Microsoft is killing Publisher in October 2026. But before you start shopping for a replacement, or worse, signing up for another subscription, open PowerPoint.

It may look like a slideshow app, but PowerPoint runs on the same object-based layout logic that made Publisher so popular. Text boxes, images, and shapes behave like movable objects on a fixed canvas. The difference? PowerPoint has evolved, gaining AI-assisted layouts, real-time collaboration, and cloud flexibility that Publisher never had. And if you’re paying for Microsoft 365, it’s already installed.

How PowerPoint designs things like Publisher

To understand why this works, you need to compare PowerPoint to other Microsoft 365 apps. For example, the difference between Word and Publisher comes down to layout logic. Word is a flow-based system—it treats documents as a stream of text. Drop in an image and everything shifts around it.

Publisher and PowerPoint are canvas-first. Insert a text box or image, and it stays where you put it. Instead of thinking of PowerPoint as a slideshow tool, see it as a 2D layout engine.

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Ditch the widescreen: Setting your canvas

The biggest hurdle in PowerPoint is the 16:9 default, which is great for screens but useless for printers. So, change the canvas to a standard paper size:

1. Click Slide Size > Custom Slide Size in the Design tab.
2. Toggle orientation to “Portrait.”
3. Select “Letter Paper (8.5×11 in)” or “A4 Paper (210×297 mm)” from the drop-down menu and click “OK.”
4. Click “Ensure Fit” when prompted to resize any existing content.

Just like that, your slide is replaced by a standard vertical page ready for a newsletter or flyer.

The secret weapon: The Selection Pane

Publisher fans love layers, which PowerPoint also has. They’re just hidden in the Selection Pane:

1. Click Home > Select > Selection Pane.
2. Rename objects by double-clicking them in the list.
3. Click the eye icon to hide elements while you work on layers underneath.
4. Drag items up or down the list to manage the Z-axis (what sits on top).

This eliminates the frustration of clicking a text box only to accidentally select the background image instead.

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Microsoft Designer: The AI layout helper

Publisher’s templates feel dated, whereas PowerPoint’s Designer pane acts like a modern layout assistant:

1. Drop your raw photos and headlines onto the page.
2. If the Designer sidebar doesn’t open automatically, click “Designer” in the Home tab.
3. Select a layout suggestion.

Designer can even suggest color palettes and typography automatically, generating layouts that feel far more modern than classic clip art.

Master Pages via the Slide Master

If you use Publisher’s Master Pages, you’ll find their twin in PowerPoint’s Slide Master. This is the perfect place to anchor static elements you don’t want to move by accident:

1. Click View > Slide Master.
2. Place logos, page numbers, or background borders on the top-level layout.
3. Click “Close Master View” to return to your document.

Anything you place here can’t be moved in Normal view. This ensures your layout integrity remains rock-solid—you won’t accidentally drag your company logo two inches out of place while trying to edit a paragraph.

Precision layout: The “blue line” environment

While PowerPoint’s free-form setup is powerful, it’s messy without constraints. To recreate Publisher’s “blue line” design environment, right-click the gray space outside your slide and toggle these essentials:

1. Ruler: Shows measurements and lets you drag guides onto the canvas.
2. Guides: Add vertical or horizontal lines to create margins and safe zones. Drag to reposition or right-click to delete.
3. Smart Guides: Temporary alignment lines appear as you move objects, helping you center and align elements.

Don’t forget the pasteboard—the gray space outside the slide that acts as a functional workspace. You can park things there until you’re ready to use them.

Typography: Making PowerPoint look less like PowerPoint

To truly replace Publisher, you must first break the “Slide 1” aesthetic. Start by deleting the default “Click to add” placeholders to create a blank canvas. For multi-column layouts, insert a text box and go to Home > Paragraph > Add or Remove Columns. Unlike Word, where columns affect the whole page, PowerPoint lets you apply them to individual boxes.

For a more polished look, open the “Font” dialog (Ctrl+Shift+F), and in the Character Spacing tab, adjust the Spacing to “Condensed” or “Expanded.” Tucking your headline letters closer together (Condensed) creates a high-end feel that standard slides lack.

In the same menu, make sure “Kerning for fonts” is selected to fix awkward gaps between letters.

Pair these tweaks with the Picture Format tab’s Remove Background or Crop to Shape tools to create a design that bridges the gap between a standard slideshow and a polished publication.

The living document advantage

PowerPoint has evolved into a cloud-first app, giving it an edge over Publisher’s older, desktop-focused design.

Because your layout is natively a presentation, it can behave like a multimedia asset: use the Morph transition (available in PowerPoint for Microsoft 365) to turn a static flyer into a high-res, animated social media video in seconds by duplicating your page and shifting elements.

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You can edit layouts on an iPad or via a web browser, and when you’re ready to share, press Ctrl+A to select your design, right-click, and select “Save as Picture” to generate a PNG instantly for social media or digital distribution.

Reality check: Where the ceiling is

I’m not going to pretend that PowerPoint is a perfect 1:1 replacement for every Publisher job, especially if you’re working with high-end print houses. Before you commit your most complex projects to a slide, keep these hurdles in mind:

• No CMYK support: PowerPoint supports RGB but not CMYK. If you’re sending your files to a professional press, you might need a third-party converter.
• No preflight tools: Dedicated publishing software can scan a document for missing fonts, low-res images, or color-space problems before export. PowerPoint can’t, so quality control is manual.
• No linked text boxes: Unlike Publisher, you can’t overflow text from one box to the next. If your text is too long for page 1, you’ll have to manually cut and paste the remainder into a new box on page 2.
• No native bleeds: There’s no setting for bleed or slug areas. You’ll have to manually increase your canvas size if your design needs to bleed to the edge.
• Limited export controls: While you can export to PDF, you don’t get fine-grained options for trim marks, color profiles, or press-ready presets.
• No spreads view: You can’t view pages side-by-side like a book layout, making it difficult to design content that spans across two pages.

For professional print houses, these omissions matter. But for most everyday projects, they don’t. So, instead of searching for a new subscription to replace Publisher, give PowerPoint a try—you might find it’s the most versatile design tool you already have.

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Windows, macOS, iPhone, iPad, Android

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