Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, you can download the Introduction to iStudio Publisher (PDF).

This user manual was produced using iStudio Publisher.

Yes, here are a range of video tutorials on our website.

Yes, iStudio Publisher includes comprehensive help pages and context relevant help, which you can access by clicking on the ‘?’ buttons that appear on many of the windows and dialogs.

We recommend that every new user reads the Rapid Start Guide, which you can open from the Help menu. Further to this, a “getting started” pathway is signposted through some of the other help pages, which is particularly designed to help users who are new to desktop publishing (DTP).

There’s also an online copy of all the help pages.

App Store Edition

The App Store Edition of iStudio Publisher runs on all Macs with Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion) or later.

Website Download Edition

The Website Download Edition of iStudio Publisher runs on all Macs with Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion) or later.

Earlier versions of the Website Download Edition of iStudio Publisher are still available to run on all Macs with Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) or later.

Yes, our update policy is to provide all (1.x) minor releases and all (1.x.y) maintenance releases free of charge. We recommend you install all new iStudio Publisher updates as they become available.

App Store Edition

The App Store Edition of iStudio Publisher can be updated via the standard App Store update mechanism – open the App Store app and choose menu option Store > Updates, or if it’s not listed there choose menu option Store > Purchases.

IMPORTANT: Do not try to update your App Store Edition by downloading iStudio Publisher from the iStudio website, as it will be unlicensed.

Website Download Edition

The Website Download Edition of iStudio Publisher includes an automatic update mechanism, so there’s no need to keep checking our website for the latest version. Once you have installed the application for the first time, iStudio Publisher should notify you whenever a new version becomes available – simply accept each update when it is offered to you. If you have turned off this option you can also initiate an update by choosing iStudio Publisher menu option Help > Check for Updates. Note that this menu option will be disabled until you close both the Welcome Panel and the Task Chooser. As an alternative you can download another copy of the application software from our website Downloads page.

iStudio Publisher is available as an App Store Edition and a Website Download Edition. These are functionally identical apart from the following differences:

• The Website Download Edition incorporates our own licensing system and has a Licensing sub-menu under the Help menu. The App Store Edition has no Licensing sub-menu and incorporates Apple’s digital rights management system, which requires you to have an Apple ID and an iTunes account.
• The Website Download Edition can be run as a 30-day trial, or licensed by purchasing a license activation code. The App Store Edition is not available as a trial (but will install over the Website Download Edition being run as a trial).
• The Website Download Edition requires Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion) or later, but earlier versions are still available for download to run on Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) or later. The App Store Edition requires Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion) or later.
• You’ll get updates for the App Store Edition later, due to the App Store review time.

Moving forwards we expect to release free updates for both the Website Download and App Store Editions of iStudio Publisher and keep them functionally identical. Neither is regarded as a lesser product.

IMPORTANT: This FAQ only applies to the Website Download Edition of iStudio Publisher and not the App Store Edition.

Yes, everyone can download iStudio Publisher and try it FREE for 30 days (full functionality trial).

The 30-day trial is:

• Fully functional, including saving, printing and exporting, without watermarks. You can start real work immediately!
• Available as an option when you launch iStudio Publisher.
• Completely free of charge (with no strings attached) and does not commit you to any future payment. You will not be asked to enter credit card details. Purchasing iStudio Publisher is completely separate from using the 30-day trial.
• Going to expire after 30 days, which will disable the save, print, and export functions. After trial expiry, you can continue to open and view existing documents. Buy a copy to edit your existing documents.

The installation software is available from our Downloads page.

There are short video tutorials showing how to download and install iStudio Publisher, and install your 30-day trial license.

IMPORTANT: This FAQ only applies to the Website Download Edition of iStudio Publisher and not the App Store Edition.

You will receive an email containing your License Activation Code(s) and purchase receipt. There will be a separate License Activation Code for each license you buy. Each License Activation Code can be used to license iStudio Publisher on one Mac.

IMPORTANT: This FAQ only applies to the Website Download Edition of iStudio Publisher and not the App Store Edition.

Yes, we offer Educational Discount (40% Off) and volume discounts – click here for more information.

IMPORTANT: This FAQ only applies to the Website Download Edition of iStudio Publisher and not the App Store Edition.

Yes, we offer a Personal 2-Pack License, Family 3-Pack License and Single Computer License 5-Pack – click here for more information.

IMPORTANT: This FAQ only applies to the Website Download Edition of iStudio Publisher and not the App Store Edition.

After placing your order, you will receive an email from SWREG containing your purchase receipt and License Activation Code(s). This email will normally arrive within a few minutes of completing your payment. If you do not receive it within 24 hours (credit card purchases only) please check if it’s caught in your spam filter, or otherwise contact us.

IMPORTANT: This FAQ only applies to the Website Download Edition of iStudio Publisher and not the App Store Edition.

A licensed copy of iStudio Publisher is based on the same software as a trial copy. To get licensed, simply enter a License Activation Code when the application asks for it. Each License Activation Code is 20 characters long. It’s easiest to copy and paste a License Activation Code directly from your purchase receipt email.

You can either license an existing trial copy of iStudio Publisher or a new installation. The installation software is available from our website Downloads page. There are short video tutorials showing how to download and install iStudio Publisher, and install your full license.

IMPORTANT: This FAQ only applies to the Website Download Edition of iStudio Publisher and not the App Store Edition.

When registering for a license you will be asked to log in as an Administrator Account holder. This is required because iStudio Publisher installs your license file (either a 30-day trial or a full purchased license) into a folder that requires Admin write permission, which is for two reasons:

1. To make the license available to all users on your Mac (it would be insufficient to store the license file in your Standard Account folder, which would render it inaccessible to other Standard Account holders).
2. To prevent other Standard or Guest Account users from being able to delete the license (for malicious purposes).

You can display a list of all account names on your Mac by opening the System Preferences window and clicking Accounts. It says either Admin or Standard below each name, enabling you to find an Admin account name to use.

NOTE: The Administrator Login Dialog is a standard Mac OS X dialog that’s displayed in response to iStudio Publisher requesting write permission to folder space that has Admin ownership. Mac OS X only returns control to iStudio Publisher when this dialog is dismissed. Importantly, iStudio Publisher doesn’t get involved with processing this dialog and never sees your password. iStudio Publisher simply gets notified of whether the license file installation can proceed (or not), which depends on whether the Admin login was completed successfully.

IMPORTANT: This FAQ only applies to the Website Download Edition of iStudio Publisher and not the App Store Edition.

Yes, you can transfer a license by completing the following two steps:

1. Deactivate the license on your old Mac (by choosing menu option Help > Licensing > Unlicense). You will be reminded of your License Activation Code and so won’t need to find your original purchase receipt email.
2. License your new Mac as normal.

If you are unable to deactivate the license on your old Mac, for example, if the hard drive has crashed, please proceed as follows:

1. Contact us for a license reset. To help us identify you, please tell us your License Activation Code or the email address you used to make your purchase.
2. We will email you to confirm your license has been reset.
3. Run iStudio Publisher.
4. Choose menu option Help > Licensing > License, and install your license. There are short video tutorials showing how to download and install iStudio Publisher, and install your full license.

Yes, standard and custom paper sizes can be set up from the Page Setup dialog, which is available from the New Document dialog, the File menu, or the Page button in the Document Inspector.

Yes, you can create a document in spread editing mode – simply select the Spread Editing checkbox on the New Document dialog. Spread editing enables you to view and lay out document content across facing pages, which is commonly used for creating magazines and brochures.

NOTE: You need to create your document in spread editing mode as you can’t switch into it later.

This was increased to 9999 pages in iStudio Publisher Version 1.1.2.

iStudio Publisher files are XML based, which is non-proprietary and in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable.

Yes, but you will need to use a TrueType font that has the Small Caps and Old Style Figures housed in a separate font file. These fonts work with the current version of iStudio Publisher because the Small Caps and Old Style Figures characters are mapped to the same Unicode points as the other forms of the font (regular, bold, italic, etc.).

At present, iStudio Publisher only provides basic Roman support for OpenType fonts. In the future, we plan to add more support for OpenType fonts, but in the meantime you can choose menu option Edit > Emoji & Symbols (or choose Edit > Special Characters in some versions of OS X) to select and insert Small Caps, Old Style Figures and other alternative font characters in OpenType fonts.

NOTE: This approach is slow and only realistic for small quantities of text. It can be speeded up a little by using Edit > Emoji & Symbols to create an iStudio Publisher document containing a reusable palette of alternative characters to copy and paste into your other iStudio Publisher documents.

The quickest way is to drag and drop images directly from your Desktop, Finder window, or from other applications that support drag and drop. Hover your mouse over an existing shape and a visual indication will confirm that the shape is about to receive a dropped image.

Alternatively, you can use the copy and paste commands, Insert menu, or Image Inspector to add an image to one or more existing shapes – simply select the shapes with the Pointer Tool BEFORE pasting/inserting the image.

NOTE: You can drop images onto any blank page or canvas area, or paste/insert images with NO shape selected. In all of these cases, a default shape (rectangle) is created to hold each image.

More information here.

Yes, but only one page at a time, by following these steps:

1. Open the PDF file in Preview, and show page thumbnails in Preview’s sidebar.
2. In Preview’s thumbnails, navigate to a page you want to copy, click on the thumbnail and then simply drag and drop it into your iStudio Publisher document. The full sized PDF page will be copied.
3. Repeat for other pages.

If you try to insert a multi-page PDF file into an iStudio Publisher document by choosing menu option Insert > PDF, only the first page of the PDF will be inserted.

NOTE: You can’t import and edit PDF files in iStudio Publisher, but you can insert them into documents as images, and ‘patch’ them by overlaying shapes and adding replacement shapes, text and image.

Yes, although you can’t mix page sizes and orientations in the same iStudio Publisher document, the solution is to create multiple iStudio Publisher documents, export each to PDF file and combine these into one PDF file, using the method described here.