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Our free design program lets you choose from over a thousand pre-made templates to help you design your newspaper or allows you to build from scratch. There is nothing to download or save to your computer. "Save" your work and come back to your designs when you choose. It's all stored online, including your uploaded graphics. When you're done, hit the "Order Newspapers" button and begin the simple ordering process to order physical or digital copies of your design.

Our Cloud Newspaper Designer has many functions and below is a description of every tool and tab within the Designer and how to use them. Ideally, we recommend that you read the entire tutorial before you begin. However, it's also easy to jump right in and start designing and use our menu when you need help.

ORDERING PRINTED AND DIGITAL NEWSPAPERS

Ordering Printed Newspapers

When you are satisfied with your design, you can click the "Order Newspapers" button on the left and order from 50 to 50,000 printed newspapers. Be sure to fill out the form completely, add it to the cart, and follow the checkout procedure.

Your project is automatically attached to your order and the printer is automatically notified and provided with a print ready PDF to print from. When your order has shipped, you will receive a tracking number via your email.

You can order both a printed and a Designer PRO subscription or a single PDF at the same time or each individually.

Ordering a Designer PRO Subscription or Single PDF

If you wish to order a Designer PRO subscription, you can do so in several ways. You can order a subscription in conjunction with a Print Order or you can order a subscription or a single eNewspaper/PDF of your current version of your project. To do so, click the "Order Newspaper" button and follow the instructions given on the Order Page.

You can also order a Designer Pro subscription from the green "Upgrade" button found on the left hand column.

You can order both a printed and a Designer PRO subscription at the same time or each individually.

Designer Pro Subscriptions

What is a Designer PRO Subscription?

Designer PRO gives you access to an enhanced designing experience, offering you more tools and discounted services with our cloud designer for the duration of the subscription.

Unlimited eNewspaper Publishing – While your subscription is active, you can create as many eNewspapers as you wish of any or all of your projects. Normally, to get an eNewspaper of your PDF, you would be charged $19 per project--which only gets you the PDF and the eNewspaper. But with a Designer PRO subscription, you can create as many as you want.
Unlimited PDF Creation – While your subscription is active, you can create as many PDFs as you wish of any or all of your projects. Normally, to get an eNewspaper of your PDF, you would be charged $19 per project--which only gets you the PDF and the eNewspaper. But with a Designer PRO subscription, you can create as many as you want.
Unlimited Proofs – Many customers want the ability to print their project using their home or office printer. They want to do this in stages for proofing purposes, and with a Designer PRO subscription, you can create as many proofs as you need with no need to pay for any more PDF versions of your project.
Access to Premium Templates – Designer PRO comes with access to hundreds of beautiful, first-class templates that are not accessible through the free version of our designer. These templates are often cleaner, better spaced, offer more versatility and control, and can assist you in designing a newspaper that removes much of the hassle.
Access to 100,000+ Print-ready Image Library – With Designer PRO you have access to a gigantic library of print ready, royalty free images that can be inserted directly into the designer without the need to upload them on your own.
50% Off Premium Content – Syndicated content is available to insert directly into the designer...for a small fee. A Designer PRO subscription gives you 50% off each and every comic, puzzle, and game that you insert into your newspaper.

Learn More

Do I save money with Designer PRO?

Absolutely. To begin with, our premium templates will save you time and money, allowing you to instantly insert some of our more top-notch templates. Templates on the internet may range from $5 to $50 each, so the savings can accumulate rapidly.

Secondly, because you can create an unlimited number of PDFs and eNewspapers, you will not need to keep purchasing the single $19 download each time you need a PDF or eNewspaper. This alone could save you hundreds of dollars.

Thirdly, you get half off all syndicated and premium content. This could quickly add up in savings.

Fourthly, the ability to instantly insert a print-ready, high quality, and royalty free image from a huge library directly from our cloud designer will save you the time and hassle you would put forth in finding such images on your own--especially when compared to paid Image websites that often charge up to $20 per high-quality image.

Obviously, the more you use your subscription, the more money you will save.

Using Your Designer PRO Subscription

You must have a subscription for this option to work. When you are satisfied with your design, you can click the "Publish / Print" button on the left and create a PDF or an eNewspaper. During your subscription, you can create an unlimited number of PDFs and eNewspapers. After creation, you can find easy access from the Projects / Account Tab at the top right of the Designer. Click that button and then click on the name of the project you created the eNewspaper and/or PDF of. To the right you will see download and access links. When you create a PDF, it will also download immediately to your computer, as well as open on your screen. These PDFs will also be in your account.

You also have immediate access to premium templates from the "Insert Template" button and the image library from the "Add Picture" tools.

IMPORTANT TIPS ABOUT THE DESIGNER

Regarding primarily Chrome, IE, Edge and Firefox. Our templates were designed in Chrome, so they will place most accurately using Chrome. However, our templates place nearly accurately in all browsers. You may have to do some minor adjustments. Once you adjust anything and save, it will open exactly as you saved it--if you are using the same browser you saved it in. Inconsistencies may show up only if you are saving and working on your design in various browsers. If you have people working on your design from various computers, we suggest that they all use the same browser.

Larger Screen Canvas Area

For larger canvas working area, hit F11 (for Windows PC user) when you have opened the Designer. This will give you more visible canvas area on your computer screen.

Saving Your Project and Auto-Save

The cloud designer will auto-save your project every 20 minutes. If you haven't named it, auto-save will ask you for a name. This protects against any lost work.

Calculating Shipping for Printed Newspapers

Use our Shipping Calculator to determine any shipping fees and options (UPS Ground, Second Day Air, or Next Day Air). This can be found on the price pages of the main website.

Printing Black and White Newspapers

If you are printing black and white newspapers, all pages print in black and white regardless of the color that may be on the page. For even more print accuracy, change colored pictures, lines, boxes and text to black and white. MakeMyNewspaper is not responsible for the quality or any color transfers or images loaded into the Designer for print.

Printing Black/White and Color Newspapers

Remember, all combination B&W/Color newspapers print with the front and back page and the center 2-page spread in full color. The remaining pages print in black and white. This option is not available in Impact Newsprint.

The page numbers in full color for combination B&W/Color newspapers are as follows:

4 page - 1 & 4
8 page - 1, 4, 5, 8
12 page - 1, 6, 7, 12
16 page - 1, 8, 9, 16
20 page - 1, 10, 11, 20
24 page - 1, 12, 13, 24

Getting the Best Image Quality

For best reproduction, we recommend 300 dpi images and photographs and at minimum 150 dpi black and white and 200 dpi color. The more you enlarge your picture once it's uploaded, the less quality it will have. All uploaded images are the responsibility of the user. We recommend you error a bit on the lighter side of pictures, rather than pictures being on the darker side. This is newsprint, and the darker the image, the more saturated the image will be, and the less readable it can be. Don't get carried away; just keep in mind to error a bit on the lighter side if given a choice.

If you're uploading a picture that is in shadows or has a lot of black in it with low lights throughout, you might want to lighten it up just a bit, as when the ink expands it can print a little darker on newsprint as the ink saturates. You might print your picture first on your home computer, and if it borders on dark in this venue, think about lighting up the picture a few degrees before uploading it for your newspaper.

As with any printed product, you need to use the proper dpi (dots per inch) with any image you upload.

Images coming from the internet are usually around 72 dpi, and will not print clearly at all. Your image needs to be at least 150 and recommended at 300 dpi. We highly recommend that you do not use images or pictures from the internet or copied from web pages.

Because of the high volume of orders, the choices of quality or dpi of the images that our customers upload and the automation of our system that makes our prices so low, we are not responsible for the quality of how pictures or images come out on your newspaper.

Determining the Quality of Your Image

As a guide to whether your image is 300 dpi (or print quality), your image is scaled to 300 dpi as you upload it. In other words, if you upload a 300 dpi image, the size of your image as it shows in the designer will be exactly the same dimensions that you uploaded. If the image you uploaded is less than 300 dpi, it will show up in the designer SMALLER than its original size as it's being converted to 300 dpi. Enlarging an image that appears in the designer smaller than your original means you will be losing quality as you enlarge it. This can be risky. We highly advise not enlarging images that are uploaded that appear smaller than your original.

Another way to check the quality of your images is to zoom in to 300%. This is true 300 dpi. If you like your picture at 300% zoom, you will like it in print. If you don't like it at 300% zoom, then you will not like it in print.

Printing Small/Tiny Fonts

We recommend that all smaller text (less than 10 pt. font) be in black for easy reading.

DOCUMENT SETTINGS

Changing the Document Settings

Click the "Document Settings" button on the left hand side of the Designer. This will give you access to page sizes and ruler measurement settings.

Printing Small/Tiny Fonts

You can chose between Tabloid sizes 11x14, 11x17, and broadsheet size 11x22. Metric Tabloid (289mm x 380mm) or Berliner (318mm x 467mm). We only print 11x14 and 11x17 and 11x22 in the US. To print the metric sizes, you will need to go to www.makemynewsaper.com/uk. However, you can still design in the metric sizes here for an eNewspaper or a PDF.

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Changing the Orientation and Margins

You cannot control the margins for your newspaper layout. There are 1/2 inch margins already built in which are required for printing newsprint. You may use the entire white space of the Designer to lay out your newspaper as the margins will be added automatically when you order.

TEMPLATES

We have hundreds of templates that work with our Online Cloud Designer. Click the "Insert Template" button on the left hand side of the Designer. You will be taken to a pop-up window with a list of categories. Click on a category of interest and you will be shown a list of templates available for that page.

Our Designer allows for Templates to be loaded on each page of your publication. You can keep inserting as many as you like until you find the one you like. Remember that each time you insert a template any information already on that page will be deleted, including a previous template, pictures, or text. Once you find a template you like, you can begin designing.

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Once you have clicked on the "Insert Template" tab, you will be shown a menu that lets you choose from several categories (such as General, Wedding, Church and so on). Simply select the category you are interested in.

Remember, you are not restricted to using templates from just one category for each publication you are designing. For instance, you may choose a front page of a Wedding newspaper template, but then choose an inside page from a Church newspaper template. You are in full control of using any of our templates from any category at any time for each page of any one publication.

While you may choose from any template from any category to use on your publication, we have highlighted certain themes that work together.

When you arrive on the template page, you will see thumbnails (small pictures) of each or our templates. Beside each thumbnail includes a small explanation of what kind of template it is, such as whether it is a front, back or inside page, a multi-use page, what theme it is, how many columns are used and whether this particular template is a standard or an advanced template.

Once you have decided on what template you want to use, simply click "Insert template" and a few moments later the template will show up on the page you are currently designing in.

You can immediately start replacing text and images with your own.

Remember, you do not have to stay with the template. You are free to delete, move or add in any way you choose.

DESIGNER CANVAS AREA

If you put any text or objects within this area they will not print. You do not need to create margins around the page edges. A half inch margin is added to each page upon publication. You can see a subtle half-inch border surrounding each page within the grey area. This is your half-in margin, so you are free to use the entire white canvas area for your newspaper. You may move objects to this no-print zone area temporarily, but we recommend that you delete any object you are not going to use.

Objects that are placed partly on and partly off the white canvas means that only the part that is on the white canvas will print. That which is in the gray area will be cropped off.

When you enter the Designer, you are automatically offered 4 pages to design with. A Maximum of 32 pages is currently available with the Designer. At the top of the page that you design on, you will see (on the top left) 1-4 numbered tabs and a larger tab that says, "Add 4 More Pages." These number tabs are your page numbers. Click the "Add 4 More Pages" tab and 4 more pages will appear on the top. You can do this up to 32 pages. When you add pages, a new tab will show that says "Delete Last 4 Pages" on the top right of each page. This allows you to delete the last 4 pages you created. Remember, if you delete pages, any designing you have done will be lost. For Newsprint, you must design in multiples of 4 pages. If you have pages that are blank, they will print that way.

Keep in mind, that if you are PRINTING a newspaper with more than 24 pages, you will need to submit a Custom Order Request to order your project as our automated pricing only allows for publications of 24 pages and less. You will be prompted either when you design or when you order if you use more than 24 pages in our Designer.

Move your cursor over any page number tab, grab, and drag the tab to the place that you want the page. For instance, if you want to move page 2 to page 3, grab the tab of page 2 and slide over and on top of the tab of page 3. When you release your cursor, the page will be moved and the page numbers will automatically be recalculated. Page 2 will now be Page 3. If you want to delete page two and you have 3 pages, you need to move Page 2 to Page 3 and then delete it.

You can copy the entire contents of a page and paste them onto another page or into another page of a different project. Hit CTRL-A to select all the objects on the page, copy them, and then move to the page you wish to paste them into and click the paste icon. If the page is in a different project, you will need to open the other project up and then navigate to the page you wish the objects to paste into.

There is a ruler along the top and left side of your design area. When you grab any object, text box, picture or image, the dimensions of what you've grabbed will show in a darker shade of grey within the rulers. This will allow you to know what size you are dealing with and also allows for better alignment.

You can change the measurements of the rulers from the "Document Settings" Tab.

Right clicking on any object will show a list of convenient options such as copy, paste, delete, undo, select all, and spell checking for text.

When an object is selected, you can nudge it in any direction with your arrow keys. This is beneficial if you need to line something up and just need to nudge one object or another. Click on an object and then hit the arrow key in the direction you want to nudge it. Nudging text boxes requires you to click on the text box and then click on the dotted line of the text box to remove the cursor from within the box. Now you can nudge it.

You can now select multiple objects (images, shapes, and textboxes) and move them and/or copy them. This is done one of four ways:

Click and drag your mouse over each object each object that you want to group together. Once selected, you can move or copy them.
Use the "shift" key and then click on each object you wish to group. This is great if you only want to select certain objects and not others.
Hit "CTRL-A" to select every object on the page. This is useful if you wish to copy everything from one page to another page or even into another project.
Right click on the canvas and choose "Select All." This is the same as hitting "CTRL-A."

With grouping, you can copy multiple objects to different pages or even a different project within the same user account. When grouping, the alignment tool does work, but it only works with the object that your mouse hovers over when you are moving the objects.

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Aligning Objects to Each Other

When you select an object and then begin to move it, a line appears when you are aligned with another object. See the example below:

alignment image

FIXED PAGE TOOLS

Location of Fixed Page Tools

On the top right of your Designer, you will see several fixed functions. These will show at all times as you design and move around the Designer.

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Click here to see a list of your projects, open a project in the design area, download any created PDFs, access eNewspapers, share a project, start a new publication, sign out, and make changes to your account. Once clicked, you can then choose any project, and once that project is selected, you will see more options.

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Using a Saved/Published Project as a Template

You can use a saved project you've already published as a template for future projects. Open the Designer and click the "Projects/Account" button and open the project you want to reuse. Open it and once loaded, click the "Save As" button and give the file a new name. You can begin designing your new project from there.

Save any project you are working on. When you choose this button the first time it will ask you to name your publication and choose a design type. After the first time, use this button to save as you build your publication. Your project will be available to you for 18 months after each save. Only projects that have no activity for 18 months will be purged from the system.

The cloud designer will auto-save your project every five minutes. If you haven't named it, auto-save will ask you for a name. This protects against any lost work..

Use this button to save a current design project under a different file name.

Sharing Your Project with Others

There may be times when you wish to share your design or publication with someone else--a friend, a relative, a co-worker, or a business partner. Simply click "Share." You may share the project with anyone you wish and give them read-only access. They will be able to see this project's latest version. A link will be provided. Copy the link and send it to whomever you wish to share your project with. They will be able to load the project in and see it, but will not be able to save it and overwrite your own work.

WARNING: Do not open your own project from a shared link and then try to order. Doing so will likely mean your order will not be processed. Open your projects from the Projects/Account Tab.

Showing or Hiding the Alignment Grid

To aid in aligning various objects with each other, an alignment grid is available for your use. Simply click the grid button from the fixed toolbar at the upper right of the Designer and the grid will appear in the background of your project. If a picture is covering the entire canvas, you will not see the grid. The grid cannot be moved forward or backwards at this time.

Moving Objects Behind or In Front of Other Objects

The four arrangement icons from the fixed toolbar at the top right of the designer will allow you to place objects in front of or behind other objects on the page.

Send to the Back: Any text, image or picture can be sent behind other objects, behind all other objects on the page.

Send Backwards: Any text, image or picture can be sent backwards one step, behind the object directly one step behind it.

Bring Forward: Any text, image or picture can be brought forward one step, in front of the object directly one step ahead.

Bring to the Front: Any text, image or picture can be brought all the way forward, in front of all other objects on the page.

Allows you to copy a text box, image or picture and paste in elsewhere on the page or in another page. Select the object you wish to copy so that the selection box appears. Click the "copy" button from the fixed tools at the top of the designer.

Copying an Entire Page to another Page or Project

Follow these steps to copy the entire contents of a page into another project:

Navigate to the page you want to copy.
Select All (CTRL-A or right click).
Hit the "Copy" button at the top right.
Click the "Account/Projects" button at the top designer.
Select the project you want to paste the objects to and open it.
Navigate to the page you want to paste the objects into.
Hit the "Paste" button at the top of the designer.

You cannot copy and paste into different accounts. You must remain in a single account, although you can paste into different projects within that account.

Allows you to paste a copied text box, image or picture anywhere on the page or another page. After copying the object, merely click the "paste" button from the fixed tools at the top right of the designer.

This tab allows you to delete any text box, image or picture. Select the object you wish to delete so that the selection box appears. Click the "delete" button from the fixed tools at the top of the designer.

Choose this feature when you want to undo an action, such as you deleted something you didn't mean to. It will undo up to your last 30 actions.

Zooming IN and Zooming OUT

Use this feature to zoom in and out of your publication. 300% zoom is equivalent to 300 dpi and is the most accurate representation of your newspaper. We recommend using this zoom for alignment and determining picture quality. Click the appropriate zoom tool from among the fixed tools at the top right of the designer.

TEXT AND FONT TOOLS

Click the "Text Tools" button on the left side of the Designer. A Text Toolbar Will appear at the top center of the Designer. This toolbar controls everything related to text and fonts.

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Select the "Text Tools" from the right sidebar. Put your cursor inside the "Add Text Box" icon at the top of the page. Drag down the icon into the Designer and place in any area of the page of your choosing. Release, and a text box will show. Click within the text box to start adding, deleting or placing text.

You can move the text box by grabbing any border (bounding box) of the text box. Drag to where you wish it to be placed. There are four small boxes on the border that are off center and represent "un-snapping" movement. Snapping is a feature of the alignment tool and will automatically snap to an alignment edge. To move the text box without snapping, use these four "un-snapping" boxes for smooth movement. You can also use your arrow keys.

You can stretch any text box by placing your cursor on any square located on the border of the text box (you may need to click on the text box first). Drag to increase or decrease the text box. You can also grab the bottom right corner of any text box and stretch the box height and width and retain its proportion.

Lets you rotate the text box in any way that you choose. The menu tool and/or the icon at the top of each text box allows you to rotate. To see more options on the menu, click the rotate icon. The menu will then show you to what degree you have rotated the chosen text box.

Changing Fonts: Style, Size and Color

From the top menu you can choose what type of font, size and color you desire. You can choose these options before you drag down a text box or after. If the text box is already created, highlight what text you would like to change.

Bold, Italics and Underline Text

Highlight your text and choose any combination of Bold, Italics, and Underline to format your text.

Text Alignment and Justification

Click anywhere in the text box and choose. Our Designer does not allow you to choose different justification within the same text box. You can justify right, center, left or full.

Use this tool to increase or decrease the space between your lines of text. This may help in fitting more text within a text box or to fill a space. DESIGN TIP: using this tool sporadically can make your project look messy. It is better to stay consistent.

When a word is underlined in a RED ragged line, our spell checker cannot find that particular word in its dictionary and is marking it as possibly misspelled. Right clicking on a misspelled word will provide you with several options to correct it. Merely click on the correct word and it will replace the misspelled word for you.

Because our dictionary is for everyone's use, you cannot modify the dictionary.

The red ragged line under misspelled or unrecognized words will not be printed. The red line is removed when the PDF is rendered.

You can turn spell checking on or off by clicking the "Spell Check" icon under text tools.

To copy and paste WITHIN the Designer, highlight the text and then right click and select "copy text." Move to a new text box or to another location within the same text box and right click and then click "paste text."

To copy and paste TO or FROM ANOTHER PROGRAM (such as Microsoft Word), select the text and then hit CTRL-C on your keyboard to copy it. Use CTRL-V to paste it. The right click feature of your mouse does not work for text to and from another program--only the shortcut keys on your keyboard will work.

Textflow gives you the ability to link textboxes in a series to allow text to "flow" from one textbox to another automatically to form a "story." This can be done using textboxes on the same page or even across multiple pages. The blue "triangle" icon located at the bottom of the selected textbox is the textflow tool. To us it, follow these steps:

Click (select) the textbox that will be your first text box in the story.
Click the blue "textflow" tool located at the bottom right of the selected textbox.
Navigate to the page where the next textbox is that you want to link to and click it, linking the two together.

When two (or more) textboxes are linked, a numbered circle appears in the upper left corner of each of the textboxes that are linked. This allows you to see all the textboxes that are linked on that page. Once the first textbox if full, the text will automatically begin in the next textbox in the series, continuing your story. Selecting all the text (CTRL-A) will select all the text in the story, regardless of where the boxes are located. You can copy and past text accordingly.

UNLINKING TEXTBOXES

There are several ways to unlink a textbox from a series:

Redo the linking. Start with your first textbox and redo the order you wish the textboxes to be linked.
Delete the unwanted textbox. When you delete a textbox that is linked, you do not delete the story inside. It is simply passed back to the previously linked textbox and forward to the next linked textbox, thus preserving your story, but unlinking the unwanted textbox.

PICTURE AND IMAGE TOOLS

Location of Picture Tools

Click the "Picture Tools" button on the left side of the Designer. A Picture Toolbar Will appear at the top center of the Designer. This toolbar controls everything related to pictures and images, including free stock photos and vector art.

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Please note: You cannot "copy and paste" an image into our Designer or into a browser. You will need to "upload" your images. Your images need to be saved on your computer in a recognizable format first. Once saved on your computer, you use the Picture Tools to upload your images.

Select the "Picture Tools" from the right sidebar. Put your cursor inside the "Add Picture" Icon at the top of the page. Drag down the icon into the Designer and place on any area of the canvas of your choosing. Release and a dialogue box will show to choose and upload your picture. You can upload one of your own or chose one of our free stock photos or vector art to use.

You can upload jpegs, png, giff, or PDFs to the designer. Be aware, a PDF will be converted to a jpeg if uploaded.

If you feel you have too many images in your image library, you can move them to an archive. When you hover over an image, an X archive button will appear that will allow you to archive that image. You can always see your archived images by going to your archive. Any image there can be restored to your main image library by reversing the process.

Finding Previously Uploaded Pictures

Previously uploaded pictures can be found on the "My Image Library" Tab of the "Add Picture" tool. Drag the icon onto the canvas, and then select "My Image Library" from the options. All your images that you have uploaded into any project will be available to you there.

You can move any picture by grabbing and dragging to where you want it placed. There are four small boxes on the border that are off center and represent "un-snapping" movement. Snapping is a feature of the alignment tool and will automatically snap to an alignment edge. To move the picture without snapping, use these four "un-snapping" boxes for smooth movement. You can also use your arrow keys.

You can stretch any picture by placing your cursor on any box on the border of the object. Drag to increase or decrease image. You can also grab the bottom right corner of any image and stretch the box height and width and retain its proportion.

WARNING: Stretching a picture may cause the picture to lose quality. Always check a picture at 300% zoom to see its true quality.

The rotating tool allows you rotate images on the canvas. The tool is located in two locations. The first is on the toolbar at top of the Designer. The second is the "rotating" icon located on top of the selected image. You may use either to rotate the image. The toolbar also shows you to what degree you have rotated chosen image.

Use this tool to crop an object either vertically or horizontally. Move slider in tab (from left or right side) and watch picture for results. A memory of your full picture is retained and the full picture can be un-cropped at any time.

SHAPE TOOLS

Click the "Shape Tools" button on the left side of the Designer. A Shape Toolbar Will appear at the top center of the Designer. This toolbar controls everything related to rectangles, circles, and lines.

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Adding Rectangles, Circles or Lines

Select the "Shape Tools" from the right sidebar. Put your cursor inside the "Add Rectangle, Circle or Line Box" icon at the top of the page. Drag the icon down into the Designer and place on any area of the page of your choosing. Release and object will show.

Moving Rectangles, Circles or Lines

You can move any object by grabbing and dragging to where you want it placed. There are four small boxes on the border that are off center and represent "un-snapping" movement. Snapping is a feature of the alignment tool and will automatically snap to an alignment edge. To move the shape without snapping, use these four "un-snapping" boxes for smooth movement. You can also use your arrow keys.

Stretching Rectangles, Circles or Lines

You can stretch any object by placing your cursor on any box on the border of the object. Drag to increase or decrease image. You can also grab the bottom right corner of any shape and stretch the box height and width and retain its proportion.

Changing the Color of a Shape

Click the fill tool while the shape is selected. Choose the color you wish. The object will be filled. Fill does not work for lines. To change the color of a line, change the border color.

Changing the Border Color and Thickness of a Shape

Using the border tool allows you to change the color and the thickness of the border.

The rotating tool is located on the toolbar at the top of the designer, but also the green "rotating" icon at the top of the shape. You can use either tool to rotate the shape.

TROUBLESHOOTING DESIGNER PROBLEMS

Please be aware that the speed of our Designer is somewhat dependent upon the speed of your computer processor and internet speed.

Most problems will be solved when you update your browser to the latest version. Our Designer is built on the latest technology and will be constantly updated to ensure compatibility with the latest versions of internet browsers. Older versions have been proven on numerous occasions to be incompatible with our Designer.
If problems persist, our Designer programming may have become corrupted in your browser cache system. You may need to reload our Designer from our server. Do a hard refresh of the browser (CTRL-F5) to accomplish this.
Disable any addons you may have installed on your browser. Addons may have an effect on the fluidity of our Designer.
Try a different browser. In most cases, this will not be an issue, but for some who can not update their browser, switching to another browser may solve various issues. The Designer and the templates were primarily created in Google Chrome.

Picture issues usually occur because you have made a picture larger than it really is. Whatever size the picture is when inserted into your design, that is its true size. Making it larger can create a number of problems. The most obvious problem is that the picture can become grainy and fuzzy since you reduce quality when you make a picture bigger.

You can easily crop or shrink a picture, but try to avoid making them bigger.

Can't "Copy and Paste" Pictures - You cannot "copy and paste" an image into our Designer or into a browser. You will need to "upload" your images. Your images need to be saved on your computer in a recognizable format first. Once saved on your computer, you use the Picture Tools to upload your images.

Lots of text will slow the designer down. The more text you have on the page, the more we have to render the text behind the scenes, slowing things down.

Text in other languages may not be able to be written directly into our Designer. You may need to write it on a word processor and copy the text into our designer directly.

Bullet points are not offered on our designer currently. To achieve bullet points, you will need to write in a different word processor and then copy and paste it directly into our Designer.

You will not be able to copy fonts from a word processor into our designer. Text will be converted into whatever the default font is for a particular text box. To copy text from another program, use CTRL-C and to paste, use CTRL-V.

If you notice that some of your information is missing or didn't save, this may be due to the fact that you left or closed out the browser before the file completely saved. When you click the "save" button, our system gathers all the information together and then saves it. This is a two part process. The first part prevents you from continuing to work while it is gathering the information. When it is actually saving, you may continue to work on your design. A dialogue box appears in the upper left corner of your screen indicating this. If, however, you close the browser while it is trying to save may prevent all of your information from being saved. You need to wait until the saving dialogue box closes.

If your project refuses to save, then connection between our servers and your browser was momentarily lost. If this happens, you will need to restart the Designer by doing a hard refresh (CTRL-F5). This will restore all data connections with our servers. Unfortunately, unsaved information will be lost. We recommend that you save frequently.

Keep in mind, if your project has no activity for 18 months, it may be purged from the system.

If you are experiencing a problem that is not solved by any of the methods listed, please report it to us as quickly as possible. Please include what browser and version you are using as well as the specifics of the problem. Email the information to support@makemynewspaper.com.