Microsoft Publisher is retiring
What it means for your .pub files, and what to do~/publisher-retirement
Microsoft says Publisher is no longer supported after October 2026, and it's being removed from Microsoft 365. A copy you already have may keep opening for a while, but it gets no more fixes or security updates. Your .pub files aren't lost, but very few apps can open them.
Three steps to keep your files usable
- Find your .pub files. In File Explorer, open your Documents folder (or the whole PC) and type
*.pubin the search box. Copy them into one folder so nothing gets left behind. - Make PDFs of the ones you only need to keep. Old newsletters, programs and flyers are safest as PDFs, which open anywhere. See convert a .pub file to PDF.
- Keep editing the ones you use again and again, like a weekly bulletin, a menu, labels or a newsletter. PubStudio opens them and works the way you're used to, with a ribbon, a pages pane and templates.
Why PubStudio
- Opens your .pub files from Publisher 98 through Microsoft 365, and never changes the original.
- Feels familiar: Home, Insert, Design, Mail Merge, Review and View tabs, and Alt Q finds any command, even by the name you remember.
- Does the same jobs: over 100 templates, Avery labels, booklets, mail merge and PDFs for a print shop.
- Free to use, with Pro for clean PDFs, more export types and mail merge. No account and no tracking.
More on switching: Moving from Publisher · Open a .pub file