I am quite new to Mac, I am running an iMac G3 with OS X 10.2.4 Jaguar. I have MS Office for Mac & was wondering if there was anything simmilar to MS Publisher, that will run on a Mac. I'd like to make cards, flyers, buisiness cards etc, but don't know what I'm looking for. Any suggestions would be great. Thanks, Donna (morcohouse)

Recommended Answers

All 32 Replies

I am quite new to Mac, I am running an iMac G3 with OS X 10.2.4 Jaguar. I have MS Office for Mac & was wondering if there was anything simmilar to MS Publisher, that will run on a Mac. I'd like to make cards, flyers, buisiness cards etc, but don't know what I'm looking for. Any suggestions would be great. Thanks, Donna (morcohouse)

Hi,
Have a look at Ragtime. It's free and should do all that you need
http://www.ragtime-online.com/go.cgi?info=SUP&vers=5.6.4&fla=priv&lang=EUS&src=AM&bin=osx&plat=10.3.6&plang=en&reg=US

Thanks, I've had a quick look. not sure it's quite what I'm after. Looks like it's more for spread sheets etc, but will investigate closer.

Dear Donna,
I'm also new on Macs, but I do know that Publisher doesn'y run on OSX. I would suggest Quark Express for the kind of work that you'd nrmally do in Publisher. I've yrid it for graphic design and it's actually very good. Hope this helps you.

Cheers,

Aitch :p

Thanks, don't think that's what I'm after either.
All I want is a simple programme, that the kids & I can use to make greeting cards, advertising flyers etc, for home use.
Nothing complicated, surely there is something out there that will do the job. Now if only some wonderful person can give me a name, I would be extremely gratefull.
Thanks to those that have tried already.
Morchouse. :D

Ahh, Aitch. I was just about to suggest Quark XPress too. It is actually the #1 program to use for desktop publishing.

Thanks I'll download the demo & see what it's all about, but it looks like it's more for publishing companies. I'll have a look.
Morchouse :eek:

Hello,

AVOID QUARK LIKE THE PLAGUE!!! If you have any doubts, go to www.quark.com and into the support forums, found off the Support menu. You will see the wrath of people getting PAID to use the Quark program, and they are about to cause a revolution in the DTP industry. While it may be true that Quark is #1 in the industry, Adobe is giving them a serious run for the money, and a conversion may happen. Quark remains hostile to the user community. Stay away from it!

I have migrated my Quark materials to Ragtime. The Ragtime interface is a different pariidgm, but it is cross platform, and the software works, and works WELL. For the home user who doesn't want to shell out $$ for the program, Ragtime is awesome. Many a club newsletter have been made with it.

Christian

Thanks all of you for your input.
While researching, I managed to find Easy Card Creator, so that will be helpful.
I've now managed to download & install RagTime Solo. Looks interesting, not quite what I thought it would be, was hoping to find some quick publication templates or something. Guess I'll have to work it all out myself.
Thanks again & if anyone else can come up with something else I'm open to suggestions.
morchouse :eek:

The only difficulty with Quark is its steep price. I've been using it commercially for 13 years now and learned in a heavy weekend. BUT, because of the shocking price, it is now being superceded by InDesign by Adobe - which is a flash version of PageMaker - the old DTP standard. InDesign 1 and 2 never became popular in New Zealand at all because it was easy to copy Quark. Now it's almost impossible and we aren't keen to shell out the NZ$4000 for Quark 6 (that's more than US$2400)
It sounds like you are more after a simple package combining clip art with an easy-to-use layout program. I would recommend FreeHand overall. If you can bludge an older version such as 7 or 8 with its clipart, you'll have a program that's easy to learn as well.
Good luck.

Hello,

Are you referring to Freehand, as in Aldus Freehand, the vector graphics program similar to Illustrator? I am wondering if Freehand had the type control characteristics that Quark, InDesign, RagTime offer.

Thanks,

Christian

I've not used Publisher, but it sounds like your needs would be nicely met by a package called The Print Shop (http://www.mackiev.com/print_shop.html). My wife and I use it for the very things you mentioned, and for the most part it's excellent software and fun to use. It also interfaces with iPhoto so if you've got digital pics in iPhoto it's easy to incorporate them into your projects.

Plus, it's only $50.

Have fun.

drb

Thanks, just looked it up on line & it looks as though it is exactly what I'm after.
I knew someone would be able to point me in the right direction.
Thanks again. Donna :cheesy:

Hello,

Gosh I remember Print Shop on my Apple IIe and using an Imagewriter printer to make large banners. I take it they have advanced the page layout software part of it. Thank you for the note to go and take a look.

Christian

I am a returning mac user. I too used Publisher and liked it well enough for my various purposes. I appreciate the reminder about Photo Shop. I ordered it and look forward to getting it in the mail.

Is there a program that will help open the files that were created with the Windows Publisher Software? I often get files with the extension of .pub that I can't open in word. Any advise would be helpful. Thanks.

Is there a program that will help open the files that were created with the Windows Publisher Software? I often get files with the extension of .pub that I can't open in word. Any advise would be helpful. Thanks.

Nope, I don't know of any. As far as I know, you'll have to ask the people sending you these .pub files to export them to PostScript or PDF (which can be done inside Publisher). And Mac can read .PS or .PDF files.

Thanks, that is what I have been doing. Was hopeful that there was something out there that would open them.

Thanks I'll download the demo & see what it's all about, but it looks like it's more for publishing companies. I'll have a look.
Morchouse :eek:

Pages is a good simple text and card making program. Pages can do all sorts of stuff. I am not sure that it will run on generation 3 macs. What operating system do you have?

If you can run iwork - pages and keynoe on your computer It produces pretty decent results. Maybe you could get and older version through amazon or ebay or check apple 05 or 06 will work on your g3.

I pretty much use pages for my word processing and destop publish needs ...it comes with alot of temples and I get a lot of good feedback when I use keynote .. I guess the templates give some variety and attitude instead of the powerpoint look.

Good LucK!

Thanks, just looked it up on line & it looks as though it is exactly what I'm after.
I knew someone would be able to point me in the right direction.
Thanks again. Donna :cheesy:

I think what would be "perfectly" suitable for you would be Print Shop 2. It does the things that you mentioned and isn't that expensive. It's easily obtainable in Australia, too.

Try Pages, from Apple. It's part of iWork. Pages have lots of templates for Brochures, Flyers, Advertisements. And with Pages you get Keynote and Numbers. You can even get a 30 Day trial of iWork 08 at www.apple.com/iwork, which is pretty cool.

ok. I think i'm a bit like morchouse. I need to help my 10 year old with a school document and she started it on publisher but now we are on a mac!! yikes.. any clues - ANY AT ALL!!

Just open it up with TextEdit, so you can salvage the original text of it. Or, you can use google to find a converter that will convert it from Publisher to <insert program name here>.

You can find some softwares that work with a list of keywords and the text come automaticaly.

I am in this same situation. Have been using MS Publisher 95 for 14 years now, and have 100's of files created with it that I need. What I am going to do is install Parallels Desktop 4.0 to my iMac. It lets you run MS Windows on your iMac without rebooting. Then you can install MS Publisher in Windows on your Mac, the best of both worlds!

Hope this Helps!

Many mac machines come with Pages, which is developed by Apple.
it works very similar to publisher, in fact i actually think that it's a combination of both word and publisher from MS.

~dXm

I have just switched from PC w/Windows to iMac, and have Pages on my new iMac, and I still prefer to use MS Publisher. I have been using MS Publisher 95 for over 14 years, and need access to the 100s of files I've created. Originally I had purchased Parallels Desktop 4.0 so I could install MS Windows on the iMac, then MS Publisher in to Windows so I do a "Copy & Paste" recreation of the file into Pages. But after running into some difficulties trying to format the page layout in Pages, I am just going to stick with MS Publisher that I know inside and out.

Hope this helps someone else!

I'm sure you're confused. Quark is an industry standard. It handles files well and interfaces with high-end rip software great. Sorry about your confusion but THIS IS THE SOFTWARE for imaging.

I'm sure you're confused. Quark is an industry standard. It handles files well and interfaces with high-end rip software great. Sorry about your confusion but THIS IS THE SOFTWARE for imaging.

The confusion is yours my friend. This thread was started by people that were looking for a way to convert, or use Microsoft Publisher files on their Mac. I was just stating how I had found to accomplish this without spending hundreds of dollars on a new program!

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.