This is the last push, the last release before version 1.0.0, you got almost everything that we’re planning, minor changes before we see that final release and any bugs while we do our regression testing. It has been a lot of work for the past few months, a lot of research, looking for what is the best of the best currently out there, so we can offer the same and more. And I think we’re very close.
This is a big release, it includes a lot of new features and enhancements, just read below, but we can’t release 1.0.0 until we have everything perfectly documented and what’s coming for us before the next release, is to release the final version of the documentation, add those last few changes, and then sit down and enjoy the result of the hard work.
What’s changed in this release
Bug Fixes
- Fixed animations set to “Animate: To Current Appearance” so they move in the right direction: Move Left and Shrink now comes in from the left and grows, as it does in InDesign.
- Fixed animations like Zoom Out so they play as one smooth, continuous motion instead of pausing partway through.
- Fixed captions and other tightly sized text frames being shrunk below their set size: text now keeps its point size as long as it breaks into the same lines as in InDesign.
- Placed Illustrator (.ai), EPS, PDF, PSD and TIFF files now show up in the exported web page: they’re automatically converted to PNG images during export instead of appearing as broken pictures.
- Preflight now gives a warning instead of an error for these files, and suggests saving line art as SVG so it stays sharp at any zoom.
New Features or Enhancements
- New: Links to text anchors now land on the anchor itself and briefly highlight its line, not just the top of its page.
- Every text anchor gets its own shareable address, like
index.html#chapter-2. - Buttons set to Go To Destination now work.
- Shared destinations work like any other link.
- Links into other InDesign documents are named in the export log instead of disappearing silently.
- Every text anchor gets its own shareable address, like
- New: Presentation layout: a new export option that turns your document into a full-screen slideshow with nothing around the slides.
- Any page size: slides fill the screen at 16:9, and other sizes get black bars, with a note in the export log.
- Clicker support: Page Down/Up, arrows, Space and the “start show” button work like PowerPoint, and you can type a slide number then Enter to jump to it.
- Click to advance: a click moves to the next slide, a right-click goes back, and on touch screens you tap or swipe.
- Animated builds: animations set to “On Page Click” in InDesign’s Timing panel appear one press at a time.
- Black or white screen: press B or W to blank the screen while you talk.
- Laser pointer: press L for a red dot with a fading trail, or hold Shift, or press and hold on a touch screen.
- Slide overview: press G to see every slide as a grid and pick one.
- Speaker notes: put text frames on a layer called “Notes” and they become your notes instead of showing on the slides.
- Presenter view: press S for a second window with the current and next slide, your notes, a timer and a clock, and the laser follows where you point there.
- Sharp images: pictures are kept at full-HD size, so they don’t go blurry on a projector.
- Help: press ? to see all the keys.
- Enhancement: Exports now include a
robots.txtthat points search engines to your sitemap, when you publish at the root of a site.- Shared links now show a picture of your cover when you set a Site address.
- New Page share pictures option: with One file per page, each page’s link previews with that page instead of the cover.
- New Screen readers, the Tab key and search now follow the reading order you set in InDesign’s Articles panel, and the page looks exactly the same.
- There’s a new Misc tab option, “Reading order from Articles panel”. It’s on by default and changes nothing in documents without articles.
- The export log says how many objects were put in reading order, and names any that had to keep their old position so a blend effect still looks right.
- New Preflight check: before each export, PressTo5 looks for missing links, media and picture formats browsers can’t use, missing or unembeddable fonts, overset text, heavy pictures, missing alt text and a missing description.
- One screen for all problems: click any item to jump straight to it in the layout, fix it and re-check, then export anyway or cancel.
- On/off switch: “Check document before export” on the Misc tab is on by default and stays as you set it for every document.
- Preflight menu command: run the check at any time from the PressTo5 menu.
- Add a description on the spot: type a missing File Info description right in Preflight and save it.
- Saved settings: each document now remembers its own export settings and reopens the dialog with them.
- Presets: new Save Preset… and Load Preset… buttons let you reuse export settings on other documents or share them.
- Reading order fix: a story that continues onto later pages is now read in the right order on every page, not just the first.
- Safer option handling: export options are now checked in one place, with clear messages when a value can’t be used. This is groundwork for batch export.
- Enhancement: Exporting now runs separately from the panel, so it can export any document, not just the one in front.
- Each page now exports at its own size, so a document whose pages differ in size comes out right.
- For a document with Alternate Layouts, the export dialog asks which layout to export, or all of them.
- Two facing pages are shown side by side as a spread only when they’re the same height.
- If thumbnails, the PDF, posters, app icons or share pictures fail, the export now carries on with a warning instead of stopping.
- New Batch Export screen: export open documents, a folder or a book in one go, each into its own folder, with a report at the end.
- Docs updated for page sizes, Alternate Layouts and Batch Export.
- Job files save a whole batch so it can be run again with Run Job….
- On iPhone and iPad, the viewer’s controls and pages keep clear of the notch, and the installed app gets launch screens.
- The Offline app gets display, orientation and app-icon options.
- A new guide explains putting an export into Google Play, the App Store or the Microsoft Store.
- Alt text works on any object, not only pictures. Shapes, boxes and buttons use the alt text you set in Object Export Options.
- “Artifact” hides decorative items from screen readers, including shapes and text frames.
- Unlabeled shapes are now skipped by screen readers instead of being read out as “image” with no description.
- Pictures no longer use their frame’s name as alt text (“Rectangle 12” or “IMG_0423.jpg”). They now have none, and the export log says how many pictures are missing alt text.
- A new Misc tab option, “Use frame names as alt text”, brings back the old behaviour if you want it. Preflight follows the same setting.
- InDesign’s “Description generated by AI” line is no longer exported.
- Buttons are named by their alt text first, then by their Description.
- Groups read as one picture: a group with alt text is read by screen readers as a single picture, and one marked Decorative is hidden from them.
- Tags from Export Tagging: headings, emphasis, bold and languages set in InDesign’s style Export Tagging now carry into the export without changing how the page looks.
- Articles in the model: every Articles panel item is matched to its exported page, threaded stories stay together, and the log says how many items were left out.
- Accessibility screen: a new PressTo5 > Accessibility screen lets you add alt text or mark an object Decorative, and checks the whole document for what screen readers would miss.
- Viewer’s controls easier to read (credit, page counter, presenter labels, embed Copy button).
- Buttons and links with no description now say what they do (“Next page”, “Open example.com”) instead of just “button”.
- Accessibility check now lists buttons and form fields that have no description.
- Tab no longer stops on the invisible Previous/Next arrow at the first or last page.
- The embed page’s code box now has a label, and the presenter view has headings for screen readers.