Publisher is a publishing application that is only available for PC. Its specialty is designing and publishing a wide range of professional documents. You’ll find templates for newsletters, postcards, flyers, invitations, brochures, and much more. While similar in many ways to Word, the main difference is that Publisher focus is 100% on designing the page layout and graphic design elements, while Word has some templates, the focus is on writing, composition, and proofreading.
Unlike other Microsoft 365 apps, such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook, Microsft Publisher is not available as a free browser-based app, and there is no mobile app.
If you want to use this template-building software, you will need to purchase an Microsoft 365 subscription. If you’re not sure if this is the right tool for you, I’ll show you how to get a free 30-day trial, so you can properly test it.
How to Download Microsoft Publisher for Free
- Click the Download button on the sidebar. You will be redirected to an information page with some helpful FAQs about Publisher. You’ll also see a Download Now button; click it, and the Microsoft 365 download page will open in a new tab.
- There is a 30 day free trial for the Microsoft 365 Family package. Click the Try Free for 1 Month link to start the registration process.
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- Confirm you want the free trial by clicking the Try 1 Month Free button.
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- Only users with a registered Microsoft account can receive the month-long trial. Either log in to your account or create a free account. The free trial is for new users only, so if you’ve already purchased an Office subscription in the past, you won’t be eligible. There is an easy hack you can use, which is to register your account under a different email address.
- You do need to enter your payment information so that if you decide to stick with Publisher and Microsft 365 past the 30 days, your information will already be in the system. Click the Next button to enter the secure payment portal.
- There are types of accepted payment methods. Choose either Credit Card or Debit Card, PayPal, or Mobile Phone.
- A form will appear where you can enter your credit card, log in to PayPal, or enter your mobile number to register your payment method.
- Press the Subscribe button.
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- After your payment method is confirmed, click the Continue button.
- Click the Download the Desktop Apps button, and your Microsoft dashboard will open in a new tab.
- Click the Install Office button, and the OfficeSetup.EXE file will download to your computer.
- You can open the file when the download is complete, and Microsoft 265, including Publisher, will automatically begin installing on your computer.
Microsoft Publisher Features
Unlike most of the Office 365 apps that can be used by just about anyone, Publisher serves a specific niche. It’s used for creating marketing materials such as flyers, menus, book cover designs, brochures, banners, and more. Its features include:
- Drag-and-drop functionality
- Ruler and guides so everything lines up perfectly
- Save high-resolution image files with common image formats
- Automatically saves work to OneDrive
- Photo importer
- Ability to use high-resolution picture backgrounds
- Integrates with all Office 365 applications
Within Publisher, you have access to a vast selection of ready-to-use templates numbering in the hundreds, while also retaining the option to create your own designs. The familiar ribbon-style menu bar, consistent across all Office 365 applications, ensures a seamless transition for users who are already accustomed to utilizing Word or Excel, making the adoption of Publisher a straightforward and intuitive experience.
While Word also has a variety of templates for marketing materials — you’ll have more options, flexibility, and tools with Publisher.
Additional Microsoft 365 Apps
In addition to its essential productivity software, Microsoft 365 gives all subscribers access to 1 TB of OneDrive cloud storage. This gives you the flexibility to access your files from anywhere, share with team members, and collaborate with others. Here are some of the most popular apps that come with Microsft 365.
- Word: A premier word processing tool, Word has everything you might need when creating text-based documents. In addition to a wide selection of templates, fonts, layout, and proofing options, Word also has a collection of tables and graphs to help organize your content in an easy-to-digest manner.
- Excel: Widely considered the best spreadsheet tool for commercial use, Excel comes with a myriad of features, formulas, functions, and more. You can automate your data entry from several different business tools to help streamline your process and quickly organize the data in an organized style.
- PowerPoint: If you need to make a presentation for any reason, PowerPoint is the easiest and best software to use. It comes with beautifully designed templates, a great selection of fonts, colors, transitions in between slides, and you can animate each object on the slide. There are also a host of tools to help you while presenting your slideshow.