Free, professional-grade desktop publishing for Windows, macOS, and Linux.
No ads. No subscriptions. No compromises.
Open Publisher is a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) desktop publishing application built as a free alternative to tools like Microsoft Publisher. Whether you are creating newsletters, flyers, business cards, posters, booklets, or marketing materials - Open Publisher gives you precision layout tools, rich typography, image manipulation, and comprehensive export capabilities, entirely free.
This README is a quick-reference overview. The complete user guide is packed with step-by-step instructions, screenshots, and annotated examples covering every feature in detail.
Click here to read the full Open Publisher documentation (PDF)
- Features at a Glance
- Installation
- The Interface
- Page and Document Management
- Master Pages and Themes
- Text Boxes and Typography
- Tables
- Images and Graphics
- Shapes and Drawing
- WordArt
- Clipart, Emojis, and Symbols
- Marketing and Promotional Tools
- Layout and Workspace Tools
- Export and Sharing
- Document Security and Privacy
- The .opub File Format
| Category | Highlights |
|---|---|
| Platforms | Windows (Installer + Portable), macOS (.dmg), Linux (.deb, .rpm, .AppImage), Web Browser |
| Page Formats | A3, A4, A5, Letter, Legal, Tabloid, Business Card - with auto locale detection |
| Export | PDF, Image, HTML (with SEO injection), XPS, Pack & Go commercial print package, Email (.eml) |
| Typography | Full font control, tab stops with leaders, line spacing, drop caps, vertical alignment, linked text boxes |
| Shapes | 200+ SVG vector shapes with solid, gradient, texture and pattern fills, 3D rotation engine |
| Images | Drag-and-drop, URL import, paste, batch swap, non-destructive crop, 14-shape crop-to-shape |
| Tables | 100 styled templates, multi-cell selection, Excel import (xlsx/xls), convert to text |
| WordArt | 60+ styles including curved paths, neon, holographic, 3D extrusion, vaporwave |
| Clipart | Built-in gallery of 3,403 high-quality transparent images with live search |
| Security | AES-GCM password encryption, Document Inspector for metadata/stray objects |
| Themes | Document-wide colour schemes (Classic, Pastel, Neon, Corporate) + background textures |
| Page Borders | 100 unique scalable SVG border styles with custom colour and thickness |
Open Publisher ships in two forms for Windows:
- Standard Installer (
.exe) - Sets up Start Menu and Desktop shortcuts, and registers the.opubfile extension in the Windows registry. - Portable Version (
.exe) - Self-contained, no registry changes, no admin rights required. Drop it anywhere and run it.
Open Publisher integrates with native macOS conventions:
- Native macOS menu bar with all tools mapped by tab (File, Home, Insert, Page Design, Review, View, Picture)
- Correct app identity ("Open Publisher") in the menu bar, Dock, and system UI
- Native unsaved-changes warning dialog
- Custom splash screen and offline error screen
Available in three formats for maximum compatibility:
| Package | Distribution |
|---|---|
.deb |
Debian / Ubuntu-based |
.rpm |
Fedora / RHEL-based |
.AppImage |
Any distribution, no installation required |
Installs to /opt/, registers application/x-openpublisher MIME types, and refreshes icon and MIME caches automatically post-install.
The workspace is divided into five key areas:
| Area | Description |
|---|---|
| Ribbon | Tabbed toolbar at the top: File, Home, Insert, Page Design, Review, View, and contextual tabs |
| Canvas | The central white page where you design your document |
| Navigation Pane | Left sidebar with live thumbnail previews of all pages |
| Status Bar | Bottom bar showing zoom slider, cursor coordinates, and page info |
| Floating Toolbar | A compact, context-sensitive bar that appears above selected text boxes |
Contextual Tabs - Selecting an element automatically activates the relevant contextual ribbon tab (Text Box Tools, Picture Tools, Drawing Tools, Table Design) with controls specific to that element type.
Floating Toolbar - Double-clicking into a text box reveals a "Frost Mint" styled floating toolbar with instant access to font, size, bold, italic, underline, colour, and alignment. Its position is remembered per element.
- Multiple ways to add pages - Navigation Pane button, right-click context menu, or workspace background right-click
- Page operations - Duplicate, Move Up/Down, Delete, all from the thumbnail right-click menu
- Two-Page Spread Mode - Display facing pages side-by-side for booklet/magazine design
- Page Notes - Attach custom labels to page thumbnails (e.g., "Front Cover", "Chapter 3") displayed in bold teal beneath thumbnails
- Multi-Page View - Automatically activates at 45% zoom or below, showing all pages side-by-side
- Scratch Area - Off-canvas staging zone for elements not yet placed. Toggle visibility from View > Show
- Auto Page Numbering - Dynamic, self-updating page number elements via Insert > Page Number
- Template Saving - Save any document as a reusable template
| Setting | Options |
|---|---|
| Page Size | A3, A4, A5, Letter, Legal, Tabloid, Business Card |
| Orientation | Portrait / Landscape |
| Margins | Normal (0.5"), Narrow (0.25"), Moderate, Wide (1"), Zero (borderless) |
Locale-aware defaults: US, Canada, Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, Chile, and Philippines default to Letter; all other regions default to A4.
Master Pages serve as document-wide templates for consistent headers, footers, logos, and backgrounds across all pages. Edit the Master Page once and all standard pages update automatically.
- Quick Jump - Double-click the top or bottom 100px of any page canvas to jump directly to the Master Page header or footer area
- Per-page override - Right-click any page thumbnail > Master Pages > None (Hide) to exempt a page (e.g., a full-bleed cover page)
Theme Studio (Page Design ribbon) applies consistent visual styling across the entire document:
- Colour Schemes - Classic, Pastel, Neon, Corporate. Shapes and elements dynamically update to match
- Background Themes - Solid colours, gradients, and textured patterns applied via a dedicated background layer
- Ignore Theme - Exempt individual pages from the theme background (e.g., for a back cover)
- Page Borders - 100 scalable SVG border styles in categories: Classic, Geometric, Layered/3D, Craft/Deco. Fully customisable colour and thickness
Text boxes are the primary container for all written content.
- Insert via Insert > Text Box, or press T while the canvas is focused
- Contextual Text Box Tools ribbon and Floating Toolbar provide full typography control
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Shrink Text on Overflow | Automatically reduces font size live as you type more than fits |
| Grow Box to Fit | Expands the text box downward automatically as you type |
| Linked Text Boxes | Chain text boxes across pages for flowing long-form articles |
- Paragraph Indent Markers - Three interactive markers on the ruler: First Line Indent, Hanging Indent, Left Indent master handle
- Tab Stops - Left, Center, Right, Decimal alignment with Dotted, Dashed, Solid, or no tab leaders - perfect for tables of contents and menus
- Line Spacing - Set exact point values via the Line Spacing button
- Vertical Alignment - Top, Middle, or Bottom alignment within the text box container
- Text Fit: Best Fit - Auto-scales font to fill the text box exactly (right-click > Text Fit > Best Fit)
- Drop Cap - Stylises the first letter as a large decorative capital (right-click > Drop Cap)
Insert tables in multiple ways:
- Standard Grid - Insert > Table, drag to select rows/columns
- Styled Templates - 100 beautifully pre-formatted table designs
- Right-Click Context Menu - Insert > Table directly from the canvas
- Drag-and-Drop Excel - Drop a
.xlsxor.xlsfile directly onto the canvas
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Multi-cell selection | Click and drag across cells; apply formatting to groups |
| Table Layout Sidebar | Insert/delete rows and columns, 9-way cell alignment grid |
| Line Spacing in Tables | Same point-value line height control as text boxes |
| Convert Table to Text | Export table data as tab, comma, paragraph, or custom-separated text |
| Excel Import Wizard | Styled Data Mode (xlsx, preserves colours/fonts) or Raw Data Mode (xls/xlsx, plain) |
Images can be inserted by:
- Ribbon - Insert > Picture > browse
- Drag-and-Drop - Auto-scales to canvas while maintaining aspect ratio
- Paste -
Ctrl+V/Cmd+Vfrom clipboard - URL - Insert > Insert from URL
- Picture Placeholders - Block out image positions with dashed-border frames; double-click to swap with real photos
- Batch Picture Swap - Drag multiple images onto the canvas to fill all placeholders automatically, in top-to-bottom/left-to-right order
- Non-Destructive Crop - Drag crop handles inward; pan the image within the frame; settings persist across save/load
- Crop to Shape - Clip any image to one of 14 shapes: circle, star, triangle, heart, diamond, pentagon, hexagon, octagon, cross, arrows, trapezoid, parallelogram, shield, speech bubble
The Picture Tools contextual tab provides access to Crop, Crop to Shape, Recolor filters, shadow effects, and the Format Picture sidebar with hue, brightness, contrast, and opacity controls.
Open Publisher includes a library of 200+ vector shapes built from mathematical SVG paths - infinitely scalable at any zoom level or document size.
Shape categories: Basic Geometry, Arrows & Lines, Callouts & Speech, Stars & Bursts, Hearts & Shields, Banners & Ribbons, Flow & Process, Frames & Borders.
| Fill Type | Details |
|---|---|
| Solid Colour | Full colour picker with hex, RGB, and swatches |
| No Fill (Transparent) | Hollow shape with border only |
| Gradient | Gold, Chrome, Bronze, Silver, Sunset, Ocean presets + custom two-colour tool; Linear, Diagonal, or Radial |
| Textured Patterns | 8 styles: Tiny Dots, Polka Dots, Diagonal Lines, Vertical Lines, Horizontal Lines, Crosshatch, Checkerboard, Square Grid |
- 3D Rotation Engine - Rotate shapes along X, Y, Z axes with perspective depth. Automatically flattened to a high-quality PNG for print fidelity. Non-destructive: double-click the PNG to restore live 3D editing
- Custom Shape Points Editor - Right-click > Edit Points to drag individual vertices and morph shapes into custom polygons
- Opacity Slider - 0-100% transparency for semi-opaque overlay effects
- Rotation & Flip - Rotate Right/Left 90 degrees, Flip Horizontal/Vertical, or type any exact degree value
The Beta WordArt generator produces styled text in 60+ creative styles:
| Category | Examples |
|---|---|
| Classic | 90s Rainbow Gradients, 3D Blue Extrusions, Silver Chrome |
| Modern & Minimal | Clean shadows, thin metallic outlines, flat fills |
| Neon & Glow | Neon wireframes, electric glow halos, cyberpunk outlines |
| Holographic | Glass-like prismatic gradients, holographic foil effects |
| Vaporwave & Retro | Sunset gradients, synthwave purples, pastel 80s palettes |
| 3D & Depth | Extruded letter stacks, bevelled edges, cast shadows |
| Curved & Arched | Arch Up, Arch Down, Wave, Sine Wave, Zig-Zag, Triangle peak |
Key WordArt behaviours:
- Double-click to re-edit - Reopens the generator pre-filled with your original text and style
- Dedicated Floating Toolbar - Edit Text / Change Style buttons in a pill-shaped teal toolbar
- Hue Shifting - Shift the entire colour spectrum of any WordArt in real time without regenerating
- Save as Picture - Export a pixel-perfect transparent PNG from the right-click menu
- Clipart Gallery - 3,403 high-quality transparent images with live search, lazy loading, and auto-retry on network failures. Gallery shuffles with a Fisher-Yates algorithm every session for fresh results
- Emojis - Full Twemoji library (Twitter's open-source SVG emoji set) with free stretching to any size, no letterboxing
- Insert Symbol - Rich modal for special characters without memorising Unicode codes
- QR Code Generator - Insert > QR Code to generate a scannable code from any URL or text string
- Ad Templates and Stickers - Pre-built marketing layouts
- Coupons - Promotional coupon designs
- QR Codes - Insert from ribbon or canvas right-click menu
- Templates Gallery - File > New > Templates; browse Resumes, Flyers, Menus, Certificates and more
Note: Loading a template replaces only the currently selected page, not the entire document.
- Pixel Rulers - Run along the top and left canvas edges; toggle via View > Show > Rulers
- Custom Ruler Origin - Drag the intersection box to set a new 0,0 point; double-click to reset
- Three Independent Snapping Modes - Snap to Grid, Snap to Guides, Snap to Objects (toggle each individually)
- Hold
Ctrlwhile dragging to temporarily bypass grid snapping without changing the setting - Smart Guides - Teal alignment lines appear when dragging near edges/centres of other elements; smooth fade-in/out
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
Ctrl + Mouse Wheel |
Zoom in/out in fine increments |
F9 |
Toggle between current zoom and 100% |
Ctrl + Shift + L |
Whole Page View - fit full page in window |
Ctrl + 0 |
Reset zoom to 100% |
| Right-click zoom slider | Preset menu: 60%, 70%, 80%, 90%, 100%, 110%, 120%, 130%, 150%, 175%, 200% |
Home > Select > Selection Pane - A scrollable list of every element on the canvas in Z-order:
- Click to select any element (including buried or obscured objects)
- Toggle visibility with the eye icon; hidden elements are excluded from PDF exports
- Rename elements inline (e.g., "Background Logo", "Footer Bar")
- Updates in real time via MutationObserver
The colour picker features a tabbed interface:
- Swatches - Quick colour presets
- Custom - Professional gradient wheel (2D Saturation/Brightness canvas + 1D Hue slider), RGB spinners, and Hex input, all synchronised in real time
| Export Format | Description |
|---|---|
| High-fidelity multi-page PDF with correct orientation, crop settings, and master pages | |
| Export as Image | Current page as a clean image snapshot (2000px max dimension) |
| Share via Email (.eml) | Page embedded as Base64 in a MIME email file; opens directly in Outlook, Apple Mail, Thunderbird |
| Export as HTML | Standalone .html with newsletter layout, email-client optimization, SEO meta tags, Google Fonts, and mobile scaling |
| Export as XPS | Windows XML Paper Specification via the browser's native print engine |
| Pack & Go | Commercial print package: extracts all images, lists all fonts used, zips everything for print shop handoff |
| Booklet Print | Imposition engine for double-page spread printing with accurate gradient reproduction |
- Seamless Newsletter Layout
- Optimize for Email Clients (html2canvas + legacy
<table>structure for Gmail, Outlook, Mailchimp) - Embed External Images as Base64 for single-file offline HTML
- Auto-Scale to Fit Screen (CSS transform for mobile responsiveness)
- Enable / Disable Text Selection and Copying
- Inject SEO & Social Meta Tags (auto-extracts top 5 keywords, 150-character description, injects
og:title,og:description, standard meta tags) - Minify HTML
- Include Google Fonts
Privacy - Pack & Go: The entire packaging process happens natively in your browser using the open-source JSZip library. Your documents and images are never uploaded to any external server.
Open Publisher encrypts documents using the Web Crypto API (AES-GCM), an industry-standard algorithm implemented natively in the browser.
- Encrypted files save as binary blobs, completely unreadable without the correct password
- A "Protected" badge appears in the top-right canvas area when a document is secured
- To open a protected document: open the file, enter the password in the decryption prompt
Warning: There is no password recovery mechanism. If you lose the password, the document cannot be recovered. Always keep a backup of the unprotected source file.
File > Info > Inspect Document scans across all pages and checks:
| Category | What It Finds |
|---|---|
| Document Properties | Embedded author, company, subject, and keyword metadata |
| Off-Canvas Elements | Objects dragged partially or fully outside the page boundary |
| Empty Text Boxes | Text boxes containing only invisible characters (e.g., non-breaking spaces) |
Each category shows a colour-coded Found/Clean status with a one-click Remove All action to purge detected data.
Open Publisher's native format is .opub:
- Double-click to open on all supported platforms after installation
- Backwards compatible with older versions of the application
- Stores custom ruler origins, page notes, margin settings, master page overrides, and theme preferences
- Supports AES-GCM encryption for protected documents
| Format | Import Behaviour |
|---|---|
.opub / .json |
Native format - full fidelity, restores entire working session |
.png, .jpg, .gif, .webp |
Placed directly onto the canvas |
.pub, .pubx |
Experimental legacy Microsoft Publisher import (layout fidelity varies) |
.xlsx, .xls |
Fully interactive table object via Import Wizard |
.doc, .docx |
Editable Text Mode or Flattened Image Mode (Safe Mode) |
Word Document Import Modes:
- Editable Text Mode - Extracts all text, fonts, and colours into editable Open Publisher text boxes. Best for documents you want to continue editing.
- Flattened Image Mode (Safe Mode) - Renders the document as a high-resolution background image, guaranteeing 100% layout accuracy. Recommended for complex forms, medical tables, or any document where pixel-perfect fidelity matters more than editability.
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
T (on canvas) |
Insert new text box |
Ctrl + Z |
Undo |
Ctrl + Y / Ctrl + Shift + Z |
Redo |
Ctrl + C |
Copy |
Ctrl + X |
Cut |
Ctrl + V |
Paste |
Ctrl + Shift + V |
Paste without styles |
Ctrl + A |
Select all |
Ctrl + S |
Save |
Delete / Backspace |
Delete selected element |
F9 |
Toggle zoom to/from 100% |
Ctrl + Shift + L |
Whole Page View |
Ctrl + Shift + O |
Toggle element boundaries |
Ctrl + 0 |
Reset zoom to 100% |
Ctrl + Mouse Wheel |
Zoom in/out |
Shift + drag corner |
Proportional resize |
Ctrl/Cmd + drag handle |
Scale from centre point |
Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + drag |
Proportional scale from centre |
Escape |
Exit text editing mode |
 rmellis |
 Tallulah95 |
Open Publisher - Professional desktop publishing, free for everyone.