What software is comparable to Publisher for text and graphics?

Question

What software is comparable to Publisher for text and graphics?

Debbie Taylor 5

There is nothing comparable to Publisher. HOW can you discontinue it?

I have 1000's of hours invested in family projects that I create each year. I have side bars with all of the birthdays.

I WEEKLY design our bulletin at church. I use the design space along the outside of the document to take things in and out as needed. Power Point does not allow the use of this space.

WORD does not keep bulletin layouts. It is very fickle about where things go on the page and the whole page can collapse into a corner.

THIS NEWS IS VERY DISAPPOINTING.

Any help would be appreciated.

debbie

Debbie Dewald 0 Reputation points

2026-05-16T03:00:41.99+00:00

I'm equally as upset about Publisher going away. I use it all the time! I looked at powerpoint and the tool bar at top is exactly the same as in Publisher. It defaults to an odd page size, but can be changed to 8.5x11 by clicking on the "design" tab, then far right is slide size.
Louise Jones 0 Reputation points

2026-05-25T18:20:34.4+00:00

Debbie Dewald is right! I have been fussing with Affinity by Canva and find it very difficult to learn. It is not intuitive. It will take a long time to figure out how this very rich software works. I started over and converted my Publisher newsletter template to PowerPoint by way of converting Publisher to PDF and then using Adobe to convert the PDF to PowerPoint. The portrait view converted beautifully into PowerPoint as did all of the formatted aspects of the document. Using the menu in PowerPoint I have all the capability of the MS Publisher product.
Renee Deierling 0 Reputation points

2026-05-27T19:53:51.3766667+00:00

I agree wholeheartedly with Debbie and Louise. I have 339 publisher files currently. I have a strong dislike for Word. It doesn't create designed documents easily. It provides me with more frustration than results. I don't understand why Microsoft is discontinuing a strong product in the Office family. It would be nice if Microsoft is recommending using PowerPoint as an alternate that there is a more efficent way to convert the files out of Publisher.

signed,

a disgruntled 30+ year Microsoft customer
Debbie Dewald 0 Reputation points

2026-05-28T21:08:49.7133333+00:00

Louise and Renee, instead of going through making a pdf first, I opened both publisher and powerpoint, opened file in publisher, CTRL A, CTRL C in publisher, click on powerpoint, CTRL V, to copy into poewrpoint, then (re)saved there.

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Debbie Dewald 0 Reputation points

2026-05-16T03:00:41.99+00:00

I'm equally as upset about Publisher going away. I use it all the time! I looked at powerpoint and the tool bar at top is exactly the same as in Publisher. It defaults to an odd page size, but can be changed to 8.5x11 by clicking on the "design" tab, then far right is slide size.
Louise Jones 0 Reputation points

2026-05-25T18:20:34.4+00:00

Debbie Dewald is right! I have been fussing with Affinity by Canva and find it very difficult to learn. It is not intuitive. It will take a long time to figure out how this very rich software works. I started over and converted my Publisher newsletter template to PowerPoint by way of converting Publisher to PDF and then using Adobe to convert the PDF to PowerPoint. The portrait view converted beautifully into PowerPoint as did all of the formatted aspects of the document. Using the menu in PowerPoint I have all the capability of the MS Publisher product.
Renee Deierling 0 Reputation points

2026-05-27T19:53:51.3766667+00:00

I agree wholeheartedly with Debbie and Louise. I have 339 publisher files currently. I have a strong dislike for Word. It doesn't create designed documents easily. It provides me with more frustration than results. I don't understand why Microsoft is discontinuing a strong product in the Office family. It would be nice if Microsoft is recommending using PowerPoint as an alternate that there is a more efficent way to convert the files out of Publisher.

signed,

a disgruntled 30+ year Microsoft customer
Debbie Dewald 0 Reputation points

2026-05-28T21:08:49.7133333+00:00

Louise and Renee, instead of going through making a pdf first, I opened both publisher and powerpoint, opened file in publisher, CTRL A, CTRL C in publisher, click on powerpoint, CTRL V, to copy into poewrpoint, then (re)saved there.

Answer 1

WordWizzard 1,035

You may want to look into using Affinity Publisher. It's free.

You can supposedly use it to import and edit your Publisher files, if you first convert them to PDF. See https://www.affinity.studio/

But you may get better results, if you convert the Publisher files directly to Affinity using https://markzware.com/markzportal/converting-microsoft-publisher-to-affinity-publisher/

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Answer 2

While Microsoft Publisher is a unique tool for desktop publishing, there are several alternatives that you might consider for creating text and graphics layouts. Here are a few options:

Adobe InDesign: This is a professional desktop publishing software that offers extensive layout and design features, suitable for creating brochures, newsletters, and other complex documents.
Scribus: This is a free and open-source desktop publishing application that provides a range of features for layout design, making it a good alternative for users who need a cost-effective solution.
Canva: An online design tool that allows you to create a variety of graphics and layouts easily. It offers templates and a user-friendly interface, which can be helpful for quick designs.
Affinity Publisher: A more affordable alternative to Adobe InDesign, it offers many similar features for professional publishing.
LibreOffice Draw: Part of the LibreOffice suite, this tool can be used for basic desktop publishing tasks and is free to use.

These alternatives may not replicate every feature of Publisher, but they can provide similar functionalities for your design needs. If you are looking for specific features that Publisher offers, it might be worth exploring these options to see which one best fits your requirements.

References:

Microsoft Q&A

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What software is comparable to Publisher for text and graphics?

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