Layout by ZawebaFrom blank spread to press-ready PDF.
Books, magazines and brochures, laid out for the press. Spreads, master pages, fine typography, CMYK and spot colour, live preflight and print-ready PDFs, plus books with contents and an index.
This version isn't signed for Windows yet: if SmartScreen warns you, choose More info › Run anyway. Why?
The Mac app isn't notarised by Apple yet: the first time, open it, then go to System Settings › Privacy & Security and choose Open Anyway. On Linux, make the AppImage executable (right-click › Properties, or chmod +x) and run it, or install the .deb.
Layout by Zaweba is a professional page layout app for magazines, books, brochures, catalogues, posters and packaging. Pages sit side by side in spreads on a pasteboard, frames can run across the spine, and a background can flow seamlessly across a whole spread. Bleed is set per edge, and zero is allowed.
Text gets the full treatment: the paragraph composer, UK English hyphenation, OpenType features, GREP styles, footnotes and cross-references. When you're ready, live preflight points out problems before they reach the printer, and the PDF exporter has press, PDF/X style and screen presets. Several documents open at once in tabs, with Save all.
Who it's for
- Designers laying out magazines, brochures and catalogues
- Self-publishers preparing books for print and EPUB
- Clubs and societies producing journals and programmes
- Anyone who has outgrown simple flyer tools
Good to know
- ICC colour management with your working RGB and CMYK profiles, per-picture profiles and rendering intents
- Opens and saves .idml documents, and reads and writes .icml stories, .idms snippets and tagged text
- Opens its own .zala documents and Publish by Zaweba .ozp files
- Imports text from .docx, RTF, Markdown and plain text, and tables from .xlsx, .ods and CSV
Private by design
- Works offline, with no account and no adverts.
- Checks zaweba.com once a day for a newer version, sending only the app's name.
- Problem reports and feedback are sent only if you click Send.
Everything you need, nothing you don't.
Spreads and master pages
Facing pages, gatefolds and island spreads, with master pages based on other masters and overrides page by page.
Professional typography
Kerning, tracking, OpenType features, the paragraph composer, hyphenation, nested and GREP styles, drop caps and baseline grids.
Drawing and effects
Pen and pencil tools with real Bézier paths, Pathfinder, corner options, strokes and text that flows inside any shape.
CMYK and spot colour
Swatches in CMYK, RGB, Lab or HSB, spot inks and tints, separations preview and an ink limit warning.
Live preflight
Overset text, missing fonts and pictures, low resolution, RGB in print and bleed problems, shown in the status bar as you work.
Books, contents and index
Join documents into a book with running page numbers, synchronised styles, one contents, one index and one PDF.
Spreads without seams
Frames can reach across the spine or a fold, and a spread background of colour, gradient or picture is drawn once across the whole spread and its bleed. Export the spread whole or page by page and it still lines up exactly at the join, on screen, in pictures and in PDFs.
- Spreads of 1 to 10 pages
- Bleed and slug per edge, zero allowed
- Different page sizes in one document
Ready for the printer
Live preflight checks the document as you work and takes you straight to each problem. Export PDF with press, PDF/X-1a style or PDF/X-4 style presets, crop and bleed marks and spot inks kept, or package the document with its pictures, fonts and a report for the print shop.
- Separations and overprint preview
- Booklet PDFs with creep
- EPUB, HTML, SVG and picture exports too
The details
| Works on | Windows 10 and 11 (64-bit), macOS 12 or later (Apple silicon and Intel), Linux (64-bit, x86 and ARM) |
|---|---|
| Saves | Layout documents (.zala), templates, books and libraries, and .idml documents |
| Opens | Layout documents, .idml documents and Publish by Zaweba publications (.ozp) |
| Exports | PDF with PDF/X style presets, EPUB 3, HTML, SVG, PNG, JPEG, TIFF, RTF and text |
| Colour | CMYK, RGB, Lab and HSB swatches, spot inks, tints and separations |
| Version | Version 2.0.0 |
| Download | ZawebaLayout-2.0.0.zip (88 MB): unzip and run, no installer |
| Licence | Free for everyone, with every feature included. No warranty |
Layout FAQ
How is Layout different from Publish by Zaweba?
Publish is the simple app for flyers, menus and newsletters. Layout is for longer and more demanding work: spreads, CMYK and spot colour, preflight, books with contents and an index, and press-ready PDFs. It opens Publish files too.
Will a print shop accept my PDFs?
Layout exports with per-edge bleed, crop marks, trim and bleed boxes, spot inks and PDF/X-1a or PDF/X-4 style presets. Colour is converted through the ICC profiles you choose in Colour settings; ask your printer which profile and settings they want.
Can I make an ebook?
Yes. Export EPUB 3 as reflowable text with chapters, pictures, tables and links, or as fixed layout with every page kept exactly as designed.
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Try Layout today.
Download Layout by Zaweba: no account, no adverts, every feature included.