Forum Discussion
Publisher replacement ideas
Below are the alternatives available:
- Affinity Publisher:
- A popular choice for its simplicity and affordability.
- Offers a one-time purchase (no subscription) and is compatible with macOS, Windows, and iPad.
- Scribus:
- A free, open-source desktop publishing tool.
- Great for creating professional layouts, though it might have a slight learning curve.
- Canva:
- Web-based and very intuitive.
- Ideal for creating visually appealing designs, though it may lack advanced desktop publishing features.
- Affinity Publisher:
I too hate to see MS Publisher go, it was so easy to use, operate, adjust and insert photos etc: I have a family history book that dates back to 1762 and stops in 1995. The lady who put this all together had it professionall bound and published. Unfortunately the name of the publisher is not listed. I intended to use publisher to bring it up to date and and make an insert for our family. So does anyone out there have any ideas or has already found a software that works for updating family history and photos.
Im a retired designer and do my monthly car club newsletter in Publisher. It has been terrific for a decade. I have been playing with Affinity. It's a possible but much more intense to learn. InDesign is much more difficult to learn. At this point I have not found a good replacment.
I don't know your age but at 61 and still active as a Graphic Designer. I have worked with WordPerfect, Page Maker, to migrate to InDesign and as well sometimes in QuarkXpress, and let me tell you that Publisher still is a powerful tool but not for professionals. Migrate from MSpublisher to anothe prorgram is a painful but achievable task. Of course it will not be cheap since you have to convert all your Publisher files to PDF and then if you want to keep working from that maybe import to another desktop publishing program. There a few very worthly to try such as Canvas, "InkSomething" (can't put it's name in this chat) or better yet, the now free Affinity Publish (Now called just Affinity), which is been a very good InDesign contender. I do understand the frustration (I was very frustated when Adobe killed Page Maker and had to learn InDesign, but it was for the better!). I've been testing Affinity and is very powerfull tool. Of course it lacks some of the features of Quark or InDesign but have very much to offer than MS Publisher. Take your time to export all your very important files to PDF and try of the above mentioned. I remember using Publisher strictly in the company that I work with for making newsletters (because the former designer of the company worked with it), but end up working with the now old Dreamweaver (part of the Adobe Cloud) which is more professional way to do. Yes need to learn new tricks and new interfaces-tools, but let's face it, work can't be stopped because a company dropped it's software.
I am also a newsletter editor for 2 car clubs and have used Publisher since 1996. My newsletters have lots of pictures and graphics as well as a large amount of text. The best part is the master page (template) that allows me to just clean it out and replace it with the current month's information. I tried the suggestion of converting one of my PDF files into Word, and it was a joke. I absolutely hate the way Word manipulates graphics. Canva was fun with the graphics, but the text just does not work. If I don't find something else soon, I will be forced to tell both car clubs that they are going to need to find a new editor. I'm too old for this stuff!
I have just said the same to one of our committee members that maybe October is the time for me to retire - Its a joke to say that powerpoint or word work as well as Publisher
If you don't have access to a perpetual version of Publisher (desktop, loaded with a CD originally) NOT the web accessible Publisher 365, consider "Adobe InDesign" as a MS Publisher replacement.
