Formatting Issues

How to Resize a Publisher Document from A4 to A5 Without Moving Layout

Muhammad Talha Sep 30, 2026 868 views

Question details

The user needs to reduce a Microsoft Publisher document from an A4 size to an A5 size without causing the text and images to shift out of place.

How to Resize a Publisher Document from A4 to A5

Product: Microsoft Publisher
Device & OS: not provided
Scenario: Preparing a completed A4 landscape Publisher layout for printing at a smaller A5 size.
Observed behavior: When changing the page size setting directly in Publisher, the document layout does not scale correctly, causing text boxes and images to move and overlap.

Before you start

Make sure your original A4 document is fully complete and saved so that you do not accidentally overwrite your master layout during the resizing process.

Solution 1Recommended

Use Print to PDF as a Resizing Workaround

Since Publisher does not reliably scale layouts when reducing page size, exporting your document as a PDF and letting your PDF reader handle the scaling ensures your elements stay exactly where you placed them.

Microsoft Publisher attempts to reposition items relative to page margins when the canvas size is changed. For complex layouts, this absolute positioning results in a destroyed design.

By exporting the completed A4 layout to a PDF format, the layout becomes static. You can then instruct your printer or PDF software to shrink the entire static page to fit an A5 sheet flawlessly.

Save the document as a PDF

In Microsoft Publisher, open your finished A4 document. Click on 'File', select 'Export', and choose 'Create PDF/XPS Document'. Save the file to your computer.

Open the PDF document

Locate the newly saved PDF file and open it using your preferred PDF reader, such as WPS PDF or Adobe Acrobat.

Print at A5 size

Go to 'File' > 'Print' in your PDF reader. Under the printer settings, change the Paper Size to A5. Make sure to select 'Fit to Printable Area' or 'Shrink to Fit' in the scaling options, then click Print.

Use Print to PDF as a Resizing Workaround

Submit a Feature Request: Publisher does not provide a dependable setting for reducing page size while preserving layout natively. You can submit a page-resizing feature request directly to Microsoft through the Publisher feedback option.

Free Microsoft Office alternative

Handle Layouts and PDFs Seamlessly with WPS Office

If you frequently struggle with document layout and resizing issues in Microsoft Publisher, consider switching to WPS Office. It provides a free, highly compatible alternative for document creation and includes an advanced built-in PDF toolkit to make scaling, printing, and sharing effortless.

1. Download and Install WPS Office: Get the free WPS Office suite from the official website and install it on your computer.
2. Use WPS PDF for scaling: Open your exported PDF document inside WPS PDF, which provides advanced yet easy-to-use printing and scaling options.
3. Print smoothly to any size: Use the WPS Print dialog to quickly scale your document to fit A5 or any other paper size with a single click.

Built-in PDF editor makes it easy to scale, print, and export documents safely without layout shifting.Highly compatible with Microsoft Office formats, allowing you to open DOCX, XLSX, and PPTX files seamlessly.Lightweight and free alternative to Microsoft Office, offering an intuitive and familiar user interface.

microsoft office alternative - wps office

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I group all objects in Publisher to resize the page safely?

Grouping all text boxes and images before changing the page size in Publisher can sometimes keep elements together, but the group will not automatically shrink to fit the new A5 page. You will still need to manually drag the corners to scale the grouped object down, which can sometimes distort text sizing.

Why do my text boxes move when I change page sizes in Publisher?

Publisher anchors objects to specific margins and page coordinates. When you shrink the overall canvas from A4 to A5, the absolute positioning causes elements to overlap or spill off the new, smaller page edges instead of scaling proportionally.

Can I scale the print directly from Publisher without making a PDF?

Depending on your specific printer drivers, you might see an option in Publisher's Print menu to scale the output to a different paper size. However, standardizing the document by exporting it to PDF first is widely considered the most reliable method, as it prevents the printer driver from accidentally misinterpreting the Publisher layout.

Document & File Issues