Microsoft Publisher reaches end of life on October 13, 2026. If you use Publisher through a Microsoft 365 subscription, the application stops working entirely on that date it is a hard shut-off. If you have a perpetual licence (Office 2021 or standalone Publisher), the application keeps running but receives no further security updates. In both cases, your PUB files need to be converted before you lose access to the application that can open them. PUB is a proprietary format with no open specification nothing other than Publisher can read it reliably. Once Publisher is gone, unconverted PUB files become inaccessible.
What is Actually Happening in October 2026
Microsoft announced the end of Publisher on February 15, 2024. The end date is October 13, 2026. But “end of life” means different things depending on how you access Publisher and most coverage of this topic glosses over the distinction.
Two separate events happen in October 2026:
Microsoft 365 subscribers: Publisher is removed from the Microsoft 365 suite entirely. The application stops launching. You cannot open PUB files in Publisher. You cannot edit them. The ability to access Publisher disappears completely.
Perpetual licence users (Office 2021, standalone Publisher): The application keeps running. You can still open and edit PUB files. But Microsoft stops issuing security updates, bug fixes and technical support. Using Publisher after this date means using unsupported software.
Which scenario applies to you determines how urgently you need to act. If you are on Microsoft 365, the clock is ticking on a hard deadline. If you have a perpetual licence, you have more time but not indefinitely and the security risk grows with every month Publisher remains unpatched.
Office 2024 does not include Publisher
If you upgrade to Office 2024 or install it over an existing Office installation, Publisher is not included and any existing Publisher installation from the older Office version will be removed. There is no path to keep Publisher through an upgrade to Office 2024 or later.
Which Version Do You Have? (Check This First)
Before you do anything else, confirm which version of Publisher you are running. Everything else follows from this.
Open Publisher. Click File in the menu bar then Account (or Help in older versions).
Look at the Product Information section. If it says “Microsoft 365” or “Office 365” anywhere in the product name, you are on a subscription. If it says “Publisher 2021,” “Publisher 2019,” “Publisher 2016” or similar, you have a perpetual licence.
Note the version number. Scroll down to see the full version string. This tells you exactly which build you are running and whether you have received recent updates.
If you cannot open Publisher at all or if you see a message saying “Publisher is retiring,” you are on a Microsoft 365 subscription and the retirement process has begun.
If You Use Microsoft 365
Publisher will stop working for you on October 13, 2026. Not “become unsupported.” Stop working. The application will not launch.
What this means in practice:
Any PUB file you have not converted before that date will be inaccessible. You will not be able to open it in Publisher because Publisher no longer exists in your Microsoft 365 installation.
You cannot use any other Microsoft 365 application to open PUB files. Word, PowerPoint and Excel do not open PUB files.
The PUB format is proprietary. No free or widely available third-party application reads PUB files reliably. This is not a temporary problem that will be solved by an update to another application the format has no published specification.
Microsoft is currently showing a “Publisher is retiring” alert when you open Publisher on a Microsoft 365 subscription. This is your warning to act.
Your only option is to convert your PUB files to another format before October 13, 2026. The practical deadline is earlier give yourself at least four to six weeks before the date to allow for a bulk conversion workflow, verification and any issues that arise.
If You Have a Perpetual Licence
Publisher 2021, Publisher 2019 and Publisher 2016 will keep working after October 2026. You can still open PUB files. You can still edit them. The application does not get removed.
What changes is support. After October 1, 2026:
No more security updates. Any vulnerability discovered in Publisher after this date will not be patched. Opening a PUB file from an untrusted source becomes a security risk malformed PUB files could exploit unpatched vulnerabilities.
No technical support. Microsoft support will not assist with Publisher issues after this date.
Windows updates may break Publisher. A Windows security update could change a system component that Publisher depends on. Since Publisher is no longer being maintained, these incompatibilities will not be fixed.
Office 2024 removes Publisher. If you upgrade your Office installation to Office 2024 or later, Publisher is gone. Office 2024 does not include Publisher in any configuration.
The practical recommendation for perpetual licence users: use Publisher until it causes problems, but convert your important PUB files now. Do not wait until Publisher breaks. At that point, conversion becomes much harder.
Standalone Publisher licences are no longer sold
Microsoft stopped selling standalone Publisher licences in March 2025. You cannot buy Publisher as a new product. The only remaining purchase option is a secondhand Office 2021 perpetual licence that includes Publisher but Office 2021 reaches end of support in October 2026, the same month as Publisher’s retirement.
The PUB File Problem Nobody Is Talking About
Here is the part most retirement guides skip.
Publisher has been running for 35 years, but Microsoft never published an open specification for the PUB file format. Unlike DOCX (an ISO open standard that any application can implement) or PDF (a published standard readable by hundreds of applications), PUB is a proprietary binary format with no documented schema.
The consequence: nothing other than Publisher reads PUB files reliably. LibreOffice has limited, incomplete PUB support. No other major application attempts it. There are a small number of specialist tools with partial PUB support, but none that reliably handle the full range of PUB file features custom fonts, master pages, text boxes with overflow, layered transparency, embedded images with Publisher-specific formatting.
What this means for you: once Publisher stops working, your PUB files do not become readable by some other application. They become inaccessible. Permanently. A PUB file you have not converted before Publisher goes away is a PUB file you cannot open. Not “cannot open easily.” Cannot open.
This is why conversion before the deadline is not optional. It is the only path to preserving access to your content.
Your Three Paths Forward
Path 1: Convert Now (Recommended)
Convert all PUB files to PDF (for archiving) and DOCX (for editing) before October 2026. Use Publisher’s built-in Save As for individual files. Use a batch converter like Univik PUB Converter for bulk conversion of dozens or hundreds of files. Keep the original PUB files as a backup until you have verified the converted versions.
Path 2: Keep Perpetual Publisher (Caution)
If you already have Office 2021 with Publisher, you can keep using it after October 2026 but without security updates. This is a reasonable short-term bridge if you have many files and need time to convert them. It is not a permanent solution. Do not use this path as a reason to delay converting your files.
Path 3: Rebuild in a New Tool
For organisations that create new content regularly (newsletters, brochures, flyers), switching to a replacement tool now means rebuilding templates in Word, PowerPoint or Canva. New content is created in the new tool. Existing PUB files are converted for archiving. This is the cleanest long-term approach but requires the most upfront work.
Most organisations will use a combination of Paths 1 and 3: convert the existing PUB archive, then rebuild the active templates in a replacement tool. For guidance on which replacement tool fits your use case, see our Microsoft Publisher alternatives guide.
Action Checklist Before October 2026
Audit your PUB file inventory. Search your computer, shared drives, OneDrive and SharePoint for *.pub files. You need to know how many you have before you can plan the conversion. Use Windows Search or PowerShell: Get-ChildItem -Path C:\ -Recurse -Filter *.pub
Triage by priority. Not all PUB files are equal. Active templates you use regularly need immediate attention. Archived files from five years ago can wait. Focus conversion effort on anything still in active use first.
Decide the output format for each type. PUB files used for printing or distribution → convert to PDF. PUB files containing editable content you may want to update later → convert to DOCX or PPTX. PUB files that are reference documents → convert to PDF and archive.
Convert individual files using Publisher’s Save As. For a small number of files, open each one in Publisher, go to File then Save As and choose PDF or Word Document as the file type. This is free and uses Publisher’s own rendering. Suitable for up to 20 to 30 files.
Use a batch converter for larger archives. For organisations with dozens or hundreds of PUB files, manual conversion is not feasible. Univik PUB Converter converts PUB files to PDF, Word, PowerPoint and other formats in bulk on Windows. No Publisher installation required useful for converting files on machines where Publisher is no longer available.
Verify the converted files. Spot-check a sample of converted files to confirm layout, fonts and images survived the conversion. Fix any issues while Publisher is still available to re-convert from the original.
Keep original PUB files as a backup. Do not delete the originals until you have verified all conversions. Store the originals in a separate archive folder after conversion. Even without Publisher, having the originals means you can convert them if a better tool becomes available in future.
Choose and set up your replacement tool. What you use for new content after October 2026 depends on what you were using Publisher for. Brochures and flyers → Canva. Newsletters → Word or Mailchimp. Complex print layouts → Affinity Publisher 2 or Adobe InDesign. Presentations → PowerPoint.
What Microsoft Recommends Instead
Microsoft’s own guidance suggests these replacements for common Publisher use cases:
| Publisher Use Case | Microsoft’s Recommended Replacement |
|---|---|
| Flyers, posters and banners | Word or PowerPoint (templates available at Microsoft Create) |
| Brochures and newsletters | Word (with multi-column layout) |
| Business cards and certificates | Word |
| Calendars and programs | Word or PowerPoint |
| Advanced design work | Microsoft Designer (AI-assisted design tool) |
Microsoft’s recommended alternatives are all within the Microsoft 365 ecosystem, which makes sense from their perspective. They do not cover third-party alternatives that may be a better fit for professional designers or organisations with complex layout needs.
For an honest comparison of all available alternatives including Canva, Affinity Publisher, Adobe InDesign and LibreOffice see our complete Publisher alternatives guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will Publisher still work after October 13, 2026?
It depends on your licence type. For Microsoft 365 subscribers, Publisher stops working entirely on October 13, 2026 the application will not launch. For perpetual licence users (Office 2021 or standalone Publisher), the application keeps running but receives no further security updates or bug fixes. Microsoft also confirms that Office 2024 does not include Publisher, so any upgrade removes it.
Can I still open PUB files after Publisher is retired?
Only if you have a perpetual Publisher installation still running. Without Publisher, PUB files cannot be opened reliably in any other application. The PUB format is proprietary with no published specification. LibreOffice has partial PUB support but handles only basic files and frequently fails on complex layouts. If you do not have Publisher available, you need to have converted your PUB files before the deadline.
What is the best format to convert PUB files to?
It depends on intended use. PDF is best for files you only need to view and print it preserves the layout exactly and is readable on any device. DOCX (Word) is best for files you may need to edit it makes the content accessible but may shift the layout somewhat. PPTX (PowerPoint) works well for slide-based and presentation-style Publisher documents. For a step-by-step guide to the Word conversion specifically, see our PUB to Word conversion guide.
Do I need to convert PUB files if I have a perpetual Publisher licence?
Not immediately but yes, eventually. A perpetual Publisher installation keeps working after October 2026, but without security updates. A Windows update could break Publisher rendering without a fix being available. Converting your important PUB files now, while Publisher is still fully supported, protects them regardless of what happens to the application later.
What happens if I have thousands of PUB files to convert?
Manual conversion is not practical at scale. Publisher’s built-in PowerShell script can batch-convert PUB files to PDF but requires Publisher to be installed and running. Univik PUB Converter converts large PUB archives to PDF, Word and other formats in bulk on Windows without requiring Publisher to be installed. This is particularly useful for machines that have already lost Publisher access or for converting files after the October deadline.
Is Microsoft Publisher being replaced by a new product?
No. Microsoft has not announced a Publisher replacement. They suggest using Word, PowerPoint and Microsoft Designer for tasks that Publisher previously covered. These are not direct replacements they have different feature sets and workflows. Third-party options like Canva and Affinity Publisher 2 come closer to Publisher’s functionality but require migration effort. See our alternatives guide for a full comparison.
Conclusion
So, Publisher. Thirty-five years. Gone in October 2026 or at least, gone for the majority of users who access it through a Microsoft 365 subscription.
The proprietary format is the real problem. Word files and Excel files will outlast Microsoft because the formats are open standards that any developer can implement. PUB files are tied to an application that is being retired. Convert them now, while Publisher still works and the content survives. Leave them unconverted and they become permanently inaccessible the moment Publisher stops launching.
How many PUB files are you dealing with a handful or hundreds? That number is the first thing to find out, because it determines whether manual conversion or a batch approach is the right path.