Marq vs. Microsoft Publisher

For self-publishers, Marq is the best option, in my opinion. I have recommended it to others and they have been also amazed at how beautiful their end product looks and how easy it is to export and get the printers. A win win for everyone involved in the process of creating magazines and marketing materials.

Incentivized

Microsoft Publisher is well suited for almost any situation. It is something that I'm sure has far more advanced tools than I use or am aware of, but it is also very simple for entry-level users to create professional documents quickly. I have used it for very involved brochures in real estate scenarios and I have also used it for very simple "Construction Zone" signs at a job site under construction. There are so many uses for this program!

Incentivized

• User management
• Easy to create and edit templates
• Able to install an approval layer to govern use

Incentivized

• Business cards
• Internal memos that use a logo or a little bit of design.
• Quick and simple flyers for internal events.

Incentivized

• Automated page numbering would be amazing
• Scroll button should be darker to find it easier
• More template options

Incentivized

• The greatest shortcoming is large (300+ page documents) that require lots of internal hyperlinks. While it can do it, I can tell, due to the way it bogs down, that I am pushing the program to its limits.
• I would like to be able to work better with pdf's. I would like the ability to import a pdf of a graph, picture, or some other object directly into a Publisher document. Currently, I have to first convert the pdf to a jpeg and then import the jpeg. I have not found a way around this issue.
• At one point, I thought I had the option to automatically turn off hyphenation. Somewhere along the way, it seems as if the default for everything is hyphenation is turned on. I detest hyphenation and turning it off on every box I create becomes cumbersome.
• More options for graphics. Particularly the defaults that allow you to place "frames" and effects around photos. More options.

Incentivized

It is fairly easy to pick up and use if you are already familiar with other MS Office programs like Word or PowerPoint. It provides good variability in appearance options.

Incentivized

While I have not directly used support for Microsoft Publisher, I have used their help files and found them to be useful. I have also found that most answers that I need can be found through simple web searches and chat platforms. In all though, there are very few times when the preloaded help files have not given me the answers that I need.

Incentivized

I think if we had found Canva first we would have probably chosen it as our platform. We had already invested a lot of time and energy into developing multiple templates and branding standards in LucidPress

Incentivized

Microsoft Publisher is more for beginners, or for basic needs, anyone with some familiarity with the Microsoft suite should be able to use it easily. If you’re looking to create something more graphic and advanced, you’d probably want to look into something like InDesign, which is not as user friendly if you’re not familiar with it at all. For basic needs the average employee should be able to use Microsoft Publisher with ease.

Incentivized

• I am able to save over $10K per issue by doing the design and layout myself.
• I am able to save at least 2-3 weeks per issue by doing the design and layout myself.
• I don't need to employ a team to compile each issue, I do it all myself.

Incentivized

• Allowed us to created our own documents/educational material for patients. In previous practices I have worked we had to buy "pamplets and brochures" which were very costly.

Incentivized