Microsoft Publisher vs Square 9

Google Drive

Google Docs

Google Workspace

Google Drive is a cloud storage and backup platform to access files, docs, photos & more, store them in a safe place, and collaborate with other people

Google Docs is an online word processor that lets businesses create and format text documents and collaborate with team members in real time.

Google Workspace is a suite of applications from Google which offers a number of tools to communicate and collaborate with colleagues, store files, and manage data from all devices.

Microsoft Publisher, available as part of Microsoft 365, is a desktop publishing software designed to help users create polished, professional layouts without the hassle. Designer features and tools let enable precise design and styling of text, pictures, borders, calendars and more.

Content Publishing Options

Document Capture

Document Management

Document Storage

Full Text Search

Reviews for Microsoft Publisher come from a wide variety of industries, including education management (10% of reviewers), computer software (8%), and information technology and services (4%). The most frequent use case for Microsoft Publisher cited by reviewers is content management (62% of reviewers).

Users and use cases

The Microsoft Publisher integrations most frequently cited by reviewers are: Microsoft Word (a document generation product rated 4.7 out of 5 for its integration with Microsoft Publisher), Microsoft Excel (a spreadsheet product, 4.7), and Microsoft PowerPoint (a presentation product, 4.6).

Integrations

Microsoft Publisher is a content management program with key features that include content publishing options, document management, and more.

Microsoft Publisher

Web-based

Windows

Microsoft Word

Brandfolder

Revver

Relayto

Executive Director

Collaboration is difficult since files don’t work as smoothly across teams, and compatibility can be an issue when sharing with people who don’t have the software.

Benefits and Compliance Manager

Convering files to PDFs from publisher is not as simple as it is to do so from Word and it hinders editing capabilities.

It’s especially useful for small organizations because it’s straightforward, familiar to anyone using Microsoft Office tools, and great for print-ready layouts.

Senior Technical Manager

Microsoft Publisher is a desktop publishing application with User Friendly Interface which used to create printed or digital documents like brochures, flyers, newsletters, posters.

Instructional Designer

It’s very limited in what it can do with object placements and interactions

Onboarding and training supervisor

It’s really limited on the collaboration features and it’s not ideal for teens working on the same dock, it’s also only PC, Mac users are excludeD

I liked how easy it is to create polished flyers, newsletters, and event materials without advanced design skills.

I think publisher makes it easy to create designs and to make modifications and changes to objects

Sales Administrator

I do believe it is a good staple software if you are purchasing Microsoft office however considering the cost, I would not go out of my way to purchase if I did not already have access.

Clinical Audit Officer

It's easy to use to create documents such as posters, notices, newsletters etc.

Lead Pastor

There are many templates for anything you desire to print, so it is easy to find just the right size for the job at hand.

Publisher was my go-to software for our all our church printing needs for over 10 years.  

Project Manager

It stays in a basic manner but I really liked working with it, the only thing is that this becomes dificult to translate in any other tool.

Head Teacher

The premade templates make it a great tool and ease the workflow and help inspire creations.

Area supervisor 

Documents created in Microsoft publisher are easily saved in different formats as liked by the use, I can save documents as an image of jpeg,PNG or other extension.

Técnico Docente

Allows us to incorporate our designs fonts, symblos, froms and additional elemente to give a better presentation to our work.

CVT, Talent and Culture Coordinator

I use it regularly with great success to create professional-looking material for my business.

Manager

In and delete or replace with your own data, it’s easy to miss some pre fixed jargon if you aren’t careful to delete it all.

It optimizes the documents and make the documents print ready.

Public Information Supervisor

For many years, I solely used publisher to create any kind of marketing materials for my office.  

Writer

It limited compatibility with non-Microsoft software, which hinders not being ability to share projects, contents, and data with users who do not have publishers.

Marketing Executive

Systems Engineer

There's no AutoSave function for OneDrive and you don't get an X at the end of the file extension like its siblings, but it works and it gets the jobs it needs to do, done.

Head of Communication

It is too simple, with limited graphic design tools.

Planning Engineer

This is a user-friendly application compared to other apps considering document management where I can save progress ( on PC or cloud) and continue later.

Mostly used for newsletters and brochures for events.

ELA Teacher and Tech Coach

I don't like that it's not always built in to basic MS Office packages.  

The templates have a bunch of pre filled info you have to make sure to go

Creative Director

It's easy to use and offers a wide range of templates for a number of different design jobs.

Veterans Project Director

From my experience with Microsoft Publisher I would say that it is a very basic program, with relative ease of use but low versatility compared some of the other software available today.

I've been using the software for over 20 years and has always been easy to use.

Microsoft Publisher was my go to for creating marketing materials.

Graphic Designer

Not intuitive for beginners, but supplemented with tutorials it is manageable.

Director

I use Publisher to create my monthly newsletter.  

In recent years, I have switched to Canva, due to it's ease and vast array of capabilities.

Publisher did not make the switch with me.  

Administrative Assistant

I can keep images, text boxes, and other items available for use as I design and create.  

Founder

This program is highly customizable when creating infographics, a limited feature in other similar programs.

President

It is not as full featured as Adobe InDesign and thus is less suitable for complex projects or for interfacing with professional publishers.

Teacher

It has become a little outdated since ther are many online tools that are free and integrate other tools that Microsoft Publisher doesn't have .

Sales and Purchasing Manager

Definitely not a replacement design software for a professional graphic designer.

Nurse Practitioner

Conveniently makes page boundaries and makes it easy to see how items will look after folding (ie for trifold pamphlets).

Accounts with thousands of predesigned templates to edit, which translates into saving time, money and work.

For simple design work, I love Microsoft Publisher.

Operations Team Leader

Very useful tool to get office, professional publications.

Small Business Owner 

Publisher just like the other Microsoft softwares is an effecient tool that enable us to create quality brochures, flyers, banners etc.. because it provides ready to use templates.

Director Corporate Operations

Ability to create documents with graphics and images together

IT Technical Project Manager

The page layout options ensure consistent designs for posters, brochures and other documents that require more control over their layout than Word can achieve.

Sometimes connecting text boxes gets a little confusing when the text extends longer than the box.  

Template Creation

Newsletters

Printing

Editing

Text and Image

User Interface

Features

File Format and Saving

Desktop Publishing

Graphic Design

Freelancers

Small Business

Mid-size Business

Large Enterprises

Microsoft

OneDrive

OneDrive is a secure access, sharing, and file storage solution which enables users to store and share photos, videos, documents, and more at anytime, via any device.

Info Sec Lead

Response time combined with the depth and breadth of knowledge by support is amazing.

Owner

We haven't had to call Support too often and when we were deploying Square 9 they were always helpful and fantastic, treating our business like their business.

Square 9 is an enterprise content and document management platform that helps businesses streamline document capture, web forms, and other business process automation tools to automate processes.

Microsoft Publisher vs Square 9 Comparison (2026)

Microsoft Publisher

Square 9

Overview

Video & Screenshots

Pricing

User reviews

Key features

Integrations

Alternatives