About the scratch area

You can use the scratch area (scratch area: The gray area that appears outside the publication page in Publisher or the background in PhotoDraw. If you're not sure where you want to move something, you can drag it onto the scratch area.) as a place to create or hold objects that you don't currently want on any page. The scratch area is the colored area that surrounds the page and is the same for all pages in your publication. When you place an object in the scratch area while you are viewing one page, you can see it and access it when you view any other page in the publication. This makes the scratch area a useful holding place for objects that you don't want to delete but can't immediately use. Items in the scratch area will not print when you print your publication.

Also, in Microsoft Publisher 2013 the scratch area is used to hold pictures when you first insert them. You can then drag the pictures from the scratch area to the location you want on a page.