Designing is a tricky business. One forgotten element—like half
a logo hanging off the front page of my company newsletter—can be endlessly
embarrassing, for me and my company. I’ve learned to double- and triple-check
for problems before I distribute a file from Microsoft Office Publisher, and I
never send out anything until I run the Publisher Design Checker. Design
Checker does just what the name promises: it checks my design for possible
problems, such as objects in a nonprintable region, empty text boxes, and
missing pictures.

To run Design Checker:

1. Click the File tab, and then select Info.
2. Click Run Design Checker. The Design Checker pane opens, listing items you
   might want to fix.
3. At the top of the Design Checker pane, select the boxes that apply to your
   publication and distribution methods.

From here, I simply select an item on the
list, which automatically selects the item on the page. In the Design
Checker pane I click the item’s list arrow to fix the issue or to turn off the
Design Checker feature that searches for issues like this. If I can’t figure
out what the problem is or how it will affect my publication, I click Explain to open Publisher Help­

Once I run all the checks I need for the type of publication
and distribution method I’m using—and once I fix all the errors Design Checker
found—my project is ready to go.

Thank you, Design Checker, for saving my publications from
so many humiliating errors.