Converting Publisher files to ePub takes two steps: PUB to PDF first, then PDF to ePub using a converter like Calibre (free) or an online tool. The PDF-to-ePub conversion works best for text-heavy documents: newsletters, booklets and publications with flowing text. Complex multi-column layouts and overlapping design elements do not convert well to ePub’s linear reading model. For a clean ePub with proper reflowable text, the more reliable path is PUB to DOCX (to extract editable text) then DOCX to ePub. Use Univik PUB Converter for the PUB-to-PDF or PUB-to-DOCX step without needing Publisher installed. To check the pages before you build an EPUB, the free Univik PUB File Viewer opens the source PUB file on Windows with no upload.
Update, 1 October 2026: Publisher has left Microsoft 365
Microsoft 365 subscribers can no longer open or edit .pub files in Publisher. That means the Publisher Save As and Export steps below only work if you still have a working copy. Your .pub files are not deleted, and Univik PUB File Converter turns them into PDF or Word without Publisher, ready for the ePub step.
When ePub Makes Sense for Publisher Content
ePub is a digital reading format designed for e-readers, tablets and mobile devices. Converting Publisher content to ePub makes sense when the content has a reading life beyond print: newsletters you want to distribute digitally, booklets that should be readable on a phone and publications that need to be accessible to people who cannot receive or print a physical copy.
Newsletters with substantial text content. A quarterly newsletter with articles, updates and features converts reasonably well to ePub if the text content is the primary value. Readers who prefer digital consumption or cannot receive physical copies benefit from an ePub version.
Booklets and programmes. Event programmes, information booklets and short guides produced in Publisher for print can have a second life as downloadable ePub files, useful for organisations wanting to reduce print costs or provide accessible digital alternatives.
Archiving Publisher content digitally. Organisations that have accumulated years of Publisher newsletters may want to preserve them in a digital format readable on modern devices. ePub is more future-proof than PUB and more reflowable than PDF for small-screen reading.
Accessibility requirements. ePub supports text-to-speech, adjustable font sizes and screen reader compatibility better than PDF or PUB. For organisations with accessibility obligations, ePub is often the better digital distribution format.
“EPUB reflows text, so the check after conversion is different from print: we read the result on a device and look at how the text formatting held up. Our Publisher test files run from the oldest versions to the newest for that reason.”
Nick Rogers
|Founder, Univik, building file conversion tools since 2013
When ePub Is the Wrong Format
ePub is a reflowable format: text reflows to fit the screen size and font setting of the reader. This makes it excellent for text-heavy content but a poor fit for layout-critical documents.
Brochures and marketing collateral. These are layout-critical by definition. The visual design is the point. ePub’s reflowable model cannot preserve the precise positioning of elements that defines a brochure. Use PDF for these, because it preserves the layout exactly.
Multi-column newsletters where column position matters. ePub flattens multi-column layouts into a single column. If the newsletter has sidebars, highlighted quotes in columns or content that visually depends on column position, the ePub conversion loses that structure.
Documents with overlapping design elements. Publisher’s canvas-based layout allows elements to overlap. ePub cannot represent overlapping elements, so they appear sequentially in the ePub output, often in an unexpected or confusing order.
The Conversion Path: PUB to PDF to ePub
Publisher has no native ePub export. The conversion always involves at least two steps. The most common path is PUB to PDF to ePub, with PDF as the intermediate format that both preserves the Publisher layout and feeds a PDF-to-ePub converter.
The alternative path is PUB to DOCX to ePub, using DOCX to extract editable text and then converting the DOCX to ePub for better text reflowability. This path produces cleaner ePub for text-heavy documents but loses the visual layout.
Step 1: Convert PUB to PDF
Using Publisher (only with a working copy): This step needs Publisher. Microsoft 365 Publisher closed on 1 October 2026, so it works only with a perpetual copy of Publisher 2021, 2019 or 2016, or a Microsoft 365 copy that still opens today. If you no longer have Publisher, the free Online Publisher Viewer lets you open and check the .pub file in your browser, then use option 2 below to make the PDF. With Publisher, open the PUB file and go to File then Export then Create PDF/XPS. In the Publish as PDF or XPS dialog, select Standard (Online and Print) for a quality PDF. Click Publish. For ePub conversion, include bookmarks and accessibility tags in the PDF export settings, because these help the ePub converter structure the output correctly.
Using Univik PUB Converter (no Publisher required): Univik PUB Converter converts PUB files to PDF in bulk on Windows without Publisher installed. Load the PUB files, select PDF as the output format and convert. Useful for batch conversion of multiple files or for PCs that lost Publisher when it left Microsoft 365 on 1 October 2026. Read what Publisher’s end of life means for your files.
Step 2: Convert PDF to ePub
Several tools convert PDF to ePub. The best free option is Calibre. For online conversion without installing software, several web-based tools handle small PDF files adequately.
Calibre (Free, Desktop)
Calibre is the most widely used free ebook management and conversion application. It runs on Windows, Mac and Linux. To convert: open Calibre, click Add Books and select the PDF. Select the book in the library, click Convert Books then Convert Individually. Set Output Format to EPUB. Adjust the Look and Feel settings (Page Margins, Font Family and Line Height) before converting for better reading results. Click OK to convert.
Online PDF to ePub Tools
Tools like PDF2ePub, Convertio and Zamzar accept PDF uploads and convert to ePub online. Suitable for individual files that are not confidential. File size limits apply (typically 10 to 100 MB depending on the service). Results vary by PDF complexity: text-heavy PDFs with clean structure convert better than complex multi-column layouts.
PDF to ePub quality depends heavily on the PDF structure
A PDF produced from Publisher contains embedded fonts, image layers and positioned text blocks, all laid out precisely for print. ePub conversion attempts to extract and reflow this content as running text. The converter reads the PDF’s text extraction layer and attempts to determine reading order, heading structure and paragraph flow. Complex Publisher layouts with multiple columns, text boxes at various positions and overlapping elements produce ePub output that needs manual review and often manual correction. Simple single-column text documents convert much more cleanly.
What Survives and What Does Not
| Element | PDF to ePub (via Calibre) | DOCX to ePub |
|---|---|---|
| Body text content | ✅ Usually extracted | ✅ Clean text flow |
| Reading order | ⚠️ May be incorrect in complex layouts | ✅ Correct document order |
| Heading structure | ⚠️ Detected from font size, may miss some | ✅ Preserved from Word styles |
| Images | ✅ Extracted and included | ⚠️ Depends on DOCX conversion quality |
| Multi-column layout | ❌ Flattened to single column | ❌ Flattened |
| Visual design and layout | ❌ Not preserved (ePub is reflowable) | ❌ Not preserved |
| Fonts | ⚠️ Reader app’s default font used | ⚠️ Reader app’s default font used |
| Table of contents | ⚠️ Calibre attempts to generate one | ✅ Generated from heading styles |
| Hyperlinks | ✅ Usually preserved | ✅ Preserved |
Alternative Path: PUB to DOCX to ePub
For text-heavy Publisher documents where reading flow matters more than visual layout, converting to DOCX first produces a cleaner ePub than the PDF path. DOCX preserves the text with explicit paragraph structure (heading levels, body text and lists), which gives the ePub converter accurate structural information.
Convert PUB to DOCX. If you still have a working copy of Publisher, use File then Save As then Word Document. Without Publisher, use Univik PUB Converter, which also handles batch conversion. Review the DOCX to confirm headings are correctly tagged with Word heading styles. This is critical for the ePub table of contents and chapter navigation.
Apply proper heading styles in Word or Google Docs. Before converting to ePub, make sure the document uses Heading 1 for chapter titles, Heading 2 for section headings and Normal for body text. ePub converters use these styles to generate the table of contents and chapter navigation. Without proper styles, the ePub will have no navigation structure.
Convert DOCX to ePub via Calibre. In Calibre, add the DOCX file and convert to EPUB format. DOCX-to-ePub conversion in Calibre produces significantly better results than PDF-to-ePub for text-heavy documents, because the heading structure, paragraph flow and table of contents all convert cleanly from a well-structured DOCX.
Distributing Your ePub
Once converted, an ePub file is a self-contained digital publication. Distribution options include:
Email attachment. ePub files are typically 500 KB to 5 MB, well within email attachment limits. Recipients open the ePub in a compatible app: Apple Books on iPhone and Mac, Google Play Books on Android or Calibre on Windows.
Website download link. Host the ePub on your website and link to it for download. Add the correct MIME type to your server configuration: application/epub+zip for .epub files. Without the correct MIME type, some browsers may attempt to display the file rather than download it.
Google Drive or SharePoint sharing link. Upload the ePub to Google Drive or SharePoint and share a download link. Neither platform previews ePub files in the browser, but recipients can download and open in their preferred reader app.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can Publisher export to ePub directly?
No. Microsoft Publisher has no native ePub export. The conversion to ePub always requires at least two steps: PUB to PDF or DOCX first, then PDF or DOCX to ePub using a converter tool.
Which is better for ePub conversion: PDF or DOCX as the intermediate format?
DOCX is better for text-heavy documents where reading flow and chapter navigation matter (newsletters, booklets and reports). The heading structure in DOCX gives the ePub converter accurate structural information for generating the table of contents and chapter navigation. PDF is better when visual fidelity matters and the document has significant image content. The ePub will still reflow, but images are extracted more reliably from PDF than from Publisher’s Save As DOCX.
What app do recipients need to open an ePub file?
Apple Books on iPhone, iPad and Mac opens ePub files directly: tap the attachment and it opens in Apple Books. On Android, Google Play Books or any third-party ebook reader app handles ePub. On Windows, Microsoft Edge no longer opens ePub files, so use a reader app. Calibre is a free option for Windows that also manages ebook libraries. No special software is needed on Apple devices, because ePub is natively supported by the operating system.
Will the Publisher newsletter look the same in the ePub version?
No. ePub is a reflowable format: it adapts to the reader’s screen size and font settings. Multi-column layouts flatten to single column. Fixed visual positioning is replaced by flowing text. The ePub version will contain the same content as the newsletter but with a reading layout rather than the print layout. Think of the ePub version as a reading edition rather than a digital reproduction of the printed newsletter.
Can I sell an ePub converted from a Publisher file?
You can sell ePub files converted from Publisher documents you created and own the copyright to. Make sure all images, fonts and content in the original PUB file are properly licensed for commercial distribution, because the licence applicable to print use may not automatically extend to digital distribution. Fonts in particular often have separate licences for print and digital embedding.
The Short Version
Converting Publisher content to ePub works best for text-heavy documents where the content matters more than the layout. Newsletters, booklets and information guides convert with acceptable results. Marketing collateral and brochures where layout is the point do not convert well. PDF is the better preservation format for those.
The DOCX path produces cleaner ePub for reading. The PDF path is faster and captures images more reliably. For most Publisher-to-ePub conversions, test both paths on a representative document and use the one that requires less post-conversion correction.
Is the Publisher content you are converting primarily text that readers will read through from start to finish or primarily visual design that needs to be viewed as a fixed layout? That answer determines whether ePub or PDF is the better digital format for your specific use case.