Affinity Publisher

Affinity Publisher is a desktop publishing application developed by Serif for macOS and Microsoft Windows (with an iPadOS version being developed). It is a part of the Affinity product line along with Affinity Photo and Affinity Designer.

Affinity Publisher
Developer(s)Serif Europe
Initial release19 June 2019 (2019-06-19)
Stable release
2.2.0 / 19 September 2023 (2023-09-19)[1]
Operating systemmacOS, iPadOS and Windows
Available in9 languages
List of languages
English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, Chinese, Russian
TypeDesktop Publisher
LicenseProprietary commercial software
Websiteaffinity.serif.com/publisher/

Overview

Affinity Publisher serves as a successor to Serif's own PagePlus software, which the company discontinued in August 2017 to focus on the Affinity product range.[2] It has been described as an alternative to Adobe InDesign,[3][4][5] due to its primary focus on desktop publishing workflows for both printed and online media, including common features from this industry, such as master pages, OpenType support, linked text frames, and end-to-end support for the CMYK color model.[6]

Affinity Publisher includes StudioLink technology,[7] developed by Serif, which allows owners of Affinity Designer and Affinity Photo to use the vector and raster graphic editing functionality of those applications for editing content directly within Publisher[3][8] (in addition to its own, smaller set of native vector and raster editing features).[6]

File format support

File formats supported by Affinity Publisher (in addition to the Affinity suite's native file format) include Adobe InDesign Markup Language (only import of IDML files into Publisher, no export of IDML),[9] Adobe Photoshop PSD, PDF, JPG, TIFF, PNG, and EPS,[10] with export functionality for the PDF/X-1a, PDF/X-3, PDF/X-4 standards of the PDF/X file format.[11]

The iPadOS editions of Affinity Photo and Designer also include support for Affinity Publisher files.[10]

Development

The first promotional video for Affinity Publisher was shown by Serif in December 2017, demonstrating features such as the drag & drop functionality, and text flow between frames.[12][13] A free public beta of the software was made available for both macOS and Windows on August 30, 2018.[14][15]

The first full version of Publisher (using the 1.7 version number, to align with other Affinity products) was first released on June 19, 2019,[16] in conjunction with Serif's 2019 'Affinity Live' event,[17] during which the company also announced the StudioLink integration features for the first time.[18] Publisher was made available for purchase directly from Serif's website and also available from the Mac App Store and Microsoft Store.

Publisher was updated to version 1.8 in February 2020, introducing support for importing Adobe InDesign's IDML file format.[9]

Serif stated that an iPadOS version of the software was planned for release in 2020.[16][18]

Reception

Affinity Publisher received generally favorable reviews following its initial release in 2019, with the application's range of features, its StudioLink integration with Affinity Designer/Photo, and non-subscription pricing model commonly cited as positive areas.[19][20][21] Limitations noted by reviewers of the initial release included its lack of support for InDesign's document (INDD) & markup (IDML) files[19][20] (although Serif added IDML support in February 2020[9]),[22] for footnotes & endnotes,[23] and for GREP-based and nested styles.[23]

Many reviews drew comparisons between Publisher and InDesign,[19][23][22] often noting that Publisher's first release did not have all of the features required to serve as a full replacement;[19][22] however, CreativePro also acknowledged it as having additional tools that are not present in InDesign or other desktop publishing applications.[23]

In December 2019, Apple named Publisher the “Mac App of the Year”.[24]

References
  1. "Latest Affinity V2 releases on each platform by store". Affinity Newsroom. Retrieved 2023-10-01.
  2. Eccles, Simon (2019-09-17). "Star product: Serif Affinity Publisher". PrintWeek. Retrieved 2019-11-21.
  3. Pruitt, Ant (2019-06-24). "Affinity Publisher creates competition for Adobe's InDesign". TechRepublic. Retrieved 2019-08-17.
  4. Antunes, Jose (2018-08-31). "Affinity Publisher: an affordable alternative to Adobe InDesign". ProVideo Coalition. Retrieved 2019-08-17.
  5. Sartain, JD (2019-08-27). "Alternatives for Adobe Acrobat, Photoshop and more". PC World. Archived from the original on 2020-02-01. Retrieved 2019-11-21.
  6. Endicott, Sean (2019-06-19). "Affinity Publisher is now available from Serif". Windows Central. Retrieved 2019-08-17.
  7. Banks, Adam (2019-09-01). "Affinity Publisher: Layout for Less". MacLife. Retrieved 2019-11-21.
  8. "Serif launches Affinity Publisher with new StudioLink technology". MacDailyNews. 2019-06-19. Retrieved 2019-08-17.
  9. Benjamin, Jeff (2020-02-26). "Affinity Photo, Publisher, and Designer updated to version 1.8". 9to5Mac. Retrieved 2020-03-07.
  10. Lee, Giacomo (2019-06-19). "Serif just launched its InDesign killer Affinity Publisher". Digital Arts. Retrieved 2019-08-17.
  11. Becker, Leo (2019-06-20). "DTP: Affinity Publisher tritt gegen Adobe InDesign an". Heise.de. Retrieved 2019-11-21.
  12. Benjamin, Jeff (2017-12-14). "Affinity Publisher for Mac teased on video ahead of 2018 beta release". 9to5Mac. Retrieved 2019-08-17.
  13. Antunes, Jose (2017-12-18). "Affinity Publisher: a sneak peek at Serif's DTP by Jose Antunes". ProVideo Coalition. Retrieved 2019-08-17.
  14. Benjamin, Jeff (2018-08-30). "Affinity Publisher free public beta goes live for Mac users". 9to5Mac. Retrieved 2019-08-17.
  15. Lee, Giacomo (2018-08-30). "Affinity Publisher: a free beta of the new InDesign rival is now available". Digital Arts. Retrieved 2019-08-17.
  16. Gallagher, William (2019-06-19). "Mac page design app Affinity Publisher comes out of beta". AppleInsider. Retrieved 2019-08-17.
  17. "Affinity Live Event Scheduled for June 19". Mac Sources. 2019-06-17. Retrieved 2019-08-17.
  18. Hamilton, Ruth (2019-06-19). "Affinity Publisher launches, and reveals a ridiculously cool new feature". Creative Bloq. Retrieved 2019-08-17.
  19. Paris, Steve (2019-07-16). "Affinity Publisher DTP software review". TechRadar. Archived from the original on 2019-07-13. Retrieved 2019-08-17.
  20. Endicott, Sean (2019-06-28). "Affinity Publisher is professional-grade but doesn't require a subscription". Windows Central. Retrieved 2019-08-17.
  21. Evenden, Ian (2019-10-01). "Work With Images in Affinity Publisher". Maximum PC. Retrieved 2019-11-21.
  22. Jefferis, David (2019-06-25). "Affinity Publisher review: can it replace InDesign?". The Big Tech Question. Retrieved 2019-08-17.
  23. Caplin, Steve (2019-07-02). "Review: Affinity Publisher". CreativePro. Retrieved 2019-08-17.
  24. "Apple celebrates the best apps and games of 2019". Apple.com. 2019-12-02. Archived from the original on 2019-12-03. Retrieved 2020-02-03.
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