Publisher alternative in 2026

Learning another program that is *similar* to Publisher is frustrating. I tried Open Office a number of years ago, and gave up as it didn't have the functionality that I'd been used to with MS Office. Things were similar, but not the same. It took me ages to try and do what I could do in a few seconds in MS. There were MS features that I frequently used that were not available in Open Office. I gave up in the end.

I don't have the time or brain capability to learn a new *similar* program. I know it's a recipe for extreme brain frustration!

I checked out their website and it looks like original MS Publisher???

When does Microsoft remove the size limitations from Powerpoint? They were the only reason why one would have to use Publisher... Powerpoint is limited to about A0 max size and if one would like to make roll-ups, sheets etc...

I'm not a techie either but a while back two stand-alone Publisher CDs were purchased several years apart. The last few years the yearly upgrade has been a recurring purchase from Microsoft directly. Both of those old stand-alones still work; however, if it was read correctly no version of Publisher will work after the shutdown date of October 1, 2026. "After this date, you will no longer be able to open or edit these files with Microsoft Publisher." So if we don't save our files as PDFs and move them out of Publisher we will lose them. Period.  Someone asked if it might be possible to use Publisher on a device that is not hooked up to the internet. That way it wouldn't be a security risk. The finished piece might then be made into PDFs and transferred with a thumb drive to a 2nd device for online use.

Not particularly helpful though, Dale!