Somewhere on your computer there is probably a folder of .pub files. A club newsletter, raffle tickets, the shop's price cards, a wedding programme from 2014. They were all made in Microsoft Publisher, and that app is now being taken out of Microsoft 365.
The short answer: Microsoft stopped supporting Publisher for Microsoft 365 subscribers on 1 October 2026. An Office update rolling out from mid-November removes it from PCs. Your .pub files stay where they are, but Word and PowerPoint cannot open them. Convert the files you care about while Publisher still runs, or use a free app that can read them.
What changes, and when
Microsoft's Publisher retirement page and its notice to IT admins (MC1469564) set out the dates.
| Date | What happens | Who it covers |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Oct 2026 | Support ends; Publisher is no longer part of the subscription | Microsoft 365 subscribers |
| 13 Oct 2026 | Security fixes end for Office 2021 and Office LTSC 2021, Publisher included | People who bought Office outright |
| Mid-Nov 2026 | Version 2611 starts removing Publisher from PCs | PCs on Current Channel |
| Early Dec 2026 | The same removal | PCs on Monthly Enterprise Channel |
If Publisher still opens for you today, the removal update simply has not reached your PC yet. Microsoft's notice is clear that this gap "is not an extension". To see where you stand, open Word, then File, Account. Your version and update channel sit under About Word. Version 2611 or later means the removal has arrived.
Your files stay. The app goes.
Nothing in Microsoft's notices deletes .pub files. They stay on your PC, in OneDrive or in SharePoint. What disappears is the program that opens them. Word and PowerPoint cannot read a .pub file directly, which is why Microsoft's own advice is to convert first.
The format was never an open standard either. As The Document Foundation explains, free apps read it through a reverse-engineered library. That is impressive volunteer work, but it is not a guarantee for every complex layout.
Rescue your files in five steps
Do this while Publisher still opens on your PC.
- Find them. Search File Explorer for .pub across your PC, OneDrive and any SharePoint folders. Microsoft suggests exactly this search.
- Sort them. Split files you only need to keep from files you will edit again, such as a monthly newsletter template.
- Keep-only files: save as PDF. In Publisher, choose File, Save As, then PDF. Microsoft recommends PDF when the layout matters.
- Files to edit: go via Word. Save as PDF, then open that PDF in Word. Microsoft warns the result is built for text editing, so pages heavy with graphics may shift.
- Dozens of files: use the script. The retirement page links a PowerShell script, Convert-PubFileToPDF.ps1, for bulk conversion. It needs a working, licensed Publisher, so run it before the update lands.
Keep the original .pub files as well. They take little space, and they let you try a better converter later.
Publisher already gone? What still opens a .pub file
| App | Cost | What it does with a .pub | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| LibreOffice Draw | Free | Opens and edits it; saves in OpenDocument format | Not a full layout app; best for single pages and short newsletters |
| Affinity | Core app free | Imports files from Publisher 97 onwards | Cannot save back to .pub |
| Publisher 2021 you own | Already paid | Opens and edits as before | No security fixes since 13 Oct 2026 |
| Word or PowerPoint | In Microsoft 365 | Cannot open a .pub directly | Works only from a PDF copy |
The Document Foundation calls LibreOffice Draw "the quickest way" to open Publisher documents, while admitting Draw is not a desktop publishing app. The Affinity details come from Affinity's own Publisher page. Whichever you pick, open one important file first and check every page before trusting it with the whole archive.
Can you buy Publisher back?
Not as a new purchase. Microsoft said in March 2024 that Office LTSC 2024 "will not ship with Microsoft Publisher". The consumer Office Home 2024 bundle lists Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote.
If you already own Office 2021 or an older Publisher, Microsoft says you can still install and use it. It just gets no more fixes: Office 2021 support ended on 13 October 2026. Use it for your own files, not attachments from strangers. Our Windows 10 security update guide explains why unpatched software is worth that caution.
What to use for new work
Microsoft maps Publisher's common jobs onto apps you already have in Microsoft 365.
- Newsletters, labels, letterhead, invoices, forms and business cards: Word.
- Posters, banners and signs: PowerPoint.
- Flyers, brochures, certificates, calendars and greeting cards: either, with templates from Microsoft Create.
- Proper page layout: a dedicated design app such as Affinity, whose core app is free.
It is also a reminder that a subscription bundle can change under you. Our guide to reading a software bill covers what you are actually paying for.
A worked example
Here is a hypothetical. Asha edits her housing society's newsletter. She has 60 issues made in Publisher, going back to 2015, and Publisher still opens on her laptop.
She searches for .pub files and finds all 60, plus a forgotten folder of festival posters. She runs Microsoft's script once, and the archive becomes PDFs in an evening. For the three templates she still uses, she exports PDFs and rebuilds them in Word, keeping the .pub originals.
Had she waited until after the update, the archive would still be safe on disk. She would just be opening each issue in LibreOffice Draw and checking the layout page by page.
Your files are not going anywhere. The easy way to convert them is. Do it before your next Office update.
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