buy, $10
Developer/Publisher: Pay & Play Software
Modification Date: November 19, 2018
Requirements: Mac OS X 10.9 or higher - 64-bit
Download File Size: 2.5 MB
LaTeXiT 2.13.2 Should LaTeXiT be categorized, it would be an equation editor. This isnot the plain truth, since LaTeXiT is 'simply' a graphical interfaceabove a LaTeX engine. However, its large set of features is a reason tosee it as an editor; this is the goal in fact.
License: Freeware
Developer/Publisher: Pierre Chatelier
Modification Date: March 19, 2019
Requirements: Mac OS X 10.4 or higher - 64-bit, a working LaTeX installation (TeX Live or MacTeX)
Download File Size: 15.6 MB
LyX 2.3.2 LyX is a document processor that encourages an approach to writing basedon the structure of your documents (WYSIWYM) and not simply theirappearance (WYSIWYG). LyX combines the power and flexibility of TeX/LaTeX with the ease of useof a graphical interface. This results in world-class support forcreation of mathematical content (via a fully integrated equationeditor) and structured documents like academic articles, theses, andbooks. In addition, staples of scientific authoring such as referencelist and index creation come standard. But you can also use LyX tocreate a letter or a novel or a theatre play or film script. A broadarray of ready, well-designed document layouts are built in. LyX is for people who want their writing to look great, right out of thebox. No more endless tinkering with formatting details, “fingerpainting” font attributes or futzing around with page boundaries. Youjust write. On screen, LyX looks like any word processor; its printedoutput — or richly cross-referenced PDF, just as readily produced —looks like nothing else.
License: Freeware
Developer/Publisher: lyx.org
Modification Date: December 10, 2018
Requirements: Mac OS X 10.6 or higher - 64-bit
Download File Size: 135.8 MB
PDF Expert 2.4.25 Fast, robust and beautiful PDF editor. Read, annotate and edit PDFs,change text and images. Fill forms and sign contracts like never before.
License: Demo, $60
Developer/Publisher: Readdle Inc
Modification Date: May 27, 2019
Requirements: Mac OS X 10.11 or higher - 64-bit
Download File Size: 44.4 MB
PDF OCR X 3.0.28 PDF OCR X is a simple drag-and-drop utility for Mac OS X and Windows,that converts your PDFs and images into text documents or searchable PDFfiles. It uses advanced OCR (optical character recognition) technologyto extract the text of the PDF even if that text is contained in animage. This is particularly useful for dealing with PDFs that werecreated via a Scan-to-PDF function in a scanner or photo copier.
License: Demo - Demo Limited to single-page images and PDFs, Buy $30 No Limit on Size of PDF
Developer/Publisher: Solutions Corp
Modification Date: October 14, 2019
Requirements: Mac OS X 10.9 higher - 64-bit
Download File Size: 40.1 MB
PDFKey Pro 4.3.9 - Recover Documents: Unlock PDF documents protected for printing and copying when you've forgotten your password. - Unlock PDFs: Unlock, with your password, PDF documents that cannot otherwise be viewed. - Lock PDFs: Lock PDF document with a password, restrict usage permissions on your documents. - Automate: Batch-process multiple PDF files or folders without additional input.
License: Shareware, $25
Developer/Publisher: Michele Balistreri
Modification Date: September 21, 2017
Requirements: Mac OS X 10.8.3 or higher - 64-bit, Java (contained within the application)
Download File Size: 76 MB
PDFpen 11.1.1 PDFpen is your PDF editor for Mac. From signing and filling forms tocorrecting typos, OCRing scans and redacting sensitive info, PDFpen isyour go-to app. PDFpenPro has everything from PDFpen, and more. Powerful form-buildingtools, more export options, control over permissions and tables ofcontents are just a few extras.
License: Demo, $75 - Pro $125
Developer/Publisher: SmileOnMyMac
Modification Date: October 2, 2019
Requirements: Mac OS X 10.12 or higher - 64-bit
Download File Size: 76.7 MB
PDFScanner 1.14.3 Details * Support for all scanners that are supported by the Mac OS X ImageCapture application (please check that using the scanner in ImageCapture works before purchasing to be sure) * Optical character recognition (OCR) to make the document searchable,allow to find it via Spotlight and other search tools or copy the text. * Supported OCR languages: English, German, French, Spanish, Italian,Dutch, Portuguese, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian and Finnish * Intuitive and fast user interface to reorder, delete or edit pages * Fully automatic straightening of crooked pages (deskew) * Full multithreading support * Scanning, OCR and straightening is done on multiple pages in paralleland you can even reorder or delete pages while PDFScanner is stillworking * 'Fake Duplex“ mode to simplify scanning of double sided documentswithout a duplex scanner * Saving to PDF (optionally compressing the scan inside the PDF to savedisk space) * It is also possible to open or import existing PDF documents and performOCR on them via a menu option (the language can be set in thePreferences). * These features make PDFScanner the perfect software for people who ownan all-in-one printer with an ADF (automatic document feeder) scannerwhich often come with crappy scanning software for Macs (or even withoutany software besides the driver at all).
License: Buy, $18
Developer/Publisher: Felix Rotthowe
Modification Date: October 9, 2019
Requirements: Mac OS X 10.11 higher - 64-bit
Download File Size: 116.7 MB
PDF Squeezer 3.10.5 PDF Squeezer is an easy-to-use PDF compression tool.It reduces the size of large PDF documents by compressing images andremoving irrelevant information. This will help you obtain importantsavings in bandwidth costs, digital storage costs and networktransmission times.
Apple Desktop Publishing Software
License: Demo, $6
Developer/Publisher: Witt Software
Modification Date: August 27, 2019
Requirements: Mac OS X 10.10 or higher - 64-bit
Download File Size: 16.5 MB
Download File Size: 14.6 MB - App Store
Preview 11.0 View and annotate PDFs, fill out and sign forms, and edit images. Whenyou’re done, share your file, export a password-protected PDF, or exportimages in a variety of file types.
License: Comes with your Mac
Developer/Publisher: Apple
Modification Date: August 24, 2019
Requirements: macOS 10.15 - 64-bit, Earlier versions come with earlier operating systems
Printopia 3.0.14 Wireless printing to any printer Share any printer, old or new, with your iPad or iPhone. No App to Install Printopia works with your iPad or iPhone's built-in printing capability.Just launch Printopia on your Mac, and you'll be able to print from yourdevice.
License: Demo, $20
Developer/Publisher: Decisive Tactics
Modification Date: October 8, 2019
Requirements: Mac OS X 10.7 or higher - 64-bit
Download File Size: 9.6 MB
QuarkXPress 2018 14.2.1 QuarkXPress is the leading graphic design and page layout software forcreative professionals. It's used by hundreds of thousands of users around the world who valuequality and performance in their daily production of print and digitalprojects.
License: Demo, $849
Developer/Publisher: Quark
Modification Date: January 24, 2019
Requirements: Mac OS X 10.11 or higher - 64-bit
Download File Size: 666.7 MB Demo
Scribus 1.4.8 Welcome to Scribus, a page layout program for Linux, FreeBSD, PC-BSD,NetBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris, OpenIndiana, Debian GNU/Hurd, Mac OS X, OS/2Warp 4, eComStation, Haiku and Windows. Since its humble beginning inthe spring of 2001, Scribus has evolved into one of the premier OpenSource desktop applications. Encouraged by professionals and beginnersalike, the Scribus Team, with support from a large and growing number ofenthusiastic contributors from all over the world, is dedicated todevelop and improve “one of the most powerful and useful open-sourceprojects out there” (TechRepublic). Underneath a user-friendlyinterface, Scribus supports professional publishing features, such asCMYK colors, spot colors, ICC color management and versatile PDFcreation. Scribus has many unexpected touches, such as powerful vectordrawing tools, support for a huge number of file types via import/exportfilters, emulation of color blindness or the rendering of markuplanguages like LaTeX or Lilypond inside Scribus. The Scribus file formatis XML-based and open.
License: Freeware
Developer/Publisher: The Scribus Team
Modification Date: March 3, 2019
Requirements: Mac OS X 10.8 or higher - 64-bit
Download File Size: 110.7 MB
Skim 1.5.3 Skim is a PDF reader and note-taker for OS X. It is designed to help youread and annotate scientific papers in PDF, but is also great forviewing any PDF file.
License: Freeware
Developer/Publisher: Michael O. McCracken
Modification Date: October 1, 2019
Requirements: Mac OS X 10.6 or higher - 64-bit
Download File Size: 6.2 MB
Swift Publisher 5.5.1 Swift Publisher is a page layout and desktop publishing app for Mac.This software provides all you need to create effective desktoppublishing materials, such as flyers, brochures, catalogs, magazines,booklets, newsletters, calendars, posters, menus, cards, Facebook andTwitter covers, ad banners and many more.
License: Shareware, $20 - $28
Developer/Publisher: BeLight Software
Modification Date: October 17, 2019
Requirements: macOS 10.12 or higher - 64-bit
Download File Size: 389.4 MB
Texmaker 5.0.3 Texmaker is a free, modern and cross-platform LaTeX editor for linux,macosx and windows systems that integrates many tools needed to developdocuments with LaTeX, in just one application. Texmaker includes unicode support, spell checking, auto-completion, codefolding and a built-in pdf viewer with synctex support and continuousview mode. Texmaker is easy to use and to configure.
Texmaker is released under the GPL license .
License: Freeware
Developer/Publisher: Pascal Brachet
Modification Date: October 30, 2018
Requirements: macOS 10.12 or higher - 64-bit
Download File Size: 72.7 MB
TeXShop 4.44 TeXShop is a TeX previewer for Mac OS X, written in Cocoa. Since pdf isa native file format on OS X, TeXShop uses 'pdftex' and 'pdflatex'rather than 'tex' and 'latex' to typeset in its default configuration;these programs in the standard TeX Live distribution of TeX produce pdfoutput instead of dvi output. TeXShop uses TeX Live, a standard distribution of Tex programsmaintained by the TeX Users Group (TUG) for Mac OS X, Windows, Linux,and various other Unix machines. The distribution includes tex, latex,dvips, tex fonts, cyrillic fonts, and virtually all other programs andsupporting files commonly used in the TeX world. The most recent versionof this distribution is maintained for the Mac by the MacTeX TeXnicalWorking Group of the TeX Users Group and available under the 'Obtaining'tab.
License: Freeware
Developer/Publisher: Richard Koch and Dirk Olmes
Modification Date: October 23, 2019
Requirements: Mac OS X 10.10 or higher - 64-bit, and a working LaTeX installation (TeX Live or MacTeX)
Download File Size: 46.5 MB
TeXstudio 2.12.16 TeXstudio is an integrated writing environment for creating LaTeXdocuments. Our goal is to make writing LaTeX as easy and comfortable aspossible. Therefore TeXstudio has numerous features likesyntax-highlighting, integrated viewer, reference checking and variousassistants. TeXstudio is open source and is available for all major operating systems.
License: Freeware
Developer/Publisher: Benito van der Zander, Pascal Brachet
Modification Date: May 19, 2019
Requirements: Mac OS X 10.10 or higher - 64-bit
Download File Size: 53.6 MB
TeXworks 0.6.3 The TeXworks project is an effort to build a simple TeX front-endprogram (working environment) that will be available for all today'smajor desktop operating systems—in particular, MS Windows (XP/Vista/7),typical GNU/Linux distros and other X11-based systems, as well as Mac OSX. It is deliberately modeled on Dick Koch's award-winning TeXShop forMac OS X, which is credited with a resurgence of TeX usage on the Macplatform.
License: Freeware
Developer/Publisher: Jonathan Kew, Stefan Löffler, Charlie Sharpsteen
Modification Date: March 16, 2019
Requirements: Mac OS X 10.6.8 or higher - 64-bit
Download File Size: 23.1 MB
Trapeze 2.0 Trapeze is a drag-and-drop text extraction utility that converts PDFfiles to editable HTML, RTF, ASCII or plain text. Trapeze puts you in control over the conversion process, with optionsfor white space stripping, paragraph rewrapping and page break marking.Additional features include advanced text encoding, targeted RTFoptimization (TextEdit or Microsoft Word), and support for encrypted(password protected) PDF. Trapeze's powerful reformatting engine is capable of standard HTMLconversion, high quality RTF rendering and faithful plain textreproduction; a must for users interested in PDF web publishing,content data mining or repurposing.
License: Freeware
Developer/Publisher: Danny Espinoza
Modification Date: April 7, 2013
Requirements: Mac OS X 10.4 or higher - 64-bit
Download File Size: 361 Kb
VueScan 9.7.05 Can't find a driver for your scanner? VueScan is here to help Don't you hate how scanner manufacturers stop releasing drivers whenevera new operating system comes out? VueScan works differently. We createscanner drivers for old scanners so you can keep using the scanner youalready have.
License: Shareware, $40
Developer/Publisher: Hamrick Software
Modification Date: October 17, 2019
Requirements: Mac OS X 10.7 or higher - 64-bit
Download File Size: 10.6 MB
Desktop publishing software (or DTP software) is software used in the process of creating editorial projects. The primary use of DTP is to lay out texts, images and graphics on a page and easily arrange these elements to create the preferred document. Born in the 1980s to create printed and PDF publications, today DTP software is also used to create electronic media, such as e-books and webpages. DTP software enables professional creation and management over the design of a document, and, if correctly used, a typographic quality.
DTP software is used to create both basic documents such as business cards, menus and brochures and more complex editorial projects like books, magazines, catalogs, and price lists. The type of documents you need to create affects your choice of software.
Which desktop publishing software should I choose?
Many diverse software options are currently available for desktop publishing, including the market leaders (professional software such as QuarkXPress and Adobe InDesign), open source software such as Scribus,LaTex, and Libre Office Suite, and the two programs developed by Microsoft (Word and Publisher). Also available is Pagination.com, which is among the most effective desktop publishing software for composing text, data, and images into a complete editorial product. Pagination.com is one of the first cloud-based, automatic-database publishing solutions offered by the publishing market.
Each of these solutions is characterized by different technical features, performance, cost, ease of use, and availability.
Our reviews of the best DTP software
To help you choose the Desktop Publishing Software that is right for you, here is a brief description of several DTP software currently available:
Adobe InDesign
InDesign is a professional-level desktop publishing software for Windows and Mac that was first produced by Adobe Systems in 1999. InDesign is the heir of Adobe PageMaker and can be used to publish every sort of editorial product (particularly books, magazines, and journals). Its main features are multilingual support, the advanced management of OpenType fonts, the capability to manage transparency effects, and its considerable integration with other products offered by Adobe Systems.
Returning the focus to a single document, a user can handle different page sizes, add text and paragraphs in multiple columns with easy-to-use tools, and screen and easily change the objects. Moreover, the software also allows the user to easily create interactive documents and multimedia proposals with audio and video elements.
Adobe InDesign supports exportation to the EPUB and SWF formats to create e-book and digital publications, such as digital magazines and suitable contents for tablets. Moreover, InDesign also manages XML, style sheets, and other markup coding to consent to the exportation of tagged text content for use in other formats and online.
The newest version of InDesign has several new designs, including “liquid” layouts or “responsive” designs that automatically adjust to become suitable to different devices and the ability to link to different content. The second change is important as it allows changes to be replicated across all formats so they don’t have to be input multiple times (reducing the possibility of error).
From the CS6 version onward, InDesign is sold as a monthly fee subscription so that an Adobe account can be activated. Rental of the licenses (so the software can be accessed from the Adobe Creative Cloud) allows selections among all the monthly options. In this way, the excessive cost that is often an obstacle to use of Adobe’s products overall has been overcome.
Cons:
Adobe InDesign is a so-called “heavy” software, and therefore wastes a lot of computer resources.
It is also difficult to use and not suitable for beginners, who would need a more basic software that provided them with essential characteristics for a desktop publishing system.
Continue reading about Adobe InDesign here:
InDesign Server,
InDesign Automation.
Pagination.com
Pagination.com, one of the first cloud-based database publishing services, allows desktop publishers to manage and create perfect catalogs and price lists from a simple spreadsheet.
The workflow is simple and based on a folder-sharing structure. This solution allows you to manage and create perfect catalogs and price lists starting from a simple spreadsheet. Data, images, and layouts are uploaded on the system, then can be downloaded as complete documents a few minutes later, correctly paginated in InDesign or PDF format. These can be printed or shared online on desktop or mobile devices.
The automatic-database method of publishing optimizes the process for catalogs and price lists thanks to an online service, as the service can handle more of the common database formats (Excel, AS/400, SQL, TXT, e XML), then transform them into usable documents.
Pagination.com provides many different advantages compared to all other desktop publishing software:
REDUCED COSTS Database publishing costs are reduced by 80%
REDUCED TIME Catalog creation requires only a few hours, rather than weeks
EFFICIENCY AND EFFECTIVENESS Automation guarantees the best precision in inserting and updating data
AUTOMATIC UPDATES Data and document are both automatically synchronized in the cloud system
EASE OF USE Shared-folder system doesn’t require any training.
WIDE CUSTOMIZATION Service allows wide personalization in terms of layouts and file formats
MULTI-CHANNEL STRATEGY Finished documents will be ready for print, online, and mobile devices
Your free trial of Pagination.com can be based on customer data so that you can understand, in practical terms, the advantages of this catalog software. If your editorial project is still under development, we can provide practical examples with respect to data, layout, and images.
QuarkXpress
QuarkXpress is a desktop publishing software for Windows and Mac OS created in 1987 by Quark Inc., with QuarkXpress 2016 being the current version.
The main features of QuarkXpress are optimal performance, the high degree of control over an element’s position on a page (0.001 mm precision), and a software that is greatly expandable with binary code modules developed by Quark or by a third party. Many advertising agencies have built editorial systems (customized environments for material management and semi-automatic pagination) based on QuarkXpress. Additional high points include advanced scripting functions and excellent stability of the software.
The recent versions of QuarkXpress have emphasized the development of web design, the creation of PDF documents, and XML support, disappointing customers who wanted broadening of and improvement in prepress functions.
Cons:
QuarkXpress is an expensive software
Long time intervals between software updates.
Scribus
The open source alternative to fee-based or purchased desktop publishing software is Scribus, created in 2003 by a team who also adopted the name. Scribus is based on a Qt library and has been developed in multiple platforms (Unix, Linux, Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, etc.) and multiple languages (including Italian). The last version is from 2016. Its ease of use, features, and professional approach make Scribus one of the most appreciated database publishing software programs, even for beginners. Examples of use include the production of newsletters, magazines, animated and interactive PDF presentations, posters, leaflets, and documents that require a flexible layout. Scribus has been also utilized to create complete books. It supports many different graphic formats, the SVG format, the CMYK colors, and ICC management of the colors and scripts in Python language (that is, macro programmability).
You can utilize preset templates, even if they are not perfect from a graphic point of view, or you can create new ones. The publishing procedures with Scribus can be resolved by shifting and dragging the elements inside the page, as you like. Created documents can be saved in the most popular text and image formats.
Cons:
The design and interface shown online by Scribus have been characterized as being graphically inaccurate.
Scribus has an overly strict system with respect to font usage: invalid and corrupt fonts are automatically inactivated.
Best Publishing Software For Mac
LaTex
LaTex is a programming language used to create text. It is based on the typography composition TEX program. The most recent version is called LaTeX2ε. Leslie Lamport created LaTex originally in 1985; it is now owned by Frank Mittelbach.
LaTex is not known for being easy to use, even if many online templates and tutorials delineate the principal system’s guidelines. This complexity (and potential difficulty of use) is balanced by the excellent results LaTex yields. It offers programmable desktop publishing features and the possibility of automating most typesetting functions, including numeration, cross-references, tables and figures, page organization, bibliographies, and more.
LaTex is multi-platform (it runs on Windows, Linux, and Mac) and can work with every document type, even if it is very common in the academic world. In fact, it is very often used by physicists, mathematicians, computer scientists, and engineers for the excellent publishing management of mathematical formulas (even Wikipedia uses LaTex to render formulas) and bibliographical references (due to the project BibTex). At some universities, theses are only allowed to be published with LaTex.
Cons:
The complexity of LaTex and the effort required to master it are considerable, but these are largely repaid by the results.
Microsoft Word
Word is a word processing program created by Microsoft in 1983. It is part of the Microsoft Office productivity software suite and it is available for Windows and OS X. Today, it is the most widely used software of its kind in the world.
Microsoft Word has been used to create, publish, modify, and print every kind of text, both for private and business use. With this program, you can format texts utilizing the toolbar and create visually pleasant documents without being an expert graphic designer. The software includes basic draw functions to create simple 2D and 3D forms and includes the WordArt function to create colorful titles with 3D effects. You can also insert images and photos into the document, then modify them with tools like black/white/saturation, cutting, and so forth. Mathematical functions can also be inserted, as with Excel.
For the most recent version of Microsoft Word, the Office Suite (which includes other programs such as PowerPoint, for presentation templates; and Outlook, for emails) is also sold by subscription with a monthly fee. One of the biggest drawbacks of Microsoft Word, its licensing fee, is overcome with this subscription format. In addition, Word offers the integration with OneDrive, so your job can be saved on the cloud as well as locally, for a greater collaboration and a better file management
Cons:
Despite its multiple features, Microsoft Word was not created to be an editorial or graphic publishing software; it will always be less powerful and efficient than other software applications that have been developed for professional purposes.
Microsoft Word is very versatile for a beginning program due to its multiple features, but perhaps not the easiest software to use for the less experienced.
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Microsoft Publisher
Publisher is the desktop publishing software of Microsoft Office suite; it was created in 1991 and is now on its 2016 version.
Publisher is considered an entry-level software (not specifically professional) and is different from Word because it is more oriented to graphics than to text. Microsoft wanted to create an easy software that was an alternative to the classical professional applications. In fact, it is oriented for use at a company without an internal graphic designer, at which all materials are created without specialized knowledge in the graphic design field.
Publisher gives you two work possibilities: you can start from a blank sheet or choose one of its templates, which are divided into categories (brochure, letterhead, postcards, calendars, leaflets, labels, etc.). The templates are original and graphically attractive. A large variety of editing tools exists, and one can add or remove words, colors, effects, and so forth.
Other positive features are the large working area, designed to make every operation easy, and the wide range of supported formats. Moreover, like Microsoft Word, Publisher can be integrated with OneDrive so your job can be saved on the cloud.
Cons:
Like Microsoft Word, the multiple features make Publisher a versatile, multifunctional software, but perhaps not easy to use for someone who is a beginner.
Libre Office Writer
LibreOffice Writer is the open-source word processor component of the LibreOffice suite. Born in 2010, Writer soon became a viable alternative to Microsoft Word, thanks to its similar features and because the whole suite can be downloaded free.
LibreOffice Writer can open and save different kinds of document formats, such as Open Documents (the default format), Microsoft Word’s .doc and .docx, and HTML. It is also capable of exporting documents as PDFs.
The software allows you to project and create text documents with the classic features of a word processor: text formatting, spelling and grammar checker, synonyms, hyphenation, index creation, calculation functions, etc. With LibreOffice Writer, you can customize your document layout using different pre-set templates or create one from scratch to save your personal preferences. In the same way, you can create and apply styles to the paragraphs, individual characters, frames, and pages.
As a desktop publishing program, LibreOffice Writer contains various publishing and drawing tools to create documents such as brochures, newsletters, and circulars. Some of its publishing features include: formatting documents with multi-column layouts, inserting text frames, images in various formats (e.g., JPEG and GIF), graphics, tables, and other objects. Moreover, with the drawing tool, is possible to create drawings, lines, graphics, and legends for your document.
Cons:
As is also true of Microsoft Word, Writer wasn’t born as an editorial and graphics publishing program, but as a word processor. So, despite its many desktop publishing features, the software won’t allow you to create complex editorial projects, only pretty simple layouts.
Libre Office Draw
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LibreOffice Draw was born in 2010 as LibreOffice Suite’s desktop publishing arm, mainly dedicated to drawing and composition. This software is most often used to create technical drawings and graphic designs such as posters, flyers, and brochures.
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LibreOffice Draw is an entry-level program, not one specifically designed for professionals, yet its wide range of features allows users to achieve good graphics results. The user interface is simple and intuitive, easily enabling users to access to the major features related to text, image, and graphics creation and editing.
Like most graphics composition programs, Draw uses layers, so the various elements (images, shapes, text) are automatically placed in different layers, leaving them free for reorganization, bringing an object to the foreground, or putting it in the background, among other elements.
The program’s tools allow users to create various technical drawings, such as lines, polygons, freehand curves, flowcharts, organization charts, network diagrams, and much more. Draw can also import images and graphics from the most common formats, such as BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, TIFF, and WMF, and export files in Flash (.swf) format. Finally, LibreOffice Draw can also serve as a PDF editor.
Similar to Microsoft Publisher, LibreOffice Draw allows you to work either starting from a blank sheet or to choose one of its many pre-set templates.
Draw can be downloaded free alongside the LibreOffice Suite, and this characteristic, with its easily accessible features, has made LibreOffice Draw a widely used program in the academic and business environments.
Cons:
Draw is a valuable program for creating graphics and technical drawings, but if you need to create a more complex editorial project, you will encounter some limitations on the graphic level and in the final rendering stage.
Canva
Canva is a simplified graphic-design tool website, founded in 2012. It uses a drag-and-drop format and provides access to over a million photographs, vectors, graphics, and fonts. It is used by non-designers as well as professionals. The tools can be used for both web and print media design and graphics.