How to Make a Birthday Card on Microsoft Publisher
By Filonia LeChat
Whether you choose to celebrate birthdays in bulk once a month or honor each person on his special day, go with a card that stands out from the generic ones on the store shelves. With Microsoft Publisher, you can toast an employee turning a year older or even going over the hill, all while keeping company branding and design in place. Publisher enables you to send a birthday greeting that’ll blow out the candles on generic cards.
Step 1
Launch Publisher and click the “Greeting Cards” button in the Most Popular row of the Available Templates screen.
Step 2
Scroll through the templates in the top Birthday row or click the “All Birthday” folder icon and review the options. Double-click a template and it opens in the Publisher workspace. Note the Page Navigation column on the left side of the work area, showing you the four sides of the birthday card.
Step 3
Click a pre-populated text box on the cover of the card, showing in the main pane of the Publisher workspace. The text becomes highlighted. Type over it with your own text, such as “50 years old, 25 years with the company! Congrats!”
Step 4
Scroll through the rest of the pages in the navigation pane and change all of the text, such as adding a personal note and your name, or a message about how the person contributed to the organization over the past year.
Step 5
Right-click the pre-populated placeholder image on the front of the card. Select “Change Picture.” Choose “Change Picture” again from the fly-out menu.
Step 6
Browse to an image to use for the front of the card, such as the person’s head shot or the business logo. Another option is to click the picture and press the “Delete” key. Click the “Insert” tab, “Clip Art,” and type a term such as “briefcase” or “balloons” and double-click to add it to the card. Repeat to replace and add your own custom images to the birthday card.
Step 7
Click the “Page Design” tab. Scroll through the Schemes section of the ribbon; note that not all of the schemes fit so you’ll need to use the scroll bar. Click a scheme that matches your company colors to give the card a custom look. Double-clicking a scheme automatically updates the card’s coloring. You can click multiple schemes until the card is just right.
Step 8
Click the “File” tab and “Save As.” Type the birthday card’s file name and select a place to save it on the computer. Click the “Save” button.
Tips
- In most cases, Publisher’s templates for birthday cards may feel more like Hallmark than corporate business, but the benefit of the software is you may completely customize all templates for the person celebrating the occasion.
Writer Bio
Fionia LeChat is a technical writer whose major skill sets include the MS Office Suite (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Publisher), Photoshop, Paint, desktop publishing, design and graphics. LeChat has a Master of Science in technical writing, a Master of Arts in public relations and communications and a Bachelor of Arts in writing/English.