Opening old Publisher files

I have Office for Mac 2011 on my iMac but I can't open my old Publisher files? Any suggestions or have I lost them all?

G'day and welcome to the forums.

Not good news as Microsoft for some reason never went to the trouble of making a Publisher version for the Mac. Have a read of this link:-

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2374361?start=0&tstart=0

Thanks - that was quick and you're just down the road - amazing! If I find someone with a PC/ Windows, will that work, do you think?

It'll work if they have a recent version of MS Publisher installed. MS Publisher was not included with most versions of Windows Office. I have the business version of Windows Office which includes Publisher, but the home and student versions do not. Also, buying Publisher by itself is expensive: $125.00 !

Also: it's crap! The only thing it can export to is PDF, which isn't terribly helpful. Even if you get the files moved over to Mac, they will be pretty much useless.

My suggestion would be to make PDFs and use those as blueprints for re-creating in Pages or Swift Publisher. You'll be rewarded for the extra work by making (guaranteed) much more beautiful recreations of those Publisher documents, given either program's superior abilities and design sensibilities.

I wouldn't go so far as to call MS Publisher crap. It's quite capable of producing good quality documents of all types. We used it for many years and never had a problem with it. I do however, have a problem with the way MS handles proprietary formats, but that's another story.

And by the way, speaking of real crap... Swift Publisher falls in that category. It is the most unintuitive and difficult layout program that I have ever used. Which is why we use iStudio Publisher for all our layout work. Pages would come in second in my opinion - at least the previous version would. Can't say the same for the current version until Apple does some more "fixing".

Doh! I wrote "Swift Publisher" when in fact I *meant* to write iStudio Publisher there. You're correct (though I personally put Pages ahead).

No problem chas. I used MS Publisher for years on end, but of course that's when I was primarily on the "dark" side. Right now I'm upset with MS anyway because the nasty rumor that is floating around is that we will not see a new version of Mac Office. Instead it will be by subscription only. Bad move on their part in my opinion.

Well, we used Publisher (or its other names) for many years when on PCs - wife did a lot and was a little upset that her pub files could not be converted or transferred but just not a possibility; SO, in the spring of last year when we transitioned over to our Macs, first started w/ Pages and then added iStudio Publisher - over the years I made mainly 4-fold greeting cards for relatives (BDs, holidays, etc.), so that was my first goal w/ iStudio.

Now for those wanting to use this Mac program to make 4-folded greeting cards, there is a nice template which was sent to me from the developer's website (French_Fold_Leaflet_Blank_8.5x11in.ispx) - the appearance of this template is attached in my opened iStudio Publisher app - have made a couple of cards and will continue - need to invert the top pages to see them properly but not difficult - I think that we will be happy w/ using this program for our publishing efforts. Dave
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Looks real nice Dave. Do you know if they have that as a template download from their website? It's been a while since I visited their site but the last time I was there they had added about 20 new templates.

I usually design my own templates from those that are provided. Lately we mainly use a two fold church style bulletin. Lots of free graphics are available (no license required) from several sites.

chscag said:

Looks real nice Dave. Do you know if they have that as a template download from their website? It's been a while since I visited their site but the last time I was there they had added about 20 new templates.

I usually design my own templates from those that are provided. Lately we mainly use a two fold church style bulletin. Lots of free graphics are available (no license required) from several sites.

Click to expand...

Hi Chscag - I could not find the 4-fold template initially when we obtained the app, so I sent them an email asking and they responded promptly w/ the link or attachment to the template described; however, I cannot see a way to attach the file, which ends w/ .ispx, so not sure how to add it to a post? So, let me know if there is a way or send me a PM w/ your email address, and I'll be glad to send as an attachment - works fine for me. Dave

Thanks Dave. PM sent.