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Univik Online PUB Viewer
100% private. Runs only on your PC
100%
Any device, nothing to install, nothing uploaded.
Or pick it from your device. It opens in this tab, on your own computer, phone or tablet. Nothing is uploaded.
Got a .pub someone emailed you, or an old newsletter, church bulletin or flyer you need to read? Most online viewers send your document to a server, draw it there and send a picture back. This one works the opposite way. The whole viewer is a single web page. When you pick a .pub file, your browser reads it from your disk and draws every page itself.
No upload, no account and no server. Open the page, turn off your internet and it still works. Safe for client work, internal newsletters and private files.
Windows, Mac, Linux and Chromebook. Anything with a modern browser such as Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari can open a Publisher file here.
Download any page as SVG or PNG, save the pictures inside and export all the text as a plain .txt file.
Drop a folder of newsletters and switch between the files from the top bar. Each one is read only once.
Short answer: Univik Online PUB Viewer opens .pub files on Windows, Mac, Linux, Chromebook, iPhone, iPad and Android phones and tablets. It needs only a modern browser such as Chrome, Safari, Edge or Firefox. No Publisher, no licence and no account. Nothing is installed and nothing is uploaded.
Microsoft Publisher was never made for macOS, so a .pub file has no app set up to open it on a Mac. Open this page in Safari or Chrome, drop the file in and every page displays. No Windows, no virtual machine, no Parallels.
Tap the .pub attachment in Mail, Files or WhatsApp, choose Save to Files, then open this page in Safari and tap Choose .pub files. Pinch to zoom and swipe through pages.
iPadOS Safari gives you the full viewer with small previews, zoom and downloads. Save the file to Files first, then pick it from the box at the top of this page.
Works in Chrome, Samsung Internet and Firefox on Android phones and tablets. Pick the file from Downloads or Google Drive. Pages are drawn on the phone itself, so it also works offline once the page has loaded.
ChromeOS cannot run Publisher and there is no Chrome extension that reads the format properly. This page does. Choose the file from Files or Google Drive and read it in Chrome.
Ubuntu, Fedora, Mint or any version with Firefox or Chromium. No LibreOffice import needed and no Wine. Text, pictures, tables and shapes are drawn in the browser.
Use this page for a quick look in Edge or Chrome when you do not want to install anything. If you want printing, object details or Publisher 97 to 2002 files, install the free Univik PUB Viewer for Windows.
There is no Publisher app for mobile. This page is a mobile PUB viewer with no app to download from a store. It adapts to small screens, keeps the file on the phone and lets you save a page as a PNG image to share.
The viewer reads the Publisher file format directly and rebuilds each page from the parts stored inside it.
Every page with small previews, shared background pages and page size in inches and millimetres.
Stories with font, size, bold, italic, colour, spacing, bullets, large first letters and columns.
Embedded PNG, JPEG and other pictures at full size, trimmed the way Publisher trimmed them.
Rectangles, ovals, arrows, stars and custom shapes with solid colours, colour blends, borders and shadows.
Rows, columns and the text inside each cell.
The file's colour set and the list of fonts it uses.
Drag a .pub file onto the box at the top of this page, or click Choose .pub files. You can also select a whole folder.
Pages appear in a few seconds. Use the small previews or the arrow keys to move between pages and zoom in to check small print.
Save a page as SVG or PNG, save a picture from the Images tab or export all the text.
Only a few tools read the Publisher format without a Publisher licence. Here is how they compare for viewing a .pub file.
| Tool | Type | Opens .pub | Runs on |
|---|---|---|---|
| Univik Online PUB Viewer | Browser, nothing to install | Yes, view in the browser | Any device with a browser |
| Univik PUB Viewer for Windows | Free desktop app | Yes, every version from 1991 | Windows |
| LibreOffice Draw | Free desktop app | Some files, breaks detailed layouts | Windows, Mac, Linux |
| Scribus | Free desktop app | Some files | Windows, Mac, Linux |
| Microsoft Word or Google Docs | Office app | No, cannot read the format | - |
Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Google Docs and Canva cannot open .pub files. Renaming the file to .pdf or .docx does not work, because the file inside is still in Publisher's format.
Most .pub files are print pieces that people need to reopen years later, often on a computer that never had Publisher.
Open weekly bulletins, service programs and event flyers made in Publisher, even after the person who made them has left.
Read newsletters, calendars and permission slips a teacher or parent saved as a .pub, on a Chromebook or any school computer.
Reopen old flyers, menus and price lists a former employee designed, without buying Publisher just to read one file.
You got a .pub from a client or colleague and do not have Publisher. Drop it here and read it in a few seconds.
Univik makes both. Use this online page for a quick look on any computer. Use the free Univik PUB Viewer for Windows when you need every Publisher version, printing or object details.
| Feature | Online PUB Viewer | PUB Viewer for Windows |
|---|---|---|
| Install needed | None, opens in the browser | Small Windows setup |
| Operating system | Windows, Mac, Linux, Chromebook | Windows 7 to 11 |
| Files uploaded | Never, runs on your PC | Never, runs on your PC |
| Publisher versions | 2003 to Microsoft 365 | 1991 to Microsoft 365 |
| WMF and EMF clip art | Shown as placeholders | Rendered |
| Via PNG or SVG download | Direct printing | |
| Element properties | Fonts, colours, pictures | Position, size, pixels |
| Price | Free | Free |
Direct answers about opening Microsoft Publisher files in a browser, on any device, without Publisher.
No. This page contains the whole viewer. Your browser reads the file from your device and draws the pages itself. There is no server involved and the page keeps working with the internet turned off.
Open this page in any browser, drop the .pub file into the box at the top and it displays. You do not need Publisher, Microsoft 365 or any download. It works after Publisher retires in October 2026.
Yes. Univik Online PUB Viewer is free, has no page limit for viewing and needs no sign up. Downloading pages as SVG or PNG and exporting text are free as well.
Open this page in Safari or Chrome on macOS and choose the .pub file. Publisher was Windows only for its whole life and never had a Mac version, so the browser is the simplest way to read a .pub on a Mac. No Windows PC and no virtual machine needed.
Save the attachment to the Files app, open this page in Safari, tap Choose .pub files and pick it. The pages open in the same tab. Pinch to zoom, swipe to change pages and use Download to save a page as a picture.
Open this page in Chrome on your Android phone or tablet, tap Choose .pub files and select the file from Downloads or Drive. Everything runs on the phone, so the file stays private.
Yes, with this page. ChromeOS has no built-in way to open Publisher files, but the online viewer runs inside Chrome and reads the file directly. Pick it from Files or Google Drive.
Yes. Use Firefox or Chromium on any Linux version. Only a few tools open .pub files without Publisher: this online viewer, and the free desktop apps LibreOffice Draw and Scribus. LibreOffice Draw can import some PUB files but often breaks detailed layouts, so this viewer reads the format directly instead.
No. Google Docs has no way to import Publisher files and Drive only shows the file name. Open the file from Drive with this viewer instead, then download a PNG if you need to share it.
No. Word has no import for the Publisher format, and renaming .pub to .pdf or .docx does not work because the file inside is still in Publisher's format. Use a PUB viewer to read it, or the Univik PUB Converter to turn it into PDF or Word.
Only if the viewer does not upload the file. Most online viewers send your document to their server. Univik Online PUB Viewer never does. The file is read and displayed on your own device, which makes it safe for client work, internal documents and personal files.
No. There is no app, add-on or extension. Open the page and choose the file. It works the same on a desktop computer, a phone or a tablet.
Files saved by Publisher 2003, 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021 and Microsoft 365. Files from Publisher 97, 98, 2000 and 2002 use an older format. For those, use the free Univik PUB Viewer for Windows.
Publisher stores clip art and some drawings as WMF or EMF files. Browsers cannot display those formats, so the viewer shows a placeholder in the right place and size. Photos saved as PNG, JPEG or BMP display normally.
Very close. The viewer uses the fonts installed on your device. If a font from the file is missing, the browser picks a similar one and a line may break in a slightly different place.
Download the page as PNG or SVG and print that from your device. For printing chosen pages directly, the free Univik PUB Viewer for Windows prints from inside the app.
The online viewer downloads single pages as SVG or PNG and exports text. For PDF, Word, HTML or converting many files at once, use the Univik PUB Converter.
Your files stay on your disk. Microsoft ends support for Publisher on October 1, 2026 and removes it from Microsoft 365 on October 13, 2026, so Microsoft 365 users will no longer be able to open .pub files in Publisher. This online viewer does not need Publisher, so you can keep reading them on any device. Convert important ones to PDF before the deadline.
Yes. Once the page has loaded in your browser you can turn off the internet and still open files. The viewer never connects to a server.
Free, private and nothing to install. Your file stays on your device.
Choose a .pub file