Starting a New Document

There are two ways to create a new document.
The first way is to modify one of the ready-made designs that are supplied with the program. The second way is starting from a blank document.

Starting from the Assistant

Preview of ready-made designs can be found in the Assistant. It opens automatically when the option Open Assistant on start-up is enabled in the program Preferences (the Swift Publisher > Preferences menu item). To bring up the Assistant at any time, choose File > New from Assistant in the menu (Cmd-Shift-N).

All ready-made designs are grouped into categories. The list of template categories (Brochures, Cards, ...) is shown on the left. Thumbnails of designs of the selected category are on the right.

Document settings are saved in the document. When you open a template, the program loads its document settings. To check or change them choose File > Document Setup in the menu.

You can also select a blank template in the Assistant. Blank template is an easy way to select suitable paper size and orientation at once. To reach blank templates, scroll thumbnails down.

To save your document as a custom template, select File > Save as Template... in the menu.
It is recommended that you save your templates to the default folder Custom Templates. The program keeps it in the
"~(User's Home)/Library/Application Support/BeLight Software/Swift Publisher" folder.
Later, you can open your template in the Assistant and use it as the start point for a new design. Select the Custom Templates section to see all your custom templates.

To open an existing Swift Publisher document click the Open Recent button in the Assistant. (Or use the File > Open menu when the Assistant is not open.)

The Assistant can show templates for US or metric paper size standards. To change it, use the program Preferences (Cmd-",").

Starting with a Blank Document

To start a document from scratch, use the File > New menu item (Cmd-N) or click New Blank in the Assistant.

A new blank document will have the default page format. You can change the page format in the Document Setup dilaog (File > Document Setup).

Program and Document Settings

Before you start working on a new document, you should check the program and document settings.

Measurement units can be changed in the program Preferences (Swift Publisher > Preferences menu). These settings will also apply to all future blank documents you create.

The Document Setup dialog lets you change page size and orientation. In the dialog, you can set page margins for pages that have no master page. If the page has a master page,  set up margins for the corresponding master page.

To change paper format used for templates in the Assistant (from US to Metric and vice versa), use the Default format for designs in Assistant option in the program Preferences, the General section.