Software:Affinity Publisher

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Affinity Publisher
Affinity Publisher 2.6.5 running on Windows 11
Developer(s)Serif Europe
Initial release19 June 2019; 6 years ago (2019-06-19)
Final release
2.6.0 / 25 February 2025; 10 months ago (2025-02-25)[1]
Operating systemiPadOS, macOS and Windows
PredecessorPagePlus
Available in9 languages
List of languages
English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, Chinese, Russian
TypeDesktop Publisher
LicenseProprietary commercial software
Websiteaffinity.serif.com/publisher/

Affinity Publisher is discontinued desktop publishing application developed by Serif for macOS, Microsoft Windows and iPadOS.

Developed as a successor to Serif’s PagePlus and first released in 2019, Affinity Designer was part of a suite alongside Affinity Designer and Affinity Photo, respectively a vector graphics editor and raster graphics editor.

Affinity used a perpetual license model. In 2025, following the purchase of Serif by Canva in 2024, it was replaced by the freemium Affinity application, bundling layout, vector and raster features together.

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]

In addition to its own, smaller set of native editing features, the native vector and raster functionality of Affinity Designer and Affinity Photo can be used to edit content directly within Affinity Publisher when they are installed on the same device ("StudioLink").[3][7][8]

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] Version 1.9 was released in February 2021, adding speed improvements, with Serif claiming that certain tasks would be up to 10 times as fast.[19]

Serif stated that an iPadOS version of the software was planned for release in 2020;[16][18] it was eventually added in 2022 as part of the 2.0 update to the Affinity suite.[20]

In October 2025, Affinity Publisher was discontinued in favour of the freemium Affinity by Canva, which has unified the functionality of the three separate Affinity applications.[21][22][23]

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.[24][25][26] Limitations noted by reviewers of the initial release included its lack of support for InDesign's document (INDD) and markup (IDML) files[24][25] (although Serif added IDML support in February 2020[9]),[27] for footnotes & endnotes,[28] and for GREP-based and nested styles.[28]

Many reviews drew comparisons between Publisher and InDesign,[24][28][27] often noting that Publisher's first release did not have all of the features required to serve as a full replacement;[24][27] however, CreativePro also acknowledged it as having additional tools that are not present in InDesign or other desktop publishing applications.[28]

In December 2019, Apple named Publisher the “Mac App of the Year”.[29]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Latest Affinity V2 releases on each platform by store". https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/170203-latest-affinity-v2-releases-on-each-platform-by-store/. 
  2. ↑ Eccles, Simon (2019-09-17). "Star product: Serif Affinity Publisher". https://www.printweek.com/print-week/star-product/1168748/star-product-serif-affinity-publisher. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Pruitt, Ant (2019-06-24). "Affinity Publisher creates competition for Adobe's InDesign" (in en). https://www.techrepublic.com/article/affinity-publisher-creates-competition-for-adobes-indesign/. 
  4. ↑ Antunes, Jose (2018-08-31). "Affinity Publisher: an affordable alternative to Adobe InDesign" (in en-US). https://www.provideocoalition.com/affinity-publisher-an-affordable-alternative-to-adobe-indesign/. 
  5. ↑ Sartain, JD (2019-08-27). "Alternatives for Adobe Acrobat, Photoshop and more". https://www.pcworld.com/article/3407798/13-alternatives-for-adobe-acrobat-photoshop-illustrator-indesign.html. 
  6. ↑ Endicott, Sean (2019-06-19). "Affinity Publisher is now available from Serif" (in en). https://www.windowscentral.com/serif-launches-affinity-publisher-unique-integration-its-suite-apps. 
  7. ↑ Hamilton, Ruth (2019-06-19). "Affinity Publisher launches, and reveals a ridiculously cool new feature" (in en). https://www.creativebloq.com/news/affinity-publisher. 
  8. ↑ Banks, Adam (2019-09-01). "Affinity Publisher: Layout for Less". https://www.pressreader.com/australia/mac-life/20190901/281608127044396. 
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Benjamin, Jeff (2020-02-26). "Affinity Photo, Publisher, and Designer updated to version 1.8" (in en-US). https://9to5mac.com/2020/02/26/affinity-photo-designer-and-publisher-updated-to-version-1-8-custom-keyboard-shortcuts-come-to-ipad/. 
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Lee, Giacomo (2019-06-19). "Serif just launched its InDesign killer Affinity Publisher". https://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/news/creative-software/indesign-rival-affinity-publisher-is-officially-out-you-can-use-full-affinity-suite-in-app/. 
  11. ↑ Becker, Leo (2019-06-20). "DTP: Affinity Publisher tritt gegen Adobe InDesign an". https://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/DTP-Affinity-Publisher-tritt-gegen-Adobe-InDesign-an-4452064.html. 
  12. ↑ Benjamin, Jeff (2017-12-14). "Affinity Publisher for Mac teased on video ahead of 2018 beta release" (in en-US). https://9to5mac.com/2017/12/14/affinity-publisher-for-mac-tease-video-2018-beta-release/. 
  13. ↑ Antunes, Jose (2017-12-18). "Affinity Publisher: a sneak peek at Serif's DTP by Jose Antunes" (in en-US). https://www.provideocoalition.com/affinity-publisher-sneak-peek-serifs-dtp/. 
  14. ↑ Benjamin, Jeff (2018-08-30). "Affinity Publisher free public beta goes live for Mac users" (in en-US). https://9to5mac.com/2018/08/30/affinity-publisher-public-beta-mac-download/. 
  15. ↑ Lee, Giacomo (2018-08-30). "Affinity Publisher: a free beta of the new InDesign rival is now available". https://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/news/creative-software/affinity-publisher-free-beta-of-new-indesign-rival-now-available/. 
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Gallagher, William (2019-06-19). "Mac page design app Affinity Publisher comes out of beta" (in en). https://appleinsider.com/articles/19/06/19/mac-page-design-app-affinity-publisher-comes-out-of-beta. 
  17. ↑ "Affinity Live Event Scheduled for June 19" (in en-US). 2019-06-17. https://macsources.com/affinity-live-event-scheduled-for-june-19-news/. 
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Hamilton, Ruth (2019-06-19). "Affinity Publisher launches, and reveals a ridiculously cool new feature" (in en). https://www.creativebloq.com/news/affinity-publisher. 
  19. ↑ Endicott, Sean (4 February 2021). "Affinity Photo, Designer, and Publisher are now up to 10 times faster on Windows" (in en). https://www.windowscentral.com/affinity-photo-designer-and-publisher-get-major-update-version-19. 
  20. ↑ Gallagher, William (9 November 2022). "Serif overhauls whole Affinity range, adds new iPad Publisher". https://appleinsider.com/articles/22/11/09/serif-overhauls-whole-affinity-range-adds-new-ipad-publisher. 
  21. ↑ "Affinity is now an all-in-one free app with native Canva integration". 2025-10-30. https://9to5mac.com/2025/10/30/affinity-is-now-an-all-in-one-free-app-with-native-canva-integration/. 
  22. ↑ Weatherbed, Jess (2025-10-30). "Affinity’s new design platform combines everything into one app" (in en-US). https://www.theverge.com/news/810251/canva-affinity-design-suite-free-app-relaunch. 
  23. ↑ Alderson, Rob (2025-10-30). "Canva makes pro-design tool Affinity “free, forever”" (in en-GB). https://www.designweek.co.uk/canva-makes-pro-design-tool-affinity-free-forever/. 
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 24.2 24.3 Paris, Steve (2019-07-16). "Affinity Publisher DTP software review" (in en). https://www.techradar.com/reviews/affinity-publisher. 
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 Endicott, Sean (2019-06-28). "Affinity Publisher is professional-grade but doesn't require a subscription" (in en). https://www.windowscentral.com/affinity-publisher-review-professional-grade-publishing-minus-subscription. 
  26. ↑ Evenden, Ian (2019-10-01). "Work With Images in Affinity Publisher". https://www.pressreader.com/australia/maximum-pc/20191001/282454235655932. 
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 27.2 Jefferis, David (2019-06-25). "Affinity Publisher review: can it replace InDesign?" (in en-GB). https://bigtechquestion.com/2019/06/25/review/affinity-publisher-review/. 
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 28.2 28.3 Caplin, Steve (2019-07-02). "Review: Affinity Publisher" (in en-US). https://creativepro.com/review-affinity-publisher/. 
  29. ↑ "Apple celebrates the best apps and games of 2019". 2019-12-02. https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2019/12/apple-celebrates-the-best-apps-and-games-of-2019/. 



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