LibreOffice 4 Can Import Microsoft Publisher Files!
How did I miss this? Back in February, LibreOffice 4 added the ability to import Microsoft Publisher files, even on a Mac. This is huge for me. I have years and years of youth ministry and church resources created in Publisher that I haven’t been able to access on my Mac. If you haven’t heard of LibreOffice, it spun off from OpenOffice and is a great free Office Suite.
LibreOffice is a comprehensive, professional-quality productivity suite that you can download and install for free. There is a large base of satisfied LibreOffice users worldwide, and it is available in more than 30 languages and for all major operating systems, including Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and GNU/Linux (Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, Mandriva, Suse, …).
Check out http://www.libreoffice.org/features/ for a full listing of features.
Hi Mike,
I came across this article because I’m going to try to get my wife off of Windows and MS Publisher is the sticking point. I’ve used Libre Office for a while now and didn’t realize that they finally added this capability until just now. I’m curious if you’ve used the Publisher import functionality much and what your thoughts are on it. Is there a lot of cleanup needed after the import?
Thanks,
-Bill
I’ve used it a few times and it isn’t perfect, but it has worked for me. With simple files, everything imports great. With more complex files, you will need to do some cleanup. Most of the problems I encountered with with layered png files, or with pictures in which I set a transparent background color. Overall, it’s close enough to get me going without too much hassle. Hope this helps!