Microsoft Publisher End of Life: How to Convert Your .pub Files (2026 Guide)

What is happening to Microsoft Publisher?

Microsoft has retired Publisher. It was removed from Microsoft 365 on October 1, 2026, and support for perpetual versions ends October 13, 2026. This follows a broader trend of Microsoft focusing development resources on Word, which has gradually gained some of Publisher's desktop publishing capabilities.

What this means for you depends on how you licensed Publisher. If you have a Microsoft 365 subscription, Publisher is no longer part of it — as of October 1, 2026, 365 subscribers no longer have access, even to open a file one last time. If you have a perpetual license (for example, Office 2021 bought outright), Publisher keeps running on your machine, but support ends October 13, 2026 — after that, no further security patches or technical support. Either way, Publisher can't be installed on new machines through Microsoft 365 anymore.

For organizations — churches, schools, nonprofits, small businesses — that have accumulated years of .pub files, this raises a real question worth answering early: how do you keep access to that content once the software that created it is gone? That's exactly what we're here to help with.

What formats should you convert to?

The right format depends on what you need to do with the files afterward:

For most organizations, PDF + IDML is the right combination: PDF for archiving and immediate access, IDML for files you need to continue editing. IDML opens in Affinity Publisher 2 (now a free app, relaunched by Canva in October 2025) and Adobe InDesign.

How to export yourself while Publisher is still installed

If you still have Publisher installed and only have a handful of files, you can export manually:

1. Open the .pub file in Publisher
2. File → Export → Create PDF/XPS → Publish
3. For IDML: Publisher does not export IDML natively. You need a third-party tool.

For organizations with dozens or hundreds of files, manual export is impractical. A batch conversion service processes all your files at once and emails you a download link.

What if you no longer have Publisher installed?

If Publisher is no longer on your machine, your options narrow:

• Find a machine that still has Publisher — a colleague, a library PC, or a computer you haven't upgraded yet
• Use a conversion service — services like ours run Publisher on a dedicated machine and handle the conversion for you
• Free online converters — these typically produce poor results because they use third-party parsers rather than Publisher itself; text reflow, font substitution, and layout drift are common problems

The most faithful conversions come from opening the file in actual Publisher. Once Publisher is gone from the market entirely, this becomes increasingly difficult.

Conversion services: what to look for

Not all conversion services are equal. The key question: does the service use real Publisher automation, or a third-party parser?

Third-party parsers reverse-engineer the .pub file format. They're faster and cheaper to operate, but they produce noticeably lower fidelity — text reflows incorrectly, fonts are substituted, and complex layouts break. Services using real Publisher open the file the same way you would, producing output that looks correct.

Publisher Conversion uses real Publisher automation — the same approach used by professional conversion services.

The cost math for organizations with dozens of files

For a church with 200 newsletters and bulletins to migrate:

How to open IDML files

In Affinity Publisher 2

1. Open Affinity Publisher 2
2. File → Open → select the .idml file
3. When the file opens: right-click on the pasteboard (the grey area surrounding the page) and set the color to white
4. Go to View and disable “Clip to Canvas” — this makes any content on the pasteboard visible
5. Install any missing fonts if prompted

Affinity Publisher 2 is now free on Mac and Windows — Canva relaunched it as a free app in October 2025. There is no subscription required for the core app.

In Adobe InDesign

1. Open Adobe InDesign
2. File → Open → select the .idml file
3. InDesign opens IDML natively — no extra configuration required
4. Install any missing fonts if prompted

Adobe InDesign is available via Creative Cloud subscription (~$22/month). IDML is InDesign's own interchange format, so compatibility is seamless.

Timeline and action plan

Can I still open .pub files after Publisher is gone?

Yes, if you have an existing Publisher installation on a machine you keep running. No, if you need to open .pub files on a new machine — Publisher won't be available to install.

Conversion services can still process .pub files after EOL as long as they maintain a machine with a perpetual or grandfathered Publisher license — which is how we operate. That said, the self service portal generates overhead so it will not be online indefinitely.