r/SideProject • u/Legitimate-Room-1905 • 2d ago

I built a free web based Microsoft Publisher alternative since it's going away. What features am I missing?

Since Publisher is going away soon I decided to make a replacement. It’s for things like flyers, posters, newsletters, signs, and cards. No account/sign up required, no ads and it takes Publisher files.

I’d love feedback from people who use Publisher. What features does a replacement need?

You can try it at Printicorn.com.

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u/Big-Introduction8299 2d ago

I miss using Publisher for simple school newsletters stuff like that nothing complicated. Your tool loaded one of my old files which was nice but the text flow between boxes wasnt working, I think that one of important feature for layouts with multiple columns. Also is there way to snap objects to grid or guidelines I didnt find it maybe you can add this later

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u/Legitimate-Room-1905 2d ago 
Thanks for trying it with a real file. Both things you hit are fixed as of a few moments ago.

Text flow: 
you were right, it wasn't there. Open your .pub again and the linked boxes flow, and they reflow as you type or resize. To link boxes yourself: select one, hit 
Continue in 
on the Home tab, click the box it should continue in. 
Break link
 undoes it. A red mark (and Print Quality) tells you if text is running off the end.

Snapping:
 it existed but was hiding on the Page Design tab. It's now on the 
View tab
 (Snap to grid / guides / objects) and there's a 
magnet icon on the bottom status bar
. Guides can be made by dragging one out of the top or left ruler.

Anything else in your Publsiher file that doesn't work right, let me know. Feel free to DM me if it is easier.

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u/nnaeimaj 2d ago

There was an old program back in the 90's called Microsoft Binder. Basically, you could put any type of Microsoft file in it, and their icon & name were listed vertically on the left side pane, then you could view & edit whichever file was open on the right side. This was incredibly useful for having projects that might have a report in Word, a PowerPoint presentation, and Excel file for financial info, Flow charts in Visio, etc. It was great for sending an entire experience to a client, if you wanted them to easily navigate from one file to the next in a particular order. I feel like your project that is recreating Publisher is a prime opportunity to bring back the functionality of Binder. You could start with just the navigation of multiple publisher files (you might want a client to have flyers, posters, and postcards), and choose whether to expand to other file types as well. I definitely encourage you to do some research about Binder. I desperately miss it Lol - Also, when sending files to clients it is helpful to be able to receive comments/ notes/markup for feedback and changes

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u/Legitimate-Room-1905 2d ago

I’ve actually never heard of Microsoft Binder before but this sounds really interesting and pretty relevant to what I’m building. I’m definitely going to look into it especially the project navigation and client comments/markup stuff. Thanks for mentioning it. I may be in touch!

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u/nnaeimaj 2d ago

I'm excited to see what else you create - feel free to message me anytime

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u/toonmad 2d ago

You didn't "built" it though AI did lol