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QuestaGirl

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 22, 2018
4
0
I am relatively new to Mac - less than a year - having switched from Windows10 PC. I did a lot of fliers and brochures with MSPublisher. Is there an equivalent app for Mac that will open Publisher files and allow me to edit them, then save as a file in the new software? Or is there a way to transfer my Publisher software to my Mac and still use my current license? I really hate to pay for another license.
 

casperes1996

macrumors 604
Jan 26, 2014
7,593
5,764
Horsens, Denmark
From Wikipedia:

LibreOffice has supported Publisher's proprietary file format (.pub) since February 2013.[4] Corel Draw X4 features read-only support. Adobe's PageMaker software saves files with a .pub extension, but the two files are incompatible and unrelated. Publisher supports numerous other file formats, including the Enhanced Metafile (EMF) format, which is supported on Windows platforms. The Microsoft Publisher trial versioncan be used to view .pub files beyond the trial period.[5]





Alternatively you can use Pages - Apple's software. It started as a page-layout tool like Publisher, but later became more of a Word competitor. Today, I'd even call it the best of both worlds, and I personally love Pages. Sadly, with Pages 5, they really changed Pages for the worse, and it's only now, with 5.4 I believe, starting to resemble the quality it used to have - but it's still a great program
 

QuestaGirl

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 22, 2018
4
0
I took a look at LibreOffice, but I don't want to have to download all 6 of the apps. I have Word for Mac and for the others I just use Numbers and Pages and have been able to edit, save, etc. those types of documents with those apps. However, I have found Pages tremendously lacking when it came to creating brochures. The reason I downloaded Word for Mac is that I have a lot of recipes and crochet patterns that I previously created in Word, then couldn't figure out how to get the Columns in Pages to work when I created another document. Every time I clicked on Columns, another page would be added, not a column. As for using Publisher for brochures, I know that they can also be created in Word, but that, too, lacks quite a bit in that department. I use a PC at work and sometimes need to take work home, but if it's something created in Publisher, then I know it won't happen until I get back to the office.
 

casperes1996

macrumors 604
Jan 26, 2014
7,593
5,764
Horsens, Denmark
I took a look at LibreOffice, but I don't want to have to download all 6 of the apps. I have Word for Mac and for the others I just use Numbers and Pages and have been able to edit, save, etc. those types of documents with those apps. However, I have found Pages tremendously lacking when it came to creating brochures. The reason I downloaded Word for Mac is that I have a lot of recipes and crochet patterns that I previously created in Word, then couldn't figure out how to get the Columns in Pages to work when I created another document. Every time I clicked on Columns, another page would be added, not a column. As for using Publisher for brochures, I know that they can also be created in Word, but that, too, lacks quite a bit in that department. I use a PC at work and sometimes need to take work home, but if it's something created in Publisher, then I know it won't happen until I get back to the office.


Well, I can think of no other options right now that don't cost tremendous amounts of money.

But I really do recommend downloading LibreOffice. It's a good suite of apps. Even if you don't need the rest of the lot, what's the issue with downloading them? If space is really that limited they can be removed afterwards
 

Anderton

macrumors member
Sep 15, 2012
44
12
Sweden
Now i use Adobe InDesign for print publishing (which is a something else than this), but other than earlier mentioned applications, you also have Swift Publisher ($19.99), which i only tested for 30 minutes, but seemed to do stuff in a way that Pages should. I'm sure they have a Trial or Demo. Else you got Scribus (free, Open Source), which i haven't tried, and it don't quite fit into macOS in the UI department, but is free.
 

Fishrrman

macrumors Penryn
Feb 20, 2009
29,177
13,225
OP wrote:
"I took a look at LibreOffice, but I don't want to have to download all 6 of the apps."

This doesn't make sense to me.
LibreOffice downloads "as one app".
Just download it and use it.
I haven't seen ANY other Mac app that seems to be able to open files from so many old and discontinued applications -- some from way WAY back.
And did I mention that it's FREE?
 

QuestaGirl

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 22, 2018
4
0
Well, I can think of no other options right now that don't cost tremendous amounts of money.

But I really do recommend downloading LibreOffice. It's a good suite of apps. Even if you don't need the rest of the lot, what's the issue with downloading them? If space is really that limited they can be removed afterwards
Thank you, I really do appreciate your input.
[doublepost=1519764704][/doublepost]
Now i use Adobe InDesign for print publishing (which is a something else than this), but other than earlier mentioned applications, you also have Swift Publisher ($19.99), which i only tested for 30 minutes, but seemed to do stuff in a way that Pages should. I'm sure they have a Trial or Demo. Else you got Scribus (free, Open Source), which i haven't tried, and it don't quite fit into macOS in the UI department, but is free.
Thank you. I'll check them out.
[doublepost=1519764841][/doublepost]
OP wrote:
"I took a look at LibreOffice, but I don't want to have to download all 6 of the apps."

This doesn't make sense to me.
LibreOffice downloads "as one app".
Just download it and use it.
I haven't seen ANY other Mac app that seems to be able to open files from so many old and discontinued applications -- some from way WAY back.
And did I mention that it's FREE?
LOL, Fishrrman! I know it's free and that is appealing, but what I meant by all 6 apps is that it is a 6-in-one app and I really wouldn't use them all. But thanks for your input. I do appreciate it.
 

LarryJoe33

macrumors 68030
Jul 17, 2017
2,642
1,125
Boston
I took a look at LibreOffice, but I don't want to have to download all 6 of the apps. I have Word for Mac and for the others I just use Numbers and Pages and have been able to edit, save, etc. those types of documents with those apps. However, I have found Pages tremendously lacking when it came to creating brochures. The reason I downloaded Word for Mac is that I have a lot of recipes and crochet patterns that I previously created in Word, then couldn't figure out how to get the Columns in Pages to work when I created another document. Every time I clicked on Columns, another page would be added, not a column. As for using Publisher for brochures, I know that they can also be created in Word, but that, too, lacks quite a bit in that department. I use a PC at work and sometimes need to take work home, but if it's something created in Publisher, then I know it won't happen until I get back to the office.
LOL! you are hard to please! I'll offer something up no one else has - GoToMyPC. Connect to your PC from home with your Mac. As much as I try to be PC-free, there are just some apps that you need a PC for. I use it and it works great and supports local printing. MS definitely dumbs down office for the Mac. They should develop them the same and offer MS Publisher with Office Pro.
 

ResoluteBulldog

macrumors newbie
Jun 15, 2014
6
0
LOL! you are hard to please! I'll offer something up no one else has - GoToMyPC. Connect to your PC from home with your Mac. As much as I try to be PC-free, there are just some apps that you need a PC for. I use it and it works great and supports local printing. MS definitely dumbs down office for the Mac. They should develop them the same and offer MS Publisher with Office Pro.

Which is why I finally decided to go with the Office subscription and using Fusion That way I can access old Publisher files and use the latest versions of Work, Powerpoint and Excel - not to mention Visio.
 

LarryJoe33

macrumors 68030
Jul 17, 2017
2,642
1,125
Boston
Which is why I finally decided to go with the Office subscription and using Fusion That way I can access old Publisher files and use the latest versions of Work, Powerpoint and Excel - not to mention Visio.
Take me to school, what do you mean by Office subscription and Fusion? Are you referring to dual booting Windows? I am fairly certain Office Pro for Mac does not come with Publisher (or Access)? Just Word, Excel and Powerpoint (and some other junk like One Note).
 

MacDawg

Moderator emeritus
Mar 20, 2004
19,823
4,504
"Between the Hedges"
Take me to school, what do you mean by Office subscription and Fusion? Are you referring to dual booting Windows? I am fairly certain Office Pro for Mac does not come with Publisher (or Access)? Just Word, Excel and Powerpoint (and some other junk like One Note).

VMware Fusion allows you to set up and run a Virtual Machine (in this case prolly Windows 10) and use your Office subscription/software for Windows
Same would be true for Parallels or VirtualBox (free)

It would require you to have a copy of Windows to use, but it runs with macOS in a separate window so no dual boot is necessary (like BootCamp)

Many use virtual machines as an option when it is necessary to have access to Windows software (or OS like Linux, etc)
 

LarryJoe33

macrumors 68030
Jul 17, 2017
2,642
1,125
Boston
VMware Fusion allows you to set up and run a Virtual Machine (in this case prolly Windows 10) and use your Office subscription/software for Windows
Same would be true for Parallels or VirtualBox (free)

It would require you to have a copy of Windows to use, but it runs with macOS in a separate window so no dual boot is necessary (like BootCamp)

Many use virtual machines as an option when it is necessary to have access to Windows software (or OS like Linux, etc)
Got it, thanks.
 
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