US Serif Software PagePlus X9

I bought Serif Page Plus 5 and have upgraded at each opportunity. I am currently using PagePlus X9. I had been using Microsoft Publisher but the price kept going up. Today the prices are comparable. I purchased Serif because it has more features than Publisher. I can bring photos into a document and am able to do more extensive corrections without having to go to another program or affect the original jpg. I have been able to make small format books printing both on front and back having the pages sequentially numbered and printed in duplex. I use templates that I devised for a couple newsletters that I do. I bring in text from Word and can print ebooks in either the mobi or ebook format. I can add an index also. I am able to do all of the things that I did in Publisher and more.Is there a learning curve? Yes. With every different developer of software, it is necessary to learn anew. I have Adobe Elements for the same time period and have not been able to learn as much or as quickly as I have with Serif. I figure out things as I go and that is fine with me. I've worked with Microsoft Word for years and still can't make it do what I wanted. So I bought Serif and love them both.Also, I've seen several comparisons to what Indesign can do versus Serif. That is an unfair comparison. Currently (end of 2016) to get an Indesign subscription, you must pay $29.99 a month ($360 a year) and continue paying as long as you use the product. PagePlus is a bit over $100 right now and it's a one time purchase. These two programs are made for a very different users.

I purchased this for $100.98 on Amazon Prime with free one-day delivery. Although I placed my order at 11 p.m., it did arrive next day by 10 a.m. - less than 11 hours later.This was my first "same-day" delivery and it worked beautifully. It must be noted, however, that it was listed on amazon as sold by amazon yet it arrived in a large manila envelope which contained no packing slip or any other paperwork of any kind. The case containing the software was not sealed. There was no insert accompanying the DVD with installation instructions. I am wondering if the product I received is new (as ordered) or used!I had been using the starter version of Serif Page Plus but was interested in some of the features that were not available to me. I wanted to be able to customize borders and frames, I wanted more flexibility in resizing and reorienting, and I wanted to be able to do photo editing which was not available at all in the starter version. I was also curiously hopeful about the new calendar features in version 9.The software loaded easily and without problems. There was a learning curve. Some of the features I had been using changed from version to version; some of the terminology was new to me. The new features took some figuring out. Overall, Serif Page Plus X9 works well and does what I want it to do. I have a lot more flexibility now and the end product is great.The calendar creator feature is a disappointment. It does not have the flexibility I would like but is more utilitarian.I would have liked the ability to save pages as JPGs so that after working with them, the enhanced images could be brought into other applications. If that can be done, I have not found it yet.Overall, I am very pleased with the product, not so much with the seller.although the seller is stated to be amazon. How odd that Amazon did not include a packing slip and sent unsealed software. I am skeptical.

I purchased the software thinking it would be a good program to create a newsletter for an organization I belong to, however the templates were ok and the graphics were good but once the newsletter was created it could not be saved as a PDF nor could it be attached to my e-mail.Therefore I could not use it for the purpose I purchased it.

I have used PagePlus and other Serif "Legacy" products for nearly 12-13 years, and love them all - I am already using Affinity Designer, switching from an old Fireworks 8 and the experience has been awesome. Unfortunately, as a few reviewers have mentioned, I finally pulled the trigger on X9, (temporarily) upgrading from X6, and the program crashed twice simply trying to save a document within the first hour of use after installing from a DVD, and each time I successfully saved my work, it read (Not Responding) for a few seconds first. Just makes me nervous, and figured there is a reason they are giving this away for $24.99 while X8 still retails for more. I trust Serif, and will immediately jump on Affinity Publisher when it arrives, but X9 is not stable, especially on Windows 10, and I cannot trust my business docs on this. I have created everything from my business cards, resume, portfolios, newsletters, homework worksheets for schools, hand outs, e-books, and more for multiple companies on PagePlus products ... I love it. But I will stick with my trusty PagePlus X6 for now.

Disappointed in this and I have used Serif products for many many years

I have been a long time user and fan of Serif's Pageplus. The price was just too good to pass up for this upgraded version. After installing it and a brief test run, it delivered on everything that I love the software for and then some. It was nice that it's interface remained familiar and I didn't have to lose my previous version of the software, by allowing side by side installation on my pc. I had absolutely no problem with loading and editing any projects that I had created with the older version. Through the years I have used a number of expensive professional desktop publishing software, but always seem to find myself drawn to the simplicity and no nonsense interface of Serif's Pageplus time and time again for many of my printing needs. It's continuing longtime support for the ability to import and export to pdf is a definite plus, especially when out-sourcing my print jobs online or uploading to a usb thumb drive in format compatible with the needs of local printing services. Too bad that this version (x9) of PagePlus is the last of the legacy compatible version of Serif's Desktop Publishing software.