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Can I open PSD files?
Yes, with their pixel layers. Keyboard shortcuts follow the usual image-editor conventions and can be remapped. Editable PSD text, masks and effects aren't imported, so keep the original for those.

Does it keep transparency when I save?
Yes. PNG, WebP, TIFF and the native format keep transparency. If you try to save an image with transparent areas as a JPEG, Paint warns you and offers PNG instead.

Can I use my drawing tablet?
Yes. Pen pressure and tilt drive the brush engine, and you can tune any brush, or build your own, in the Brush Designer.

More about Paint →

Is it like Rebelle, Painter or ArtRage?
It's in the same spirit: natural media that behave like the real thing on a real surface. Easel is its own program, written from scratch, free and fully offline.

Do I need a powerful graphics card?
A mid-range card paints smoothly even on an A3 sheet at 300 DPI. A basic built-in chip works too: Easel lets wet paint move a little slower rather than letting your strokes lag.

Can I carry on with a painting later?
Yes. Save it as a .zeasel file and everything comes back as you left it, including paint that hasn't dried yet, the palette, masks and the time-lapse.

More about Easel →

Can I open .ai files?
Yes, most of them. PDF-compatible .ai files open through the PDF reader and older PostScript .ai files through the EPS interpreter. Vectornation saves PDF-compatible .ai files too.

More about Vectornation →

Do my viewers need to install anything?
No. Published animations play in any modern browser through a small JavaScript player that you host alongside the page.

Can I make interactive banners and games?
Yes. Buttons, variables, conditions and timeline actions cover banners, quizzes, explainers and simple games without writing code.

Can I use my animation as a screensaver?
Yes. File > Export as Screensaver hands it to Screensavers by Zaweba, which builds and installs it and opens Windows' screen saver settings. If you don't have Screensavers yet, Anima shows you where to get it.

More about Anima →

Who owns the fonts I make?
You do. Fonts made with Font by Zaweba belong to the people who make them.

Can I draw letters in another program?
Yes. Export an SVG glyph sheet, edit it in another drawing program and bring it back. Any letters you've changed are flagged so you can review them.

Will my font work in my word processor?
Yes. Export a four-style family and the Bold and Italic buttons switch to your own bold and italic designs. Fonts install for your account without an administrator prompt.

More about Font →

Do I need to install anything?
No. Colour is one small file that runs on the .NET Framework 4.8 already built into Windows 10 and 11.

Can I pick a colour from a menu or a hover effect?
Yes. Use In 3 seconds, open the menu or hover over the item, and the screen is frozen when the time is up.

Does it work with more than one monitor?
Yes. The whole desktop across every monitor is frozen and the magnifier works on all of them, using real pixels even on high-DPI screens.

More about Colour →

Do my videos get uploaded anywhere?
No. Editing, captions and exports all happen on your PC. Your original files are only ever read, never changed.

Do I need AI clips to use it?
Not at all. The Episode Builder is there if you want it, but Video is a complete everyday editor for any footage, music and pictures.

Will it run on my laptop?
Video edits from small proxy copies it makes in the background, so the preview stays smooth, and exports use your graphics card when they can.

More about Video →

What is the difference between a lossless cut and a smart cut?
A lossless cut copies the video untouched but can only cut at keyframes, so it may keep a little extra. A smart cut lands on the exact frame and re-encodes only the few frames next to each cut.

Will it make a video small enough to email?
Yes. The For email (under 25 MB) preset works out the quality from the length, checks the result and tries again smaller if needed.

Does it work on an old laptop?
Yes, that is what it was made for. Cut notices a modest PC and switches to a lighter low-spec mode by itself.

More about Cut →

Does Play stream music?
No. Play is for your own files and CDs. There are no accounts and no streaming.

How many visualisations are there?
557: 57 scenes of their own, 400 presets in 20 families (fractals, op art, laser shows, landscapes and more) and 100 ready-made mixes. The Endless mix combines them with endless gradients, so it keeps finding new pictures.

Can I use my old .wsz skins?
Yes, classic .wsz skins work on the compact bar, at normal or double size. Modern .wal skins are not supported.

Will my library keep up with new music?
Yes. Play watches your folders, so files you add, rename or delete show up by themselves.

More about Play →

Can I use streaming music?
No. Streaming services license DJ use separately, so Mix only plays music files you own.

Do I need a DJ controller?
No. Everything works with a mouse and keyboard. If you have a MIDI controller, you can map it with learn mode.

Does it work with Play by Zaweba?
Yes. When Play is installed, Mix reads its library (without changing it), so your music is there straight away.

More about Mix →

Can I use the loops in music I release?
Yes. Every loop shipped with Loop was made for it and may be used royalty-free in your own music.

Do I need to know music theory?
No. Loops follow your song's key and tempo, and the chord helper suggests progressions, basslines and melodies that fit.

Can I use my MIDI keyboard?
Yes. Loop records notes from a USB MIDI keyboard, and the on-screen keyboard and your computer keys work too.

More about Loop →

Will my .docx documents look the same?
Very nearly. In tests, words landed within a couple of points of where the original program put them. Write doesn't apply kerning, so now and then a line breaks one word differently.

What happens to things Write can't edit, like tracked changes?
They are kept. Tracked changes show as coloured text, comments and content controls are preserved, and charts show as placeholders. Saving back to .docx writes them out unchanged.

Does it open .rtf and .txt files?
Yes. Write opens .rtf and .txt files and adds real pages, tables, spell check and .docx.

More about Write →

Can I open my old .pub files?
Yes, with Pub Converter by Zaweba installed. File > Import .pub converts the file and opens it as a new publication, and the converter reports anything it couldn't keep.

Will a print shop accept my PDF?
The print-ready PDF has 3 mm bleed, crop marks, trim and bleed boxes, embedded fonts and full-resolution pictures. Colours are RGB, so ask your printer if they need CMYK.

Does it do mail merge or spell check?
No. For letters to everyone on a list, use Write by Zaweba with the address book in Labels by Zaweba.

More about Publish →

Do I need another program installed?
No. Pub Converter reads .pub files itself, with the open-source libmspub reader built in, and works offline.

What doesn't come across?
Table borders and cell shading, bullet styles, WordArt arches and waves (drawn flat), gradients (the first colour is used) and picture recolouring. The report lists what changed in each file.

Is the PDF ready for a print shop?
It is a plain document PDF at the page size, like an ordinary Save as PDF. For bleed and crop marks, convert to .ozp and export from Publish by Zaweba.

More about Pub Converter →

What can PDF by Zaweba do today?
It is a fast viewer with tabs, search, thumbnails and Go to page, and it edits text: change the words in a PDF, their font, size, bold, italic and underline, move, resize, copy or delete a block of text, then save. More editing tools arrive in upcoming phases. It also prints, with a preview, any pages, several to a sheet, two-sided or in black and white.

Can it edit a scanned document?
Not the words in it. A scan is a picture of the page, so there is no text to change. PDF by Zaweba edits text that is still real text in the PDF, and tells you when a page is a picture.

Will my edits keep the same font?
Where it can. Many PDFs carry only the letters they use, so every letter the PDF's font has stays in that font, and only a letter it hasn't got uses a stand-in: the same font elsewhere in the PDF or from Windows, or else the closest standard one. PDF by Zaweba says which letters, and can save the PDF's font file for you.

Will the editing features cost extra?
No: every phase arrives as a free update, and every feature is included.

Does it upload my documents?
No. Everything happens on your PC. The file is read into memory, so it isn't locked while open and other programs can still save over it.

More about PDF →

How accurate is it?
On a clean 300 dpi scan of a printed letter, over 98 percent of words came out exactly right, and Tesseract reached 99.5 percent. Handwriting and tiny or decorative text are much less reliable.

Does it work offline?
Yes, completely. The only downloads are language packs you choose, from Tesseract's official collection.

Can it read tables?
It can save tables as CSV on a best-effort basis: rows of words are split into cells at wide gaps. Check the result before relying on it.

More about Read →

Do I need to know SQL?
No. The visual query builder writes the SQL for you, and the SQL tab shows it if you are curious. You can also write your own.

What does the exported website need?
A web host with PHP 8.2 and MySQL or MariaDB. Import the SQL, fill in the database details, upload the site folder and run setup to create the first login. To try it on your own PC, use Server by Zaweba.

Are button scripts safe?
Yes. Scripts run in a sandbox with no access to files, the network or other programs, a 5-second time limit, and they can only add, change and delete records in your own tables.

More about Base →

Will it line up with my label sheets?
The built-in Avery layouts use the published measurements and matched them to within a thousandth of a millimetre in tests. If your printer feeds slightly off, Print > Calibrate a printer corrects it.

Does it work with thermal label printers?
Yes. Choose a 4 x 6 inch, 100 x 150 mm or 62 mm roll, or a custom size. Each label prints as its own page at that size, so the printer feeds one label at a time.

Can I write letters to my contacts too?
Yes, with Write by Zaweba, which reads the Labels address book for mail merge and makes one letter per contact.

More about Labels →

Does it replace my email program?
No, it sits beside it. Your email program stays your mailbox; Contact keeps the enquiries and customers, their conversations and your follow-ups in order. It reads mail without marking it read.

Will it change anything in my mailbox?
Only one thing: mail you file as spam is moved to the mailbox's Junk folder, done safely and undoable. Everything else, including Known sender and Other, stays inside Contact.

Can I take my data with me?
Yes. Export email as EML or MBOX (most email programs can import it), records as CSV, or back up everything to one zip file.

More about Contact →

Can other people open my Grid files?
Yes. Save As .xlsx, the format most spreadsheet programs use (a .zagr is an .xlsx inside, so renaming one works too). Grid's .xlsx files were tested to open in other spreadsheet programs without a repair prompt. Formulas, formatting, tables, charts and notes go with them.

Will my formulas give the same answers?
Grid follows the usual spreadsheet rules for error values, number handling and dates. Its function results were checked case by case against reference results, and newer functions against their documented examples.

Does Grid run macros?
No. Macros and VBA aren't supported, and an .xlsm workbook is saved as .xlsx without them. Everything else in it opens as normal.

More about Grid →

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 from a built-in model rather than ICC profiles, so ask your printer which 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.

More about Layout →

Can I use the Print Screen key on Windows 11?
Yes. Windows 11 can give Print Screen to Snipping Tool. Snap spots this and offers a button to let it use the key, plus a link to give it back. It never changes the setting on its own.

Is the blur safe for passwords and card numbers?
In exported PNG and JPG files, yes: the original pixels are destroyed. The editable .ozsnap file keeps the original so you can move the blur later, so share PNG or JPG. For very short secrets such as PINs, use Black out.

Can it record video or scrolling pages?
No, Snap is for still pictures. To copy the words out of a capture, use Copy text with Read by Zaweba.

More about Snap →

Does Clip record my passwords?
Not from desktop password managers that mark them as private, or from the common ones on its excluded list. Passwords copied by a browser extension look like ordinary text, so pause recording while you use one.

Will my history survive a restart?
Yes. Everything is kept in a database file in your profile, and Clip can start when you sign in. Pinned items are never removed by the history limit.

Can snippets fill in the date or a name?
No, snippets are plain text. Type the trigger in the popup and press Enter, press Tab for the snippet list, or give a snippet its own hotkey.

More about Clip →

How do I stop a macro that's running?
Hold Esc for one second. It works in any program at any speed, quick Esc taps are ignored, and any keys or buttons the macro was holding are released.

Will my macro still work if the window moves?
Yes, if you record with positions relative to the active window. Clicks are measured from the window's corner, and you can switch this for each step.

Can I run a macro on a timetable?
Yes. Schedule by Zaweba can play a macro at set times, and Macro has a --play command line for scripts.

More about Macro →

Does it change Windows Task Scheduler?
No. Schedule never creates or changes Windows tasks. It only reads them, and copies simple ones in as its own jobs if you ask.

What if my PC was off when a job was due?
With catch-up on (the default), the job runs once as soon as Schedule is running again, and the history says how many runs were missed.

Will jobs run when I'm not signed in?
No. Schedule runs as you from the notification area, so jobs run while you are signed in. Start with Windows starts it quietly each time you sign in.

More about Schedule →

Can I make it the default for my photos?
Yes. In Settings, click Make Image Viewer the default for pictures. It registers itself for your user account only (no administrator rights) and opens Windows' Default apps page, where you choose it. Windows doesn't let apps change the default themselves, and nothing is written until you click. Remove from Open with takes it all out again.

Why won't my HEIC or raw photos open?
Image Viewer uses Windows' own picture codecs. HEIC, AVIF, JPEG XL and camera raw need Microsoft's free extensions from the Microsoft Store, and Image Viewer tells you which one to install.

Does rotating a photo spoil its quality?
Not for most JPEGs: when the width and height suit the way JPEGs are stored, the photo is turned without being re-saved. Otherwise it is re-saved at high quality and the note says so. PNG, BMP, TIFF and still GIFs are always turned losslessly.

More about Image Viewer →

What happens to notes I never saved?
They stay in their tabs. Jotter keeps them in your profile and reopens them next time, until you save them as files or close their tabs.

Will it change my file's encoding?
No. Each file is saved in the encoding and line endings it had. The one exception: if you add characters an ANSI file can't hold, it is saved as UTF-8 rather than losing them.

Does it do formatting or spell check?
No, Jotter is deliberately plain text. For formatted documents, use Write by Zaweba.

More about Jotter →

Will the code scan on a phone?
Every code is read back by the app as you make it, and it warns you about problems such as light-on-dark codes, colours that are too close or a margin that's too small. It's always worth a quick test with your own phone before printing hundreds.

Can I put my logo in the middle?
Yes. Choose a picture and it goes in the centre; the error correction is raised to High and the middle of the code is cleared so it still reads.

Which format should I use for printing?
SVG or PDF for print shops and design programs, since they are vector and exactly the size you set. PNG at 300 or 600 dpi is fine for documents and home printing.

More about QR →

Which barcode type should I use?
EAN-13 (or UPC-A in North America) for products sold in shops, ITF-14 for outer cartons, and Code 128 for your own stock numbers, parcels and anything with letters. Each type in the app says what it is for.

Do I need to work out the check digit?
No. Type the number without it and Barcode adds it. If you type one, it is checked, and if it is wrong you are told which digit it should be.

Will it print at the right size?
The SVG and PDF are exactly the size you set. A PNG uses whole pixels for each bar so the edges stay sharp, and its dpi is saved in the file so it prints at its real size.

More about Barcode →

What's the difference between Task List and Schedule?
Task List reminds you to do things: tasks, birthdays, renewals. Schedule by Zaweba does things for you, running programs, scripts and backups on a timetable. Many people use both.

Will I miss a reminder if my PC was off?
No. A reminder missed while the PC was off or Task List was closed pops up once when it next starts, marked late and saying when it was due.

Do my tasks go to the cloud?
No. Everything is kept in a database on your PC, with a daily backup copy. Emails are only sent if you set up your own email account.

More about Task List →

Could it delete something I didn't mean to?
Everything it deletes goes to the Recycle Bin, and it asks first with counts and a preview. Windows, Program Files and drive roots are blocked, and drives without a Recycle Bin are refused.

Why does it offer to restart as administrator?
Only for the fast scan and live updates, which read the drive's own index. Without administrator rights the standard scan still works on any drive, just more slowly.

Can I look inside ZIP files?
Yes. ZIP, 7z, RAR and TAR archives open like folders in the tree. A file you open from inside one is copied, read-only, to a temporary folder first.

More about Disk Sort →

What if a run would delete a file I still need?
It isn't lost. A run that would delete or overwrite a file moves it to _zaweba_versions first, kept for 30 days by default, or for ever if you set the pair to 0.

What if my USB stick gets a different drive letter?
It doesn't matter. Backup finds the drive by its volume ID, wherever Windows mounts it, and ignores another stick that takes the old letter.

Which mode should I choose?
Echo is the safest and the default: it adds and updates but never removes. Mirror makes the backup an exact copy, and Synchronise keeps two folders in step both ways.

More about Backup →

Can Burn copy a film DVD or Blu-ray?
No. Burn never works around copy protection. It is for your own discs, data and audio CDs.

Do I need a disc drive?
Only for burning, erasing and reading physical discs. Creating, converting and mounting ISO images work on any PC.

How do I copy one of my own data discs?
Use Read disc to ISO, then Burn ISO image. Every burn is verified against what was written.

More about Burn →

Can it get into any password-protected ZIP?
No, and it is not meant to. It is for recovering a password to a ZIP that belongs to you, by trying likely candidates. A strong password you remember nothing about may never come out in a reasonable time, and the tool says so.

Will repairing an image bring back the missing part of a photo?
Not the missing pixels. Repair fixes the structure that stops a viewer opening the file, so a truncated photo may open but still be only partly visible. It never re-encodes the picture.

Does it make password-protected ZIPs?
Not yet. New archives are written unencrypted, the kind every program opens. Reading and unlocking protected archives is fully supported.

More about ZIP →

Is my password stored safely?
Yes. Saved passwords are encrypted with Windows' built-in data protection and stay on your PC.

Do I need Server by Zaweba?
Only to preview PHP pages. HTML and CSS preview without it, and all the transfer, editing and sync features work on their own.

Can I bring my sites across from another FTP client?
Yes, if it can export them: FTP by Zaweba imports a list of sites from a CSV file.

How do I move my sites to a new PC?
Choose Site > Export Site Settings, pick this site or all sites, and tick Include passwords if you want them to come too: they are encrypted with a password you choose. On the new PC, choose Site > Import Site Settings and pick the file.

More about FTP →

Can I run it alongside another local server?
Yes. If another program already has port 80 or 3306, Server names the program and switches to free ports such as 8080 and 3307. The other program is left running, untouched.

Does it need administrator rights?
Only to add name.test entries to the hosts file, after a plain-words explanation and one Windows prompt. Every site also works on name.localhost without it.

Can other computers see my sites?
No. Everything listens on 127.0.0.1, so your sites and databases can only be reached from your own PC.

More about Server →

Does it search Google for me?
No. It never contacts Google search. You search in your own browser and paste the results page in; the step shows you exactly how.

Will it get me to the top of Google?
Nobody can promise that. SEO by Zaweba shows where your page falls short of the ones above it and what to fix first, and tells you plainly when a term is out of reach for now.

Do I need paid SEO tools or API keys?
No. Everything works without them. Serper, PageSpeed Insights, the Search Console API and DataForSEO can be switched on with your own keys if you have them.

What is the AI Fix Brief?
A short document listing the fixes for your page, ready to copy and hand to Claude Code or another assistant to make the changes.

More about SEO →

What picture should I start with?
A square PNG works best, ideally 512 pixels or larger, so the small sizes stay sharp. ICON fits a non-square picture for you, but a square one gives the best result.

Is setting a program's icon safe?
Yes. By default ICON writes to a copy of the program, so your original is untouched. A signed program would need re-signing afterwards, as changing its icon changes the file.

Do the favicons work on every browser?
Yes. The set covers desktop browsers, iPhone and iPad, Android and the Windows tile, and the head tags point each device at the right file.

More about ICON →

Does Pulse need administrator rights?
No. Everything runs as a normal user. Only the optional sensor helper, for CPU and motherboard temperatures, fans and SATA drive health, asks for administrator rights.

Why are my per-app network figures a minute behind?
Windows only lets administrators and the Performance Log Users group count traffic live. Settings can add your account once; until then Pulse uses Windows' own data-usage records.

Will it slow my PC down?
Pulse is built to stay light. On our test PC it used about 0.1% CPU in the background, and it samples less often when no Pulse window is open.

More about Pulse →

Does Money connect to my bank?
No. You download statements from your bank's website as CSV, OFX, QFX or QIF and import them. Money never asks for a bank login.

What happens if I import the same transactions twice?
Money matches them against what you already have, by the bank's own id where there is one, otherwise by amount, date and payee, and shows you the duplicates before adding anything.

Where is the Save button?
There isn't one. Every change is saved straight away, and a backup copy is made when you close the file, keeping the last 10.

More about Money →

Can I bring in my tree from another program?
Yes. Export a GEDCOM file from your current program and import it. Family reads GEDCOM 5.5.1 and 7.0 and gives you a report of anything it skipped or had to guess.

Will I lose details when I export again?
Family keeps tags it doesn't understand on the record they came from and writes them back out on export, so other programs' extras survive the trip.

How do I print a large chart at home?
Choose tiled printing. Family splits the chart across A4 sheets with shaded glue strips, trim marks, sheet labels and an assembly guide page.

More about Family →

Does Route need the internet?
Only to download a map region the first time. After that, routing, the map and search all run on your PC with no connection.

How big is the map download?
It depends on the region, and Route shows the size before you start. A small county is a couple of MB; Great Britain is about 2 GB, plus about 0.9 GB of coastline data, and takes a while to prepare.

How many stops can it optimise?
Dozens comfortably: 25 drops optimise in a second or two. Very large lists of hundreds of stops work but take longer.

More about Route →

How is my speed worked out?
The standard way: every five characters count as a word, and each mistake left uncorrected takes off a word. Net words per minute is the number shown.

Can I practise Dvorak without changing Windows?
Yes. Translate my keys lets you practise Dvorak or Colemak while Windows is still set to UK or US QWERTY.

Is it suitable for young children?
Kid mode is made for them: bigger text, simple words, cheerful feedback, no clocks, mistakes that wait for the right key and games that end happily.

More about Type →

How big is the download?
You choose. Wonder shows each edition's size before you start. The full English Wikipedia with pictures is about 119 GB; editions without pictures, top articles only or Simple English are much smaller.

Does Wonder need the internet after that?
No. Once an edition is downloaded, reading, wandering and search all work offline. Wonder only goes online to check the Kiwix list when you ask, and for downloads you start.

Is kid mode safe for children?
It helps: Simple English, bigger text and some adult words hidden. But Wikipedia covers everything, and Wonder says plainly that kid mode is not a guaranteed content filter.

More about Wonder →

Does Scene change my Windows settings?
No. Everything is Scene's own windows. Taskbar auto-hide is changed only if you turn that option on, and it is always put back, even after a crash.

Will it slow down my games?
Wallpapers pause automatically when a full-screen app or game is running, and on battery if you choose.

Where does the now playing widget get its music?
From Windows' own media controls, so it works with Play by Zaweba, other music players and browsers.

More about Scene →

How do I set one as my screensaver?
Choose it in the manager and press Use this screensaver. It installs to your profile and opens Windows' Screen Saver Settings.

Can I have more than one?
Yes. Install several builds the ones you tick into one screensaver that picks one of them at random each time.

Will it slow my PC down?
No. Even the heaviest screensaver used under 2% of a mid-range PC's processor in our tests, and the frame cap keeps it light.

More about Screensavers →

Do I need the internet to play?
No. Every game runs on your PC with no connection. Everything is drawn and every sound is made in code, so there is nothing to download.

Can I play with a friend?
The games are for one player, on your own or against the computer. Some board and card games give you up to three computer opponents.

Where are my scores kept?
On your PC, in your own profile. Games by Zaweba keeps your best score for each game and mode, and how many times you have played and won.

More about Games →