Free Desktop Publisher?

[SweetErika]

I'll be making flyers for my son's school for at least the next year, and I haven't made a flyer in quite sometime now. I used to use Publisher, but it seems it's not included with Office anymore. And I find Word (I think I have 2010) frustrating when I need multiple columns and graphics.

I need to produce a flyer by Tuesday (though most of it's a matter of re-typing content from last year's flyer), so I can't deal with anything that has a steep learning curve.

Has anyone used Canva (and what's the catch with a free online platform like that)?

Other good, free, easy online platforms or programs?

Thanks in advance!

 

[LadyVer]

Do you have MS Word? I believe MS has free flyer templates for Word.

 

[silverwhisper]

erika, how much layout control do you need? i would think MS word can give you that level of control so understanding what its limitations are might be helpful.

the only free alternative i can think of is google docs, which offers quite a bit less in terms of layout options.

ed

 

[NightL]

I agree - Word will do fine

any area you are unsure of there is always a youtube tutorial on it... you know this

eg Word 2010: Columns
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A203FfoWZuo
which leads on to more on columns

Google return on word 2010 brochure template

Word will probably offer considerably more than free publisher packages and you are already familiar with the foundations - just need to find a few tutorials to suit your needs. The learning curve is less than taking on a new program. You will gain more. Your files will be more compatible with other contributes.

 

[xxxpaulzzz]

I'll be making flyers for my son's school for at least the next year, and I haven't made a flyer in quite sometime now. I used to use Publisher, but it seems it's not included with Office anymore. And I find Word (I think I have 2010) frustrating when I need multiple columns and graphics.

I need to produce a flyer by Tuesday (though most of it's a matter of re-typing content from last year's flyer), so I can't deal with anything that has a steep learning curve.

Has anyone used Canva (and what's the catch with a free online platform like that)?

Other good, free, easy online platforms or programs?

Thanks in advance!

cant you get some good hearted lit friend who is really good at pc publisher to do it for you and email it to you?

 

[Zeb_Carter]

There is always MS Publisher, it does come with Office. It has thousands...well hundreds of templates and uses textboxes and pictureboxes.

It not only does layout of things like brochures, but also websites, news letters, etc.

I have Office 2007 and 2010 and Publisher was included.

As for columns in Word...they are called tables and live on the insert tab.

 

[SweetErika]

I don't know why I don't have Publisher. I'll have to ask my husband.

I went ahead and used Word on your advice, since this was just a text document. I may have to look to another program for more graphics-intensive projects. I know how to add graphics and create tables in Word, but I'd like to have a less frustrating back-up for those particular projects.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

I don't know why I don't have Publisher. I'll have to ask my husband.

I went ahead and used Word on your advice, since this was just a text document. I may have to look to another program for more graphics-intensive projects. I know how to add graphics and create tables in Word, but I'd like to have a less frustrating back-up for those particular projects.

You might be able to go to Office on Microsoft.com and download Publisher, although I bet you do have it.

Look here ... "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office12\MSPUB.EXE"

 

[NightL]

Publisher was not included with Home and Student & Home and Business Office 2010 versions

 

[draig_OMalley2]

try Open Office

I often use Open Office, a free program by Oracle you can download. It has all the same features as Word. I've used it for flyers, newsletters, poems, short stories, etc. You can insert frames, photos, wrap the text around...etc. You should download help-instructions along with it. It's a bit clunky to use at first, but with some experience I've found it pretty good for just about anything Word can do. Here's the website I downloaded it from:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/openofficeorg.mirror/

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Publisher was not included with Home and Student & Home and Business Office 2010 versions

I have Business Office and Publisher came with it.

I often use Open Office, a free program by Oracle you can download. It has all the same features as Word. I've used it for flyers, newsletters, poems, short stories, etc. You can insert frames, photos, wrap the text around...etc. You should download help-instructions along with it. It's a bit clunky to use at first, but with some experience I've found it pretty good for just about anything Word can do. Here's the website I downloaded it from:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/openofficeorg.mirror/

Yes, this and Libre Office (the 64bit version of Open Office) both have an application called Presentation. In Libre it's called Impress Presentation and in Open Office it's just called Presentation.

Both look to be Publisher knockoffs and similar in user interface to be a good substitute.

 

[NightL]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Office_2010#Comparison
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee523662(v=office.14).aspx

 

[SweetErika]

Yep, I have the "Home and Business" version, apparently. I'm the 3rd owner of this Vaio (luckily, my husband's boss always wants problems fixed ASAP, even if that means buying a new top-of-the-line device when a part goes out) and my husband's company has no need for Publisher, so they got the Home and Business version.

When I had Ubuntu on my last laptop, I used OpenOffice, so maybe I'll give that a try.

 

[NightL]

If you are going to use Open Office, make sure you save files out in a compatible version if working with other contributors who may not have Open Office.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

I just set the file type to Word97 .doc as that is the most compatible to anyone using word or open office. Plus Publishers like Smashwords and Amazon like that format when submitting.

But the generic RTF works too.