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Why is Publisher being phased out, and what is Microsoft replacing it with? Will Microsoft 365 be cheaper since they are phasing out the program?
As a senior and a person who has ADHD, I don't like change, I don't like to have to upgrade and purchase programs that were included and continue to pay higher prices for fewer services. I use Publisher a lot. We make camping calendars, calendars for family birthdays, workers' schedules, etc. Soon, there will be nothing in Microsoft to fulfill this. I make camping meal plans, and prep and supplies. and no, word and its things suck. Not even close to being user-friendly for seniors, if you learned to use Word before, the updates are not as user-friendly. Great for kids learning it now, sucks for seniors. I make banners, posters, cards, signs, etc. What will I use now? I had a chat with Mohammad for 20 minutes, and he kept telling me Microsoft has a plan, just wait for it. I did mention that once you state you are phasing things out, you already have a plan and might as well explain it. No large company or corporation says they are phasing something out if they haven't come up with a plan already! When he suggested I wait, I was not impressed at all. Wait for what? Wait to hear we waited too long to be a voice the company needed to hear from us sooner? Not a happy Granny!
The person I spoke with said that the company and higher-ups need to hear from us. If you like Publisher, let them know. I am trying!!
A desktop publishing application from Microsoft that focuses on page layout and graphic design.
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
The suggestion to use Word as an alternative is just insulting to our intelligence. How condescending and clueless!
Granny, I most certainly agree with you.
We share a same boat.
I use PUBLISHER extensively and want to keep using it.
Word, in which I am well versed, does NOT have the same functionalities.
I have been happily using PUBLISHER since the 1990s.
I am EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTED in the discontinuing.
Apparently, though, MS is not caring about what we think and feel.
I am very disappointed that we’re losing Publisher. It was the best of the MS package and other than using Excel. It was the ONLY thing I used! I’m moving to Canva, similar but not the same as Publisher. WHY??? A great program and you get rid of it!
I have used publisher since version one in 1993, and 100 percent agree word has never been capable of performing tasks that publisher so easily does. I have always found word to be very cumbersome to say the least. Word does have its place, but publisher runs circles around word from day one. I was the first in my family to master the program and passed it on to other family members creating thousands of files and still reference many of them to date and was planning on maintaining until the day I die. This is not the first time I have experienced these issues with Microsoft. I also mastered the Front Page web authoring application that they also left behind and I have yet to find anything today that was ease of use as it once was. Why does Microsoft choose Publisher to end and not Word instead. Word doesn't do even close to what word does. I don't get this at all????? I would rather see Word retired versus Publisher!!!! There will definitely be many people and business likely creating lawsuits against Microsoft as they hold us all hostage to their stupid decisions retiring the application but what do they care? They don't give a rats ass because they are making billions chasing other projects and make us purchase their never-ending subscriptions until they are pleased with the revenue then they pull the plug and leave us all stranded once again. I do not have enough time in my day, weeks or even years enough to go thru all our publisher files to convert them, it will never happen. I have thousands of hours in creating some of these files and other family members have countless hours creating and we depend on them to be there when we need them and we would like to edit them at our own leisure and not have Microsoft BULLY us into stop using. This is an ubsurd action on Microsoft once again. If they retire the application, they better make a way to either continue using an older version forever without further cost and a lifetime or never ending version to fulfill its long term loyal customers who have spent lots of time and money investing in their lives and work and businesses. Sorry (not sorry) Microsoft, you do not have the right to force us to trash all our files without being able to edit them further, it is nothing but unacceptable!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Use your previous version of Office that did include Publisher to edit your files.
Older perpetual licenses that include Publisher, such as Office 2021 Professional, can still be used, even after October 2026.