Microsoft Publisher is an entry-level desktop publishing application from Microsoft. Microsoft Publishers is a less expensive alternative to the “Titans” in desktop publishing and design. The focus is on the small business market where businesses do not have dedicated design professionals available to make marketing materials and other documents.
The emphasis is placed on page layout and design and is easy-to-use. Microsoft Publisher can be used to create a variety of publications. Using Publisher, you can easily create simple things like greeting cards and labels, or more complex projects like yearbooks, catalogs, and professional email newsletters and much, much more.
When you open Publisher 2016 in the right pane, there is a variety of Featured templates including a Blank template. Choose the blank template to start your project from scratch. Alternatively if you know what your project is going to be, then choose a layout and design from the pre-set templates.
Templates are a great alternative as you can quickly customize your project. You can edit the existing text, insert new text boxes or add your own images to suit.
Key Features in Publisher
- Publisher has a more detailed ruler, allowing for more precise measurements.
- Create visually rich, professional-looking publications
- Publisher offers Master pages
- A selection of “building blocks” that can be dragged into your documents
- Publisher integrates mail merge features, which is useful when you need to send publications to a list of customers
- Export your project as HTML Web pages or PDF documents
Because Publisher is a Microsoft product it easily integrats with other Microsoft applications. It comes with a Design Checker that checks your publication for printing and formatting errors and offers options for fixing them before sending it out. Publishers content library makes it really easy to create content on time and then also reuse it. The software includes an easy to use drag and drop feature, you can search for photos and drag them into your publication.
As a business owner Microsoft Publisher is a great application that can be learnt and used effortlessly for most if not all of your businesses design and publishing projects.