MS should provide an option to save Publisher files (with photos) to a MS-supported program...

Question

Greetings,

I have decades of Publisher files and with Publisher going away, I am working on saving them to other MS programs. MS has made it simple to save text, but has provided no option of saving anything with photos. You CAN NOT directly save to PPT (which would be easiest) or copy and paste all the photos from a page. (MS suggests saving to PDF, but then you would have to buy an Adobe subscription to access/edit the document.) MS, please provide an option for those of us who want to save the photos from our Publisher documents into a MS-supported program!!!

Thank you.

Answer 1

Publisher does not provide a built-in command to convert .pub files with photos directly into another editable Microsoft 365 app such as PowerPoint or Word while preserving full layout and image editability.

Current Microsoft guidance for Publisher retirement is:

1. Continue using Publisher until October 2026 (for Microsoft 365 subscribers) or beyond that date if using a supported Perpetual version.
2. Before October 2026, convert important Publisher files to other formats:
   • PDF or XPS for read-only, high-quality output suitable for sharing and printing. These formats:
     • Embed fonts and preserve metadata.
     • Preserve searchable text and hyperlinks.
     • Are designed as read-only and cannot be edited in Publisher afterward.
3. For long-term editing and creation of new content, recreate or redesign content in supported Microsoft 365 apps using the recommended alternatives:
   • Ads/Flyers, Brochures, Banners/Signs/Posters, Certificates, Business cards, Calendars, Cards, etc.: Word or PowerPoint.
   • Business invoices, applications, forms, envelopes, labels, letterhead, newsletters, programs, folded paper projects: Word.

For large numbers of Publisher files, bulk conversion to PDF is supported via automation:

• Use a PowerShell script (example provided in the Publisher retirement documentation) to export many .pub files to PDF automatically. The script:
  • Requires a working, licensed Publisher installation.
  • Can convert a single file, all files in a folder, or recursively through subfolders.
  • Skips files where a PDF with the same name already exists.
  • Uses Document.ExportAsFixedFormat (or Document.SaveAs with PbFileFormat) to export to PDF or other fixed formats.

Once converted to PDF:

• PDFs can be viewed and printed reliably using standard PDF viewers.
• Many programs (including Word) can open and edit PDFs, but layout fidelity is not guaranteed and additional cleanup is usually required.

There is no documented feature to:

• Export a .pub file directly to PowerPoint while preserving editable images and layout, or
• Automatically extract and place all images from Publisher into another Microsoft 365 app in one step.

The supported path is:

• Preserve existing work by bulk-exporting .pub files to PDF for viewing/printing.
• Rebuild future-editable versions of important publications in Word or PowerPoint using the recommended templates and apps.

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References:

• Save As or convert a publication to .pdf or .xps using Publisher
• Microsoft Publisher will no longer be supported after October 2026
• Save or convert to PDF or XPS in Office Desktop apps
• I have thousands of Publisher files; I'm not opening each one individually to convert them. What is this BS about retiring publisher and losing access to all those files? This is 20 years of work that my business is going to lose, we won't recover from th - Microsoft Q&A
• Microsoft 365 issue opening .pdf - Microsoft Q&A