Microsoft Publisher Tips

We've put these Microsoft Publisher Tips together to enhance your experience creating a publication with Microsoft Publisher.

Keyboard Shortcuts:

Page Sizes:

You can start a new document or change a current document to any page size you require.

From the File menu click Page Setup On the Layout tab select a Publication Type or choose Custom to create your own measurements Enter the physical dimensions in the Width and Height fields, making sure the Orientation is correct Click OK and start developing your design

Tip: Click Change Copies Per Sheet to print two or more layouts on a page.

The Nudge Option:

The nudge option provides a high degree of control over the positioning of objects on a page. Select the object you need to move, then click and hold the Alt key and click an Arrow key (up, down, right, left) and your object will move one pixel for each keystroke.

Tip: Select Nudge from the Arrange menu to change the increment of movement.

Exact Positioning of Objects:

Right click an image or picture and select Format Picture Click the Layout tab and select Exact from the Object Position drop down box Type numerical values to position and size objects exactly where you want them to appear on the page. Exact positioning of objects enables you to choose the Wrapping Style of text. Experiment!

Tip: You can also position objects or pictures at a specific line of text and have the object move horizontally or vertically with the text. To apply, select Inline from the Object Position list.

Automatic Wrapping:

You don't have to press Enter at the end of each line, just at the end of a paragraph — let Publisher wrap text automatically. This saves time if you decide to later change your font type or size as you won't have to remove all the Enter commands.

Tip: If you need to make a line end shorter than a full line, use Shift-Enter to insert a soft return.

One Space or Two?:

Instead of putting two spaces after each sentence or full-stop, put one space. This is now a desktop publishing industry standard.

Spacing and Alignment:

Spacing and alignment of frames, text, pictures and captions should be consistent throughout your publication. Click Paragraph from the Format menu to check spacing.

Putting objects in the background:

Publisher uses foreground (front) and background (back) layers. Your work will go in the foreground by default unless you set it to be in the background. You can put images or text in the background by right-clicking the object, pointing to Order and selecting Send To Back. This will place it in the background of the publication.

Grouping Elements:

After you have your layout positioned, you can select all of the items by holding down the shift key and clicking on each one and then group them by using Ctrl+Shift+G. This will lock them together in their relative positions which is especially useful if you need to copy and paste the group to another page. This creates consistency throughout your layout.

Tip: To Ungroup a layout, right-click the group and select Ungroup from the shortcut menu.

Print a Hard Copy:

It's very easy to miss errors in your document when you're looking at it on the screen. Print it out to review it . Check for spelling mistakes and other possible errors, such as spacing and design.

Tip: If your design is going to be folded then fold the printout to ensure the elements on the page are positioned correctly to see if there are any problems with folding it the way you had envisioned.

Spelling and Punctuation:

Check your spelling, punctuation and grammar, by selecting the ABC button on the Standard Toolbar or point to Spelling on the Tools menu and click Check Spelling.

Tip: Check the accuracy of hyphenation in your publication by pointing to Language from the Tools menu and click Hyphenation.

Reviewing Your Work:

It's a good idea to always have someone else review your work. They may see something you have missed, such as a grammatical error, incorrect phrases or poor terminology. They may also provide you with creative ideas for text or object positioning and layout.

If you have any questions or comments about our Microsoft Publisher Tips please let us know. Our team are happy to answer any queries or help in any way.

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