Microsoft Publisher is a desktop publishing software application capable of producing greeting cards, certificates, newsletters and other printed publications. The software comes complete with a wide range of pre-installed document templates, with more available free of charge for download from Microsoft's online service.
Background
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Desktop publishing (DTP) software goes beyond the abilities of word-processing software, providing features to help you precisely lay out text and images on the printed page. Publishers of newspapers, magazines and books usually use DTP software alongside word-processor applications.
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Purchase
Microsoft Publisher is available for purchase as a stand-alone product, either via digital download or as a boxed retail product. Publisher also forms part of the Microsoft Office suite of productivity software, and is included with the Professional version of the suite. As of March 2010, the most current version of Publisher is Publisher 2010.
Features
Microsoft Publisher includes a library of color schemes you can use to ensure your publications are well-designed and professional. The software offers a large selection of "building blocks" that can be dragged into your documents, helping you to create page elements such as calendars, newsletter sidebars and borders.
Publisher integrates mail merge features, which is handy when you need to send publications to a list of customers, and it is possible to export publications as HTML Web pages or PDF documents.
Requirements
Microsoft Publisher is only available for computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system. Windows XP Service Pack 3 or later is required to run Publisher 2010. In terms of hardware, the application requires a processor running at 500MHz or greater, 256MB of memory (RAM) and 1.5GB of hard disc space.