Desktop publishing that works offline with no account

A desktop publishing program that works offline with no account does exist, and it's free. Publish by Zaweba is a desktop publishing app for Windows that needs no account, no cloud and no telemetry. You install it, open it and start laying out flyers, newsletters, posters, menus and cards, with every file saved on your own computer. It's free software under the EULA.

A lot of design tools have moved online, which is fine until the internet drops, the service changes its terms or you simply don't want your parish newsletter living on someone else's server. An offline app sidesteps all of that.

What offline means here

Nothing in Publish depends on a connection. Templates, page parts, fonts and the text engine are all on your PC. Publications save as .ozp files in a folder you choose, and saves are atomic and versioned, so a crash or a power cut part way through doesn't wreck the file.

The .ozp format is open about itself. It's a ZIP holding a document.json and the pictures, and the format is documented. Fonts can optionally be embedded in the file, which helps when you move a publication to another computer.

There's no sign in screen and no account to create. You don't lose access to your own work if you stop paying for something, because there's nothing to pay for.

The few things that can reach out

Two features can use the internet, and both only when you ask. Help > Send feedback and Help > Report a problem send a message to Zaweba, but nothing goes unless you click Send; if you're offline the message is kept and sent later.

The optional AI features work with your own AI account or with models running on your own PC through tools like Ollama, LM Studio or llama.cpp. Nothing is built in and nothing is sent until you ask. With no AI account set up, those actions are simply greyed out, and the rest of the app works exactly the same.

What you can make without a connection

Everything. Flowing text across linked frames, wrapping text around pictures, master pages with page numbers, tables, shapes, gradients, WordArt, mail merge from a CSV file, and export to a print-ready PDF, a web PDF or PNG and JPEG pictures. Printing goes through the normal Windows print dialog.

That makes it a good fit for places with patchy internet, such as a village hall, a school with locked-down machines or a laptop on a train. It also suits people who keep their files on a USB stick or a home network drive.

Installing without an administrator

On a shared or work PC you may not have admin rights. Tools > Install for this user copies Publish into your own profile, adds a Start menu shortcut and opens .ozp files with it, with no admin rights needed.

Bringing old work along

If you've used Microsoft Publisher for years, File > Import .pub brings old .pub files in when Pub Converter by Zaweba is installed. Pub Converter runs locally too, so your old files never leave the machine.

For a club secretary, a small business or a family making invitations, that adds up to a layout tool that just sits on the PC and does the job, today and in five years' time.