Publisher alternative in 2026

Dear Sophia

I have used MS Publisher for more than 20 years. I produce booklets and Christmas cards for churches and charities. We cannot afford expensive programs.

What else will format an A5 booklet or paste a frame of information onto a picture or manipulate arrangements of text and pictures/photos like Publisher.

Whatever is the reason for retiring it?

I have 100s of pieces that will be lost.

Cancel this bad decision immediately!

from Pipin

I'm in the exact same position! I've been spending HOURS trying to figure out an alternative to our weekly program and there is just nothing that compares! Not to mention the numerous hours ahead of me trying to convert all of our different signup sheets, booklets, and brochures. I will repeat what you said: There is "no other product that has the functionality and flexibility of Publisher."

Word does not have the ability to create 11 x 17 documents which is what I use every day for our bulletin. Nor does it give you shapes, easily placeable text boxes, photo or headline boxes. Word is strictly for word processing not designing brochures or cards. Will Publisher assets be added to Word?

Everyone who has not seen the petition to stop Publisher's discontinuation, here it is. Doubt it will do any good but it's worth a try.

https://www.change.org/p/prevent-the-discontinuation-of-microsoft-publisher

Yes - THIS!!! I have hundreds of Publisher files, and sorry, Word and PowerPoint are nothing like it. The freeform ability to do layouts of images and text without conflict has always been lightyears ahead for the ridiculous "anchors" that constantly tie me up trying to slides text, objects and images around.