Microsoft Publisher files

Question

Can you import Microsoft Publisher Files into Pages to edit?

Answer 1

Welcome to the world of Macs -- as a convert about 5 years ago myself, you are coming across some of the things that make Macs completely different from PC's -- and the inability to communicate well between PC and Mac users is one of the main differences.
FIrst -- let me recommend a book to you that was invaluable to me in my own switch many years ago -- it's called The Missing Manual: Switching to the Mac....it's constantly being updated, so I am not sure what version it is in right now -- but it will get you really familiar with the differences between the two systems really fast, and has some great information written in PC terms for new Mac users...
Second -- unlike one of the previous posters, I have found nothing as good for day to day desktop publishing as MS Publisher -- in my opinion, it is the one single application the MS has that does exactly what casual DP users need. The most recent update for MS Office for Mac does include Publisher as part of it's Word program -- it incorporates most of the features of publisher in the Desktop Publishing view of Word -- it does not work with PUB files, everything is in DOC format, so it is clumsy and doesn't do everything that Publisher does, but it is the closest thing on a mac to the familiar publisher program you know. You might want to download the 30-day MS Office for Mac trial version, and see what you think. Personally, I didn't use it much, and found that Pages just looks and works better.
Next -- Pages doesn't have all the templates you might personally need out of the box. Because Apple software is generally open source code (not really, but lets use that terminology for simplicity's sake) a lot of third party software developers create things for the software -- Google "iWork templates" or "Pages templates" or "Numbers templates" or "Keynote templates" and you will find all sorts of companies that provide templates that you might prefer for your documents.
Then -- you need to be aware that Apple designs all of their programs to work around their own applications and they are more splintered than Windows software -- WHere MS designs programs like Outlook that seamlessly interact with Word, that isn't the case with a Mac....also, the software is really geared toward sharing with other Mac users, and doesn't always play well with Windows users...FOr example, you an use iCal to publish your calendars and let others access them and it works awesome in theory -- that theory being that the entire world runs like Cupertino, and that only Macs are used by all of your friends and family. We all know that isn't true.
The easiest way for you to do some of that on a mac is to use the Stationary in your eMail to send e-mails that show up, rather than go as attachments -- but again, you will most likely have to find google-able templates for Mail Stationary, since a lot of the things you want to do aren't going to be there out of the box (again, Apple does this on purpose -- why would they accommodate making it easier for Windows users, when those same Windows users can envy what a mac can do, and possibly ultimately switch themselves)...It's been like this for a decade, and I can't see it changing anytime soon.
If you absolutely must have 100% compatibility with Word users, your going to find MS Office for Mac to be a better option -- if that is NOT 100% compatible with Windows users, but it's the closest you are going to get, so a trial might be in your best interest...
As to standalone Desktop Publishing programs for the Mac -- you have the high-end Adobe InDesign, which many serious DP people use -- it's elegant, and creates beautiful things, but it is too expensive, and it has a very steep learning curve -- it does nothing out of the box, and doesn't even have built-in templates.
At the middle of the pack is Pages; and the document layout version of Word in MS Office for Mac 08
At the affordable standalone end is The PrintShop 2 -- it is a huge program that will handle just about any publishing project you throw at it -- it is also very easy to use. It's the closest standalone program to MS Publisher that exists for Mac. (There are others that do this, but they are in no way as comprehensive and easy to use as PS)...but here is the caveat -- it uses its own proprietary file and extension system, so you can't exchange published items with Windows users (unless you convert to a PDF, and then you might as well have just used Pages or Office). It does have some very basic internet publishing capabilities, but it is almost 98 percent geared toward printed materials - cards, labels, brochures, newsletters, printed calendars, greeting cards, etc.
As to making sure your newsletter is embedded opened rather than as a file, I will let others share their experiences -- I haven't found anything that works 100% of the time -- you could convert it to HTML code and embed that, but I wouldn't even know where to start with that.
(By the way, sticking with Pages, it doesn't have a built-in calendar -- but search this same forum and you will find a pretty nifty template for monthly calendars)