Designer Pro+ is only sold and supported by Xara. You can find full details of the first release in the March 2020 Release Notes and all subsequent updates in our Release Notes June 2020 & Later.

New: Calendar Templates

1200 new Photo Filter Overlays

Export tables to Word & Powerpoint

Other Improvements

As always we're keeping up the flow of small enhancements & fixes in the Plus editions, including:

1. Scrolling and text editing performance improvements that should make a big difference when editing larger documents with many pages.
2. Line Gallery now opens much more quickly, solving a problem with loss of the current selection.
3. Error seen when making a copy of a table by dragging on it with right mouse button down. Fixed.
4. Image export setting sometimes changed unexpectedly when page clipping option changed. Fixed.

New Web Themes

You can find them now in the Designer Pro+ Online Content Catalog > What's New.

Pasting & Tables

Other Improvements

And some other useful enhancements including:

• Print options: The Automatic option is now more helpfully described as Actual size. 
• Second and subsequent pastes of the same clipboard contents now work the same way as the initial paste (a list of formats to choose from is shown, if there is a choice). This means if you don’t like the results of the first format you choose, you can simply paste again and choose a different format, without having to re-copy from the source application.
• Lock icons are now shown in an “unlocked” or “locked” state.

Copy external data into tables

Another important step forward for our new Table Tool: You can now copy and paste data from spreadsheets or other external sources straight into your Xara tables.

Other Improvements

And a few other small enhancements and fixes including:

• We’ve added an option to apply page setting changes to all pages. So, for example, this allows you to change the bleed margin settings across all pages of a document, even when 'All pages the same' is off.
• Error when pasting list items into an existing list. Fixed.

Almost 1300 new Photo Filter Overlays

200+ New Templates

Christmas has come early with this massive update to the Online Content Catalog of Xara Designer Pro+:

• 2 website themes (in addition to the 20 added last month in Websites > Creative Websites)
• 57 extra tables, so you can make the most of our brand new table tool
• 42 social media buttons to help you maximize the potential of your social media
• 125 'fancy' buttons with creative outlines
• 3 restaurant menus
• 1 invoice

Table Improvements

Our great new table tool gets even better. So whether you need a table for presenting data, comparing products or even creating an invoice, it'll be quick and easy in Xara:

• you can now re-order rows & columns with a simple click & drag
• an automatic way to convert old Smart tables to the new tables
• a host of other minor improvements & fixes, listed in full in the Release Notes, including an interim 22.1.1 release

New Repeating Objects option

We've made the Repeating Objects feature a whole lot more powerful by introducing a new 'Make Repeating' option. This turns the current selected object into a Repeating Object, without automatically copying it to all pages - you can then copy it onto selected pages.

Other Improvements

As always this Designer Pro+ update includes a large number of small enhancements and fixes including:

• Inconsistent font sizes when pasting same sized text into ‘Shrink on overflow’ text boxes. Fixed.
• Icon line widths wrong when replaced with SVG. Fixed.
• Check and (when necessary) fix the Windows Explorer ‘thumbnail view’, automatically during program startup.
• When replacing a color in an object, Xara will no longer preserve shading if there is only one shade of the color used. The user’s chosen color is applied directly instead.

New Web Themes

A major boost to your web design choices with 20 all-new website templates for Designer Pro+ only. All fully customizable, and all with ready-made mobile variants.

Check out the new themes in the Designer Pro+ Online Content Catalog > Websites > Creative Websites.

NEW Table Tool

If you want to make your business documents or websites stand out from the crowd, then try adding some really slick tables. Whatever data you need to present, we've now got the table tool to make that easy!

You'll find the new tool at the bottom of the left hand toolbar, full instructions in our Release Notes and more than 20 new professional table templates in the Online Content Catalog (all old ones are revised to work with the new tool too so that makes almost 50 - and you can easily create your own tables from scratch).

New standalone Designer Pro+ option

We’re happy to introduce a brand new stand-alone option for Xara Designer Pro+. Our Cloud Pro+ bundle with Xara Cloud is still available if you want to use these 2 great products together (for example if you are collaborating with a team on your documents, or need to access your documents remotely) but now you also have the option of subscribing to Designer Pro+ alone.

Tip: Both these options offer all the advantages of a subscription model, namely frequent delivery of new features and content, as they are developed by Xara, and the fastest possible response to new compatibility issues and bug reports. You can always be sure you’ll have the latest version. What’s more the + options come with direct support from Xara, via chat.

Other Improvements

This Designer Pro+ release includes a large number of small enhancements and fixes to smooth your workflow - too many to list here, so check them out in our v22 Release Notes!

Switch to Microsoft Edge

There are several tools that open a web browser window within Designer Pro to display content, namely the Widget Editor, Symbol Picker, Google Font Finder and Erase Tool Guide.

We previously used Microsoft Explorer for this, but with support for Explorer falling off (including among Widget providers), we have switched to the latest Microsoft Edge technology, ensuring a smooth workflow and support for the widest range of widgets.

Extended Support for Numbered lists

Now you can insert more sophisticated numbered lists, including a parent number.

More intuitive Auto-Fit

Auto-Fit is a great time-saving feature that automatically adjusts the font size of text to its container as you type (we also offer Shrink Text on Overflow, that only fits the text to its container when it runs out of space).

Based on user feedback we've changed the behaviour, so that if you try to change the font size of text with Auto-fit or Shrink Text on Overflow on, it is automatically switched off and the font size change applied.

Self-Hosted Google Fonts

A fast turnaround on this new version in response to the latest legal developments in Europe, which cast doubt on whether calling Google to display Google Fonts complies with GDPR.

No-one wants to give up their Google Fonts, so Designer Pro+ will now automatically publish the fonts to your own web space and no longer reference Google, offering instant compliance. You don't need to do anything other than re-publish your website.

What's more, with the great font support in modern browsers the balance of advantage has been moving in favor of self hosting, so you could also benefit from speed improvements for your web page, with all the SEO benefits that brings. Double win!

Building Better Websites with SVG

Modern web browsers offer great support for SVG, so since 21.6 we've been steadily building the types of graphical object that Xara automatically exports to the web as SVG. In 21.7 we add elliptical fills, wall shadows, mix and multiply transparency. We've also improved support for exporting groups as SVG.

Bottom line: It’s now possible to build graphically rich websites and web documents that have no bitmap images to download at all, and that means your pages load faster. That's great news for usability and for SEO, since faster pages bring better page rank. Bonus: your content will look a lot sharper as SVG.

Other Improvements

As with every Pro+ update we've included a host of small but useful enhancements and fixes. In this release that includes:

• TIFF import: Support for zip compression added.
• PDF Import: Better results with imported shapes.
• Default photo optimization resolution increased to 300dpi for print documents.
• Serious error importing an AI file with missing data. Fixed.
• Opacity mask group on Live Copy rendered wrongly after Live Copy edit. Fixed.
• Resize of photo filled shape changed shape to rectangle. Fixed.
• Serious error on starting text edit due to mis-handled font. Fixed.
• Serious error with repeating objects on guides layer. Fixed.

Wider SVG Support

We can now export more types of graphical object to web using SVG, to fully take advantage of the great support for SVG among modern web browsers. Flat, linear graduated and circular graduated fills all now export as SVG.

That means there are fewer bitmap images to download, so your websites load faster - with all the usability and SEO benefits that brings. What’s more, your content will also look sharper as SVG.

Multi-Line SmartFields

SmartFields are another great time-saving feature of Xara Designer Pro+, offering an efficient way to deal with commonly used text phrases that you want to insert in multiple places in your document.

In this release we've increased your opportunities to benefit from SmartFields by adding support for multi-line SmartFields, postal address being a common example.

Other Improvements

As usual with Pro+ updates we've included a host of small but useful enhancements and fixes. In this release that includes:

• Improved AI import, including support for more recent AI versions.
• Wrong font sometimes applied to text in PDF export. Fixed.
• PDF form field import/export fixes.
• Spelling dictionaries updated.
• Web publishing (sFTP). Compatibility problems with some external hosting services solved.
• SVG file with linear gradient failed to import. Fixed.
• Overlapping text in exported SVG. Fixed.
• Error sometimes shown moving mouse pointer over text inside shape. Fixed.
• Clipped Opacity Mask Group incorrectly rendered after move. Fixed.
• Dead accent key handling fixed, when working on text inside smart components.
• Canonical links in conventional websites now reference the correct page filename.
• rel=”noopener” can now be stripped from a web link with a blank target by applying the name “opener”.
• WebP web export option could sometimes be auto enabled when saving a template after applying a page background. Fixed.

To Help With SEO

When it comes to SEO a great position is built on a mountain of small improvements - and here's a few more that are worth working on!

• You can now set Canonical tags to deal with the problem of duplicate content
• There's a new option to quickly set the original photo filename as the Image Name
• noopener and noreferrer attributes are now added to any target="_blank" links

Other Improvements

As usual with Pro+ updates we've included a host of small but useful enhancements and fixes. In this release that includes:

• 21 new Google fonts offering new and interesting typography options 
• PDF, Powerpoint and Word import improvements
• Fixed an issue with AI files in the Online Content Catalog
• When pages are re-ordered, page breaks are now added to prevent text moving between pages

amongst others, you can find all the details in the Release Notes.

Improve Your Web Presence with Open Graph

Present the best possible image for your site on social media by adding an Open Graph image, title and description. They'll be displayed when sharing your link on social media, so you can be sure that viewers will see an image, title and description of your choosing, rather than an automatically generated one that might not do you any favors!

Don't forget to include your keywords in the title and description to help your page rank!

Shape Editing Improvements

Some additional controls in the Shape Tool which will bring happiness to anyone who likes to mess with the bezier curves.  Details in the Release Notes.

Advanced Object Locking

We've introduced some flexible new locking options, perfect for situations where you are creating documents in Designer Pro+ that are edited by other members of your team in Xara Cloud. Now you can avoid any accidental brand breakages by restricting editing rights!

More info in the Release Notes.

WebP Support

With the addition of WebP import we've completed support for this interesting new high-quality, small-size web image format from Google (WebP export arrived in 21.1, see below).

Other Improvements

As usual in Designer Pro+ updates, we've included a selection of other minor improvements & fixes. You can find details in the Release Notes.

WebP Export

The new WebP image format developed by Google promises both top quality images and small file sizes. And with page load speed being an important factor in page rank (especially with the imminent release of Core Web Vitals) that's just what you need!

Designer Pro+ can now export WebP images, either individually or for the whole site.

You can find more info in the Release Notes.

Smart Duplication

A quick and easy way to create multiple copies of objects or components, horizontally or vertically, with a single click-drag, and a really simple way to handle object spacing. 

The new Smart Duplicate feature will help you cut down tedious repetition in your design work, and make experimention easy!

Expanded CMYK Color Controls

With this update we're giving you much greater control over the profiles used to display CMYK colors on screen and for PDF export, to ensure you get exactly the color you're aiming for.

Now you can either choose from one of the bundled industry standard profiles (refreshed for this update) or upload and select your own custom profile.

Updated CMYK Color Profile

A small surprise Christmas present - a much requested improvement to the display of CMYK colors on screen, and in any export formats that require the conversion of CMYK to RGB. A change to the default color profile means you will see a more accurate representation of CMYK colors on screen.

Enhanced PDF Editing

We've made a significant improvement to the way that missing fonts are handled in imported PDF documents, plus a host of more minor accuracy improvements. It's another step up in Designer Pro's already great PDF editing capability!

Enhanced Web Export Options

The Web Export options have been moved into the Web Properties dialog, alongside all other web settings  - a more logical arrangement that will improve your workflow - and we've added some new controls:

• Firstly you now have a finer level of control over transition effects, with separate controls for transition effect and transition direction, giving you scope for all sorts of new and interesting transition effects.
• We've also added greater control over the new features introduced to Supersites in the past few releases, so you can choose separately whether you want to display the PDF download option, page navigation panel and Xara logo next to your presentations or print Supersites.
• When you preview a website it now opens in your default local browser instead of the internal preview window, for a faster and more reliable preview.

New Content Type: Headers

We've added 10 professional new header designs to the Online Content Catalog, ideal for presentations and the perfect place to get started with a blank document. They're set to 'repeating' by default and automatically size and position themselves at the top of the page on insertion. A great time saver!

Useability Enhancements

We've introduced several UI improvements requested by frequent users that will enhance your working experience:

• We've made rotating objects around a center point much more intuitive. Simply select the Show Rotation Handles icon on the InfoBar, and then drag the center marker to reposition the center point around which all objects will rotate. The marker will now remain visible, even when you change tools or select other objects.
• The QuickShape handles have been updated to match the new Selector Tool and SmartShape handles introduced in September.
• The size and offset of the selection bounding box now automatically increase in size on very small objects, making them much easier to select. No more zooming in, just to select small objects!

Other Improvements

As with every Pro+ release, we've introduced other minor enhancements and bug fixes, in particular with PDF import and export. Details in the Release Notes.

New & Improved Handles

• Handles on SmartShapes (tables, charts, shapes, text panels, etc.) are now more consistent and match those used in Xara Cloud.
• The selection handles in the Selector Tool have also been updated. 

Other Improvements

• We've added 40 new Google fonts to increase your typographical choices, see the Release Notes for a full list. You can now access over 900 Google fonts, right within Designer Pro+.
• There is now an option to import images at original full size into web documents (where previously they were automatically reduced to full HD size), use with caution!
• Plus other minor enhancements and bug fixes, details in the Release Notes.

Improved Tables

Now you can use the tab key to move backwards and forwards between the cells, and to add new rows. Quicker, easier and more intuitive!

Other Improvements

• New Demo Mode: If your free trial of Designer Pro+ has already expired you'll now still be able to try out new features in Demo Mode (no save, print or export)
• Plus other minor enhancements and bug fixes, details in the Release Notes.

High DPI Support

Get the most from your screens with the new high DPI support. Pin sharp resolution for 4K monitors and devices like Surface Pro tablets, but a bonus even for lower resolution screens.

Workflow Improvement for SmartShapes

When you insert SmartShapes in a document we now select the Selector Tool (instead of the QuickShape Tool), for a more efficient workflow.

New Web Document Options

Designer Pro+ Web Documents (such as presentations and print supersites) now have the same cool options that were recently added to Xara Cloud 'Share to Web' documents.

So for example you can add an option for viewers to download a PDF version of your presentation or SuperSite. They'll also see some handy new ways to step between the pages of your document, zoom in or out, or set it to full screen view.

Paragraph Borders & Backgrounds

Some great new styles, perfect for headings or highlighting paragraphs of text. You can have borders  either with or without backgrounds. Includes control over border style, color and width and background color.

Photo Panoramas

Some handy improvements to the built-in panorama tool.

See the Release Notes for details.

InDesign Import (BETA)

An important first step in support for import of InDesign .idml files, one of the few significant formats that Designer Pro didn’t already support.

It's a great bonus for anyone using Designer Pro for document design. See the Release Notes for details of what is and isn’t supported at this stage.

Other Import / Export Filters

Improvements to the key existing import and export filters:

• PDF import and export
• Word import and export
• PowerPoint import and export
• SVG import and export

See the Release Notes for details.

 

Designer Pro+ benefits from seamless integration with Xara Cloud, which makes it a great additional service.

Xara Cloud is an ultra-simple way to edit and share your Xara documents and websites online in a web browser, using any computer or tablet. What's more you can work on Xara documents and sites or Xara Cloud templates in collaboration with friends, colleagues and clients, commenting and editing together in real-time.

Xara Cloud is being constantly enhanced, and new features are made available as and when they are ready - you can find news of the very latest updates here and register for the free trial here.

If you'd like to combine Xara Designer Pro+ and Xara Cloud, we offer Xara Cloud Pro+, which combines Xara Designer Pro+ and Xara Cloud Pro in one great value bundle.