Microsoft Publisher 2003
Introduction to Microsoft Publisher 2003
What is Microsoft Publisher?
Microsoft® Publisher is a full-featured desktop publishing program that helps you design and publish professional print and Web-based materials with ease. Using Publisher's familiar interface, you can precisely lay out blocks of text, graphics, calendars, order forms, and more, while Publisher's many built-in designs help you to quickly create a professional publication in a matter of minutes.
What's new in Publisher 2003?
Publisher 2003 includes additional publication types and designs, which you can print, publish to the Web, or distribute via e-mail. These options are available from the task pane, which makes it easy to get started immediately. Other enhancements for increasing efficiency include a new page sorter, which lets you use shortcut menus and drag-and-drop functionality to rename, insert, delete, and rearrange pages, and the new Find and Replace task pane, which lets you quickly search and replace text throughout the publication.
Enhanced formatting options and layout features let you design publications with more precision and flexibility; for instance, you can apply multiple master pages to a single publication to control several page designs at once, and widow and orphan control let you control the flow of text between linked text boxes. The Design Checker and Graphics Manager automatically check the status of your publication prior to distribution, so you can quickly catch and fix problems you might not have noticed.
The Easy Web Site Builder automatically creates a custom web site based on the site goals you define, and added Web page types give you more pre-built design options for specific types of pages. A new Web editing environment called Web mode provides options specific to Web pages, ensuring your publications are optimized for the Web. In addition, new e-mail wizards help you design publications specifically for e-mail distribution.
Publisher's commercial printing features have been extended to include composite CMYK Postscript output and enhanced color controls, which let you manage the inks in your publications. And advanced settings for separations are available from the Print dialog.
Also for business users, the new Mail and Catalog Merge Wizard lets you include information in your publications from a variety of data sources, such as a database or spreadsheet.
Starting Microsoft Publisher
To start Publisher:
1. Click the Start button on the Windows task bar.
2. Point to All Programs.
3. Select Microsoft Office.
4. From the Microsoft Office submenu, select Microsoft Office Publisher 2003.
The Publisher toolbars and task menus
While all of Publisher's commands are contained in the menu bar at the top of the window, most of your tasks can be accomplished using the toolbars and task pane menus.
Publisher's toolbars, which group together shortcuts to command commands, are virtually identical to those included in other Office applications. You can click a toolbar button to quickly apply formatting, save or print a publication, copy or paste text, or accomplish another of a variety of tasks.
To show or hide a toolbar, open the View menu, select Toolbars, and then select the toolbar you want to show or hide.
The most frequently used toolbars are the Standard toolbar, the Formatting toolbar, and the Objects toolbar.
The Standard toolbar contains buttons for opening, saving, printing, and editing publications. The Zoom box and magnifying glass buttons at the end of the toolbar let you change the display size of the publication you're working in.
The Formatting toolbar contains buttons and drop-down menus for applying formatting to text, paragraphs, and objects.
The Objects toolbar, which is displayed vertically along the left side of the Publisher window, provides buttons for inserting the objects you'll include in your publication. These include text boxes, picture boxes, lines, shapes, and Design Gallery objects.
To insert an object into a page of your publication, you simply click the button on the Objects toolbar and then click and drag to the dimensions you want. This makes Publisher a much easier and more versatile tool for designing professional publications than standard word processing programs.
In addition, Publisher uses a task pane, located on the left side of the window, to group common options, as well as to replace many standard dialogs:
As you select options from the task pane, you can see your changes immediately applied to the publication.
All the task panes are available from a menu that you can access by clicking the down arrow in the task pane title bar:
You can easily switch between task panes by selecting a pane from the menu.
You can also close the task pane, if you need more workspace, by clicking the X in the upper right-hand corner. To show the task pane again, open the View menu and select Task Pane.
Ruler Guides
A ruler guide is horizontal or vertical guide that you can move to any point on the ruler. You use ruler guides to help you align the elements you lay out in your publication. When the Snap to Ruler Marks feature is turned on, objects you place near a ruler guide will automatically snap into alignment.
To show or hide rulers, open the View menu and select Rulers.
To create a guide, click and drag your mouse from the horizontal or vertical ruler to any page or master page in your publication:
You can create as many guides as you need. Click and drag the guides to change their position.
Ruler guides are specific to each page on which you create them, so you can lay out each page differently. If you add guides to a master page, each publication page that uses that master page will display the same guides.
To turn on Snap to Ruler Marks, open the Arrange menu and select Snap and then To Ruler Marks. When you place an object near a ruler guide or an intersection of guides, the object snaps into place:
Similarly, you can turn on the Snap to Objects feature to snap ruler guides to objects: From the Arrange menu, select Snap, and then Snap to Objects.
To remove a ruler guide, right-click on it and select Delete Guide from the shortcut menu, or simply drag it off the page.
Creating a Publication
Creating a new publication using the wizards
Publisher provides a large variety of pre-built designs for each publication type. To quickly create a new publication, all you have to do is select the design and replace the placeholder text and graphics:
1. From the File menu, select New.
2. In the New Publication task pane, select a publication type from the New from a design list:
For this tutorial, we'll create a family newsletter designed for print. Later, we'll show you how to design a newsletter for e-mail distribution, as well.
Select Publications for Print.
This expands the list to display design categories:
It also opens the Quick Designs preview gallery, which displays designs you can use for your publication:
The preview gallery displays designs for the category selected in the New from a design list.
3. Scroll through the list of design categories and select Newsletters.
The Quick Publications preview gallery displays thumbnails for newsletter designs.
4. Scroll through the gallery. When you find a design you like, click it.
For our family newsletter, we'll use the Rhythm Newsletter.
The first time you use the design gallery, Publisher prompts you to enter personal information, which it can automatically include in your publications:
5. Enter the information you'd like to use and click OK. You can always change the information later.
The publication is displayed in the main window:
6. The task pane now displays design options for your newsletter:
As you select different options, you can see them applied to the newsletter in the main window. If you select an option and decide you don't like it, use the Undo button on the Standard toolbar to restore the previous selection.
· The first option is specific to the type of publication design you've chosen. Since we've chosen a newsletter design, the first option is Newsletter Options.
This lets us select one- or two-sided printing, as well as whether or not to include a customer address. When you include a customer address, Publisher adds mailing address elements to the publication.
For our newsletter, we'll leave the options as they are: two-sided printing with no customer address.
· Web page, newsletter, and catalog designs include a Page Content option. For newsletters, click Page Content to select a column style.
For the example newsletter, we'll keep the default option (3 columns).
· If you don't like the newsletter design you chose from the preview gallery, click Publication Designs to choose a new one.
· To change the color scheme for the newsletter, click Color Schemes.
The current color scheme is Meadow; this was defined in the Personal Information dialog earlier. For our newsletter, we'll select Pebbles instead.
· To change the font scheme for the newsletter, click Font Schemes.
We'll select Online, because it has the general look we want to use. You can always change individual fonts later.
7. Once you've adjusted the design to your liking, you can complete your publication by replacing the text and graphics Publisher has included. The remainder of this tutorial describes how to do this.
Types of publications
You can create two types of publications in Publisher: print and Web. Each publication type includes a large number of sub-types, each with its own set of pre-built designs.
For example, print publications include designs for newsletters, flyers, brochures, business cards, signs, resumes, and labels. Web publications include designs not only for web sites but also for electronic newsletters and other event announcements that you can distribute via e-mail.
Publisher uses a distinct editing mode for print and Web publications, with each containing specialized options. Print mode includes options for commercial printing, which aren't available to Web mode, while Web mode ensures that the elements you include in your publication are optimized for the Web. If you aren't sure which mode you're in, you can find out by checking the Publisher title bar.
Creating a blank publication
If you want to create your own design from scratch, you can start with a blank publication:
1. From the File menu, select New.
2. In the New Publication task pane, select either Blank Print Publication or Blank Web Page.
Saving a Microsoft Publisher publication
You should save your publication as soon as you've selected the design and adjusted the design elements:
1. From the File menu, select Save As.
The Save As dialog opens.
2. Browse to the location where you want to save the publication.
3. Enter a file name into the File name field.
4. Make sure Publisher Files (*.pub) is selected as the file type.
5. Click Save.
As you work, you can quickly save your changes by clicking the Save button on the Standard toolbar.
Modifying a Publication
Moving between pages
You move between the pages of your publication using the page sorter at the bottom of the Publisher window:
The current page is the one that's highlighted in the sorter. To move to a different page, click the page number you want to move to.
If you're using two-sided printing, the first page will be displayed by itself, while the subsequent pages will be displayed two at a time, up until the last page, which is also displayed by itself. You can visualize two-sided printing as you would a printed book. The front cover of the book is the first page of the publication, and the back cover is the last page. All the pages in the middle of the book are facing pages, which you can open and lay flat; these are displayed together in the workspace window.
If you want to give yourself more room to work on an individual page, you can turn off the display of two-sided printing by opening the View menu and unchecking Two-Page Spread.
Inserting pages
You can insert blank or duplicate pages into your publication, or you can insert Publisher's pre-designed pages, which duplicate the current design with the addition of elements such as calendars, order forms, or sign-up forms. The pre-designed page options make it easy to increase the page count of your publication while keeping the design and placeholders constant.
To insert new pages into your publication:
1. Use the page sorter at the bottom of the window to turn to a page adjacent to where you want to insert the new pages. For example, click on Page 4 to insert new pages before the last page in the example newsletter.
Note:
When you insert pre-designed pages with two-page spreads (two-sided facing pages), Publisher will automatically insert two new pages before the last page, if the last page is selected, or after the first page, if the first page is selected. In other words, Publisher will automatically determine the best placement of the facing pages.
2. From the Insert menu, select Page.
Tip:
You can also right-click on the page number in the page sorter and select Insert Page from the shortcut menu:
The Insert Pages dialog opens, which lets you select pre-designed pages to insert.