How to Open Old Publisher Files Now That Publisher Is Gone

Your Publisher files haven't gone anywhere. What changed in October 2026 is the program that opens them. You have three ways to get at a .pub file now, and which one is right depends on what you want from the file: to read it, to print it again, or to keep editing it.

What changed in October 2026

Microsoft announced that Publisher would reach "end of life" in October 2026. Its support page gives two dates (Microsoft Support):

• October 1, 2026. Microsoft 365 subscribers lose access to Publisher "on or shortly after" this date, as an update removes it. After that, Microsoft 365 subscribers "will no longer be able to open or edit Publisher files in Publisher."
• October 13, 2026. Support ended for Publisher 2021, the "perpetual" version people bought once, on its own or as part of Office 2021. Microsoft ties this date to the end of support for Office 2021.

Older bought copies had already lost support: Publisher 2016 and Publisher 2019 reached their end of support on October 14, 2025 (Microsoft's list for 2025).

There's an important difference between the two. If you bought Publisher outright, Microsoft's own answer is that, although support ends, "you will still be able to install and use the app beyond this date." It won't get security updates, but it will still open your files. If you had Publisher through a Microsoft 365 subscription, it's gone.

First, find your files

Microsoft's suggestion is simple: search for ".pub" on your computer, in OneDrive and in SharePoint. On a Windows computer, open File Explorer, click in the search box at the top right, and type *.pub. Search the whole computer (click "This PC" first), because church files have a way of living in a former secretary's old folder.

Before you change anything, copy the whole set to a USB drive or a folder named "Publisher originals". Whatever you do next, keep the originals untouched.

Route 1: save each file as a PDF while you still can

If any computer in your church still has a working Publisher, use it now. Microsoft's steps are: open the file, choose File > Save as, pick a location, choose PDF as the file type, and save.

A PDF keeps the layout exactly as it was. It's the best way to keep an archive of old bulletins and newsletters, and anyone can open it. You can't easily edit it, though, which is why the next route exists.

For a whole folder of files, Microsoft offers a sample PowerShell script that converts many .pub files to PDF at once. It needs "a working and licensed version of Publisher installed", and it's a technical tool. If your church has someone who helps with its computers, this is a good job to hand them, along with the link to Microsoft's page.

Route 2: turn the PDF into a Word document

Microsoft's recommendation for editing a file after Publisher is to go through PDF: convert the .pub to PDF, then open the PDF in Word. In Word, choose File > Open, find the PDF, and select OK when Word says it will convert it. Word opens it as an editable document. Microsoft's steps don't say which versions of Word can do this, so if yours won't open the PDF, try Route 3 instead.

Microsoft is frank about the result: the converted document "will be optimized for text editing," and its layout "may vary from the original PDF—particularly if the document includes many graphics." In practice, expect the words to come through and the arrangement to need work: columns can become one long column, pictures can move, and text boxes can overlap.

For a weekly bulletin, it's usually quicker to start from a clean template and copy your text into it than to repair a converted file. Keep the PDF open beside it as your guide. Our folded Sunday bulletin and monthly newsletter templates are built for exactly that.

Route 3: open the .pub file itself in LibreOffice Draw

LibreOffice is a free office suite for Windows, Mac and Linux (download page). Its drawing program, Draw, can open Publisher files directly, even on a computer that never had Publisher.

It can do that because volunteers wrote a "Microsoft Publisher import library" called libmspub (Document Liberation Project). The Document Foundation, which makes LibreOffice, explains that the .pub format isn't an open standard, so the library was built by reverse-engineering it, and that it's used by both LibreOffice and Scribus (Document Foundation blog, October 14, 2026).

What to know before you try it:

• It's import only. LibreOffice opens .pub files but can't save back to .pub. Save your edited copy as a LibreOffice drawing (.odg), or choose File > Export As > Export as PDF (LibreOffice Help).
• Check the version. LibreOffice's own list of file types calls this filter "Microsoft Publisher 98-2010" (we checked it in LibreOffice 26.8). If your file was made in a later version, try it; if it won't open or comes in jumbled, use the PDF routes above.
• Check every page. If the fonts the file used aren't on your computer, LibreOffice substitutes others, and lines break in new places. Text boxes and pictures may need nudging.
• Draw isn't Publisher. The Document Foundation itself says Draw "is not a desktop publishing application," but suggests it for "small multi-page documents, such as newsletters, or for single-page documents."

To try it: install LibreOffice, open LibreOffice, choose File > Open, and pick a .pub file. It opens in Draw.

What about conversion websites?

Microsoft's page mentions third-party tools that convert .pub files directly, adding that they "vary in quality and capabilities, and Microsoft does not provide support for them." Be careful with any website that asks you to upload a file. A church newsletter can include members' names, addresses, birthdays and prayer requests. If you wouldn't hand the paper to a stranger, don't upload the file to one.

Which route for which file

• Old bulletins to keep for the recordsRoute 1: PDF
• This week's bulletinA fresh template
• A newsletter layout you want to keepRoute 3, or 2
• A one-page flyer or certificateRoute 3: Draw
• A file nobody can open at allAsk for the PDF

That last one matters. If a file was sent to the printer or emailed to members, someone may still have a PDF copy. It's worth asking before you rebuild anything from scratch.

Once the files are safe, the next question is what to make new ones in. Our guide to what to use instead of Publisher compares Word, Google Docs, LibreOffice and the page-layout programs.