Publisher alternative in 2026

I'm with you, I know we have a while yet but I have been looking at various programs to see if they can easily perform the tasks I currently use Publisher for. I create greeting cards and have many templates set up in Publisher that I can easily open, edit and print. I have not found anything else in office 365 or anywhere else yet that easily allows me to do the same. With Publisher it allows you to create the front and back of the design, others you seem to have to make the whole page the size of the card and then lining up has proved difficult. I have an old standalone copy of office but I am unable to install it alongside my current 365 subscription. I do hope they either change their mind or incorporate the ease of creating cards into something else.

Hi, Enerak,

I have exactly the same feelings right now. I am still hopeful however that something satisfactory will come out of all this frustration. The more people who let Microsoft know that they are not happy, the better. Mind you, we are like to be only a very small percentage of their customers!

• Ray

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.