Word/PowerPoint are not suitable replacements for Publisher

I’m writing following the guidance that Word and PowerPoint can be used as replacements for Publisher.

This feedback is based on completing a real production document, not theoretical use

Having just completed a fairly complex, layout-heavy technical document, I thought it only fair to share how that works in practice.

In theory, I can see the logic:

• Word handles documents
• PowerPoint handles layouts
• Therefore, between the two, everything should be covered

Unfortunately, in reality, this appears to be more of a theoretical exercise than a practical solution.

Publisher was clearly designed for:

• Fixed, page-based layouts
• Precise positioning of objects
• Efficient alignment of mixed content (text, images, tables)
• Producing consistent, professional multi-page documents

By comparison:

• Word is admirably committed to reminding you that it would prefer everything to flow freely, regardless of whether you want it to or not
• PowerPoint, while better behaved, does seem to assume every page is a standalone slide rather than part of a structured document

Both tools can, with enough persistence, be persuaded into doing the job. However, this involves a level of manual intervention, workaround, and general negotiation with the software that feels somewhat at odds with modern productivity software.

To put it simply: They are not replacements in any meaningful, real-world sense.

The end result can be achieved, but the process is unnecessarily time-consuming, fragile, and prone to unexpected layout changes—particularly when precision actually matters.

Replacing a purpose-built publishing tool with two applications that were never designed for that role gives the impression that this use case has been… optimistically simplified.

I would strongly encourage Microsoft to either:

• Provide a genuine page-layout solution within the Office suite, or
• Enhance existing applications so they can support fixed-layout publishing without constant workarounds

At present, the gap left by Publisher is very noticeable for anyone producing structured documents beyond basic text.

I appreciate the direction of Microsoft 365 overall, but in this particular area, the experience feels less like an evolution and more like working around a missing tool.

Regards

Andy