Depending on the country that you are in many of the places that print such albums off free software to download and compose the album and some will not accept any other format. The nice thing in such cases is that the software often includes:
- Templates &/or Free Form
- Details of the services offered
- Price Calculation, (after updating online),
- Ordering Deadlines for Christmas, etc.
- Upload and Ordering
- Not every such provider only offers cloud based solutions
One such example, in the UK, Spain, France, Italy & Netherlands is Lidl Photographic, just click the link for your operating system they offer Windows & OS-X on that page but I am sure that I did find a link for Linux on the site a while ago.


Their software:
- Is Free (Gratis)
- Knows about products and Prices
- Works offline until you order
- Permits templates or Freehand
- Allows text & Captions
- Can auto page number
- Can even add QR Codes to provide links to web sites, on-line content, etc.
- Can give a nice professional layout
- You can select page background colours or images
- You can overlay images on each other
- Depending on the product selected you can have images &/or text on the cover.
I don't work for Lidl or the company that writes their software but have used it.
A quick Google turned up MyPublisher in the USA which offers similar software but as I am in the UK I cannot comment on the quality and pricing of their products and have not tried their package.
Note on printing portfolios at home
Unless you have a serious professional printing rig at home for other reasons you will find that you will be unable to match the quality of services such as these and from personal experience I have found, with a little shopping around, that the cost of getting a really professional looking, bound 14 page A5 booklet with double sided pages and a printed exterior produced by them, (Lidl in this case), was £5.32 including shipping, significantly less than the home printing costs of just 4 sheets of A4 single sided photo paper, colour ink, etc., which on an inkjet can run to £1.50/per page, (4x£1.50 = £6.00). I have also seen some services which off a same or next day service on some of the books which for a larger book might even be quicker than you could print it out yourself.