DOS Days

Desktop Publishing Downloads

This page provides downloads of some of the more common Desktop Publishing packages that were available for DOS. The programs on this page are to be used at your own risk. They are made available here on the basis that they are considered 'abandonware' by their original authors, or the authors' policy on reproduction is permitted.

Most of these download files are compressed with 7zip (.7z), and within them may contain raw disk images in .IMG format. To extract the data from the image files use WinImage.

Where downloads are greyed-out it means there are copies around on the internet but I have not secured permissions to use DOS Days as a download repository for that application or utility.

Ventura

As of 2022, the rights to legacy Ventura Software products are still held by Corel Corporation after their buyout of Ventura Software in 1993.
I have a dedicated page to Ventura Publisher here at DOS Days.

Publisher
Version 1.1 (1986)

Ventura Publisher 1.1 is a desktop publishing program from Xerox. It runs on DOS and uses the GEM graphical environment.
This archive contains file zips of each disk, disk images, and label scans. To install, unzip the S1 zips to a folder and SUBST the folder for A:. Or use ImageDisk 1.18 to write the images to 360k disks.

Publisher
Version 2.0 (1988)

Ventura Publisher 2.0 is a desktop publishing program from Xerox. It runs on DOS and uses the GEM graphical environment. This archive contains file zips of each disk.
To install, unzip the zips to a folder and SUBST the folder for A:. Or unzip each to a floppy disk. The real credit goes to Bitsavers for archiving this fine piece of software.

Publisher for GEM
Version 3.0 (1989)

This is the DOS version of the Ventura Publisher 3.0 desktop publishing software that uses the GEM graphical environment. This archive includes seven 720k disk images.

 

Publisher for Windows
Version 3.0 (1990)

This version was the first for Microsoft Windows. This file includes four 720k disk images: 3 installation disks and a last minute update patch disk. The setup and applications are 16-bit Windows 3.0 executables.

Publisher for Windows
Version 3.0 Gold (Nov 1990)

Version 3.0 Gold was the last version of the product developed by the original founders of Ventura.
The original Venture Software company has ceased operations in February 1990, and a new company was formed with Xerox affiliation called Ventura Software Inc. This was the first version released by the new company.

Publisher for Windows
Version 4.0 (1991)

This file includes seven 720 KB disk images: 4 installation disks, 2 gallery disks, and a 4.01 upgrade disk. The setup and applications are 16-bit Windows 3.0 executables.
 

Publisher for Windows
Version 4.1.1 (1993)

This is the last version released by Ventura Software Inc.
 
 

Corel Ventura
Version 4.2 (1993)

Version 4.2 is the first release after Corel acquired Ventura Software, and the product was rebranded Corel Ventura. This brand name lived on until 2002.

The product itself was largely unchanged from 4.1.1 aside from the name change and dropping all other platforms apart from Windows.
This version adds fast font loading, support for Adobe Acrobat fonts, and includes Ventura Database Publisher. Otherwise, it was a fairly minor update.

Corel Ventura
Version 5.0 (1994)

Version 5.0 was first real release by Corel, with  fundamental changes to both user interface and document structure.

 

Aldus

As of 2022, the rights to legacy Aldus Corporation software products are still held by Adobe after their buyout of Aldus in 1994.
I have a dedicated page to Aldus PageMaker here at DOS Days.

PageMaker
Version 1.0 (July 1985)

Wang OEM version.

PageMaker
Version 1.0 (Dec 1986)

Standard 5.25" floppy disk version

PageMaker
Version 1.0a (1986)

Wang OEM version.

 

PageMaker
Version 1.0a (1987)

Standard 5.25" floppy disk version

PageMaker
Version 1.2 (1986)

Added support for the importing of fonts from other sources. It was also released for HP Vectra computers that same year.

PageMaker
Version 2.0 (1987)


The first version to support the Windows operating system.

PageMaker
Version 3.0 (Apr 1988)

Standard 5.25" floppy disk version

PageMaker for OS/2
Version 3.01 (1988)

Standard 5.25" floppy disk version for OS/2

PageMaker
Version 4.0 (1991)

This version came with the ability to better handle larger files. Standard 5.25" floppy disk version

Adobe PageMaker
Version 5.0 (1995)


The first version following the acquisition of Aldus Corporation by Adobe Inc. in 1994.
    

 

PFS

As of 2022, the rights to legacy Software Publishing Corporation products are still held by The Learning Company who merged with Spinnaker Software (who had acquired the PFS range in January 1991).

ClickArt Personal Publisher
Version 1.02 (1986)

ClickArt Personal Publisher is a simplified, Mac-like desktop publishing program. It was later purchased by Software Publishing Corporation and turned in to PFS:First Publisher, who then in turn sold it to Spinnaker Software where it became Easy Working Desktop Publisher.
It's understood that all "1.x" was under the ClickArt brand.
 

First Publisher
Version 2.01 (1990)

First Publisher, from Software Publishing Corporation, is a WYSIWYG word processor for DOS that excels as producing extremely high quality text and graphics print even using dot-matrix printers. This program originated as T/Maker Clickart. In 1991 Software Publishing Corp sold their PFS series to Spinnaker Software, where it became Easy Working Desktop Publisher.
This version for DOS supports Hercules Monochrome graphics, CGA, and EGA graphics.

First Publisher
Version 3.0 (1990)

This is an archive of an installed folder. (Full images of origional media wanted!) Extract to a folder on a hard drive and run the program.
To install extra fonts, you must copy individual fonts "in to" your master font file. You may have to remove fonts from you master font file first, as it is limited to a maximum number of fonts.
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Others

As of 2022, it is understood that the rights to GEM are open source after Caldera (who bought Digital Research's assets from Novell in July 1996) released the source to GEM and GEM XM under the terms of GNU GPL-2.0-only in April 1999.

GEM Desktop Publisher
Version 2.01 (1988)

GEM Desktop Publisher, from Digital Research, is a GEM 3.x based Desktop publishing program. It is not as sophisticated as Ventura Publisher. It uses a VMM (Virtual Memory Manager) in place of EMS/XMS, and requires a hard disk. It can be used with GEM Artline to provide illustrations.
To install, run INSTALL.APP from within GEM 3.
A large amount of conventional memory must be free before Desktop Publisher will run. Disable any unnecessary devices and memory resident programs to free enough space. The MS-DOS utility MEMMAKER can be used to optimize conventional memory. Memory usage statistics can be checked with the MEM command under DOS.

 

 

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