End of Publisher

Question

I just found out that Publisher will end in October. I have 30 years of publisher documents that i will not be able to access unless i spend hours converting them someway. Microsoft should and needs to not end publisher. this is terrible news,

When i was on live chat the assistant to voice my frustration and ask for help, she ended the conversation before I even had time to even copy and paste links she provided me. So disappointed and frustrated.

Answer 1

Hi LB Bramlet,

If your goal is to keep the documents editable, the easiest approach is usually to keep a copy of the original .pub files and gradually convert the documents you still actively use into a format supported by current Office apps.

For many Publisher documents, Word (.docx) is the most practical destination because you can continue editing text, images, and layouts afterward. For documents that are primarily for viewing, such as flyers, newsletters, or brochures that rarely change, PDF is often the safest format for long-term preservation.

A simple strategy would be:

1. Keep your original .pub files in a dedicated backup folder.
2. Identify the files you still update regularly.
3. Convert those active files to Word and verify the formatting.
4. Save completed or archival documents as PDF for long-term access.

With a collection spanning 30 years, you may not need to convert everything immediately. Focusing first on the files you still edit can make the process much more manageable while preserving access to your historical documents.

If you have mostly newsletters, brochures, labels, or another specific type of Publisher file, let us know. The best format can vary depending on how complex the layouts are, and the community may be able to suggest the most efficient migration path for that type of document.

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Answer 2

I'm sorry that you just found out now that Publisher is being discontinued, because Microsoft made the announcement early in 2024, giving users more than two and a half years to change to a new platform and convert their files. Unfortunately you've left yourself with little time.

Publisher is being discontinued because the market for paper-based content has dwindled to the point where it no longer makes economic sense to maintain the software. Most people are creating digital content now. Microsoft was the last holdout for this type of product; other developers left the market long ago.

Publisher will join the ranks of other once-popular products that succumbed to changing consumer demand, like Windows Media Player, Zune, Paint3D, FrontPage and many other products. XBox is looking like it might go next.