Microsoft Publisher support ends October 13, 2026: how to keep your .pub files editable
The short version. Publisher is no longer part of Microsoft 365, and Microsoft's support for the perpetual (one-time purchase) versions ends on October 13, 2026. Installed copies keep opening for now, but a new computer will not have Publisher, and no other Microsoft program opens a .pub file. If you hold years of bulletins, newsletters, menus or flyers in .pub, the window to turn them into something editable is while you still have one machine that opens them, or by converting them without Publisher at all.
What actually changes on October 13
- No more security or bug updates for Publisher 2016, 2019, 2021 and the LTSC versions.
- Microsoft 365 subscribers already lost the app; it was removed from the suite on or shortly after October 1, 2026.
- The .pub format stays proprietary. Word, PowerPoint and Canva do not open it. Canva and Google Slides do import PowerPoint files, which is why PPTX is the most useful target.
Microsoft's recommended route, and what it loses
Microsoft's guidance is to open each file in Publisher and save it as PDF, then, if you need to edit, open that PDF in Word. That keeps a picture of every page. It does not keep editable text boxes, the page layout survives unevenly, and it is one file at a time. For a church office with 500 bulletins or a school with a decade of newsletters, that is weeks of clicking.
Which format should each file become?
| Your file | Best target | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Weekly bulletin, newsletter, poster you still produce | PowerPoint (editable) | Becomes a template you keep using in PowerPoint, Google Slides or Canva |
| Anything that must look exactly the same | PowerPoint (exact-look) | The original page as a locked background with editable text on top |
| Mostly text (letters, forms, minutes) | Word | Reflows and edits like any document |
| Archive you only need to read or print | PDF/A | Long-term, printable, searchable |
Converting without Publisher: A3E Pub Rescue
Pub Rescue converts .pub files to PowerPoint, Word and PDF on our server, no install and no Publisher needed. Every page comes back with a fidelity score and a side-by-side preview you see before you pay, so you know what survived. Files are deleted 24 hours after upload.
| Plan | Price (CAD) | Covers |
|---|---|---|
| Free | C$0 | 3 files every 30 days, all formats, downloads included |
| Pack 25 | C$19 one-time | 25 files |
| Archive 300 | C$59 one-time | 300 files |
| Organisation | C$149 for 30 days | Up to 3,000 files plus one Template Lift |
| Reseller | C$79 a month | 2,000 files a month, unbranded reports, for print shops and IT providers |
Refunds for an unused or duplicate purchase are automatic within 10 days; nothing waits on a support ticket.
A plan for an office with hundreds of files
- Gather everything into one folder (or a ZIP). Include the PDFs you already saved; they become the reference each page is scored against.
- Try three files free and read the scores. Pages under 85 come back as exact-look PowerPoint automatically.
- Convert the archive to PDF/A for the record and PowerPoint for anything you will reuse.
- Lift one template from your most recent issue so next week's bulletin starts in PowerPoint, Slides or Canva, not in a program that no longer exists.
Convert your first three .pub files free
No account, no install. See the score on every page before you decide.
Open Pub Rescue Format guideNot affiliated with Microsoft. Publisher, PowerPoint and Word are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Dates reflect Microsoft's published retirement schedule for Publisher.