Microsoft Publisher
Ranked 2 of 6 desktop publishing software by recommenders
Simple, easy layout tool for brochures and internal documents; main caveat is support ending October 2026, with critics warning existing files may become unopenable.
Simple, easy layout tool for brochures and internal documents; main caveat is support ending October 2026, with critics warning existing files may become unopenable.
28 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 14
- criticize it
- 14
- approval share
- 50%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 14 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 1 recommender for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Simple and easy to use
“It's a useful, simple DTP package suitable for many less complex page layout scenarios.”
Comment from 9 Dec 2025 in “Microsoft increases Office 365 and Microsoft 365 license prices” “It was simple to use and much more suitable than Word for simple design jobs”
Comment from 8 Dec 2025 in “Microsoft increases Office 365 and Microsoft 365 license prices” “I found Publisher easy to use but ultimately quite limiting.”
Comment from 9 Dec 2025 in “Microsoft increases Office 365 and Microsoft 365 license prices” Good for brochures and internal documents
“Publisher is the equivalent of InDesign. It was meant for brochures and so on.”
Comment from 5 Feb 2026 in “Wirth's Revenge” “Publisher's purpose was for a certain use case, and it did it well.”
Comment from 5 Apr 2026 in “Microsoft Publisher will no longer be supported after October 2026” “Publisher is a really great tool to create internal documents”
Comment from 9 Dec 2025 in “Microsoft increases Office 365 and Microsoft 365 license prices”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Support ending and files may be unopenable
“Its death knell has been sounded and microsoft aren't even offering any way for people to properly view or print their publisher files”
Comment from 2 Apr 2026 in “Artemis computer running two instances of MS outlook; they can't figure out why” “It's extraordinary to me that a huge number of files representing many hours of human labour will suddenly become unopenable.”
Comment from 8 Jul 2026 in “Microsoft Publisher will no longer be supported after October 2026” “They also are actively decreasing the value by sunsetting Publisher in October 2026”
Comment from 8 Dec 2025 in “Microsoft increases Office 365 and Microsoft 365 license prices” - Comment from 31 May 2026 in “Microsoft degrades functionality of perpetually-licensed offline products”
- Comment from 5 Mar 2026 in “Good software knows when to stop”
- Comment from 6 Apr 2026 in “New Copilot for Windows 11 includes a full Microsoft Edge package, uses more RAM”
- Comment from 9 Dec 2025 in “Microsoft increases Office 365 and Microsoft 365 license prices”
Limited and stagnant versus alternatives
“I think there are much better free pieces of software that can replace it”
Comment from 6 Apr 2026 in “Microsoft Publisher will no longer be supported after October 2026” “Publisher has faired even worse than Word in terms of stagnation”
Comment from 5 Feb 2026 in “Wirth's Revenge” “I found Publisher easy to use but ultimately quite limiting.”
Comment from 9 Dec 2025 in “Microsoft increases Office 365 and Microsoft 365 license prices” - Comment from 9 Dec 2025 in “Microsoft increases Office 365 and Microsoft 365 license prices”
Installed copies stop working or printing
“My installed version stopped printing properly already.”
Comment from 23 Sep 2026 in “Microsoft Publisher will no longer be supported after October 2026” “it actually stops working if installed”
Comment from 8 Dec 2025 in “Microsoft increases Office 365 and Microsoft 365 license prices”
Other desktop publishing software people recommend
The four most recommended other desktop publishing software, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adobe InDesign | 16 | 20 | 44% | 8 | — | — |
| Microsoft PublisherThis page | 14 | 14 | 50% | 5 | — | — |
| Scribus | 8 | 5 | 62% | 6 | — | — |
| Affinity Publisher | 7 | 0 | 100% | 4 | — | — |
| Vellum | 6 | 1 | 86% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
27 of the 28 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Groove, infopath, publisher, frontpage, SharePoint, various versions of Outlook, the office shortcut bar, photo editor, picture manager - they've all disappeared”
“My installed version stopped printing properly already.”
“Malloyyo / Publisher are free to use anywhere.”
“would be an embarrassment to Microsoft and useless to anyone else”
“It's extraordinary to me that a huge number of files representing many hours of human labour will suddenly become unopenable.”
“killing Publisher with no true alternative to open existing .pub files”
“I think there are much better free pieces of software that can replace it”
“discontinuation of not only support, but runnability of Publisher”
“Publisher's purpose was for a certain use case, and it did it well.”
“I am quite impresses it still is.”
“What about using a supported version of Publisher (standalone) on Windows in a VM?”
“Its death knell has been sounded and microsoft aren't even offering any way for people to properly view or print their publisher files”
“announce that it will be going away on a certain date with no recourse”
“Publisher is the equivalent of InDesign. It was meant for brochures and so on.”
“Publisher has faired even worse than Word in terms of stagnation”
“kerning is usually pretty bad with Serifed fonts”
“I found Publisher easy to use but ultimately quite limiting.”
“It's a useful, simple DTP package suitable for many less complex page layout scenarios.”
“Publisher was never good compared to the competition.”
“Publisher actually being EOL in '26”
“Publisher is a really great tool to create internal documents”
“I have fond memories of Publisher. We used it to layout our school newspaper back in the 90ies.”
“It was simple to use and much more suitable than Word for simple design jobs”
“Publisher has been zombie-like or comatose in the same span, and now scheduled for death”
“any serious print shop will laugh you out the door if you come to them with a Publisher file”
“it actually stops working if installed”
“They also are actively decreasing the value by sunsetting Publisher in October 2026”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.