Publisher replacement ideas

I started using MS Publisher in the late 90's. It was my go-to program for almost everything - client handouts, business proposals, flyers, booklets, etc. So easy to use. I have tons of content in MS Pub - hundreds of files. I even started my website design journey in Publisher, though that was NOT a good idea, LOL. It generated awful HTML.

InDesign, as others suggested above, is a STEEP learning curve, and rather complex. I used it to design an e-book at one point because it was better for designing epubs. IMHO, unless you live in the design world and create day-in and day-out, it's not worth the complexity. Think the complexity of Photoshop times 10... It's also quite expensive for occasional use.

I'm not a real fan of Canva, though that is probably what has driven MS to abandon Publisher. Much of the content I create is text-heavy: multi-page handouts, small books, etc. I find text management in Canva to be onerous if there is a lot of text on a page. Canva's sweet spot seems to me to be graphic-heavy design with a small percentage of text. 

Similarly, I find Powerpoint doesn't do what I want, and misses certain features, though there is at least the ability to push to the edge of the page. Word is a pain to lay out anything other than text formatting and an occasional image. You can't even create a simple graphic heading that spans the entire top of the page. If it could do that, Word might be adequate some of the time. 

I have heard that there is another, open source Office program (which apparently can not be named here) that might be an option, and that they offer the ability to import .pub files. I haven't tried it yet, but am hoping that is accurate. Otherwise, I have no idea what to do with all of these .pub files, many of which I still need info out of or are handouts I actively use with clients.