Publisher .pub guides
Straight answers about Publisher files
Microsoft Publisher reaches end of support in October 2026, and its guidance is to convert your files before 1 October 2026. These guides explain the free and manual routes properly — because a reader who never buys anything should still leave better off.
Supported operating systems: Windows 10 and 11 (64-bit), and macOS 10.15 or later on Intel and Apple silicon Macs. One purchase covers both — you get each download.
What happens to my .pub files when Publisher retires?
Your files are not deleted and nobody comes for them. What changes, who is actually affected, and why archiving and migrating are two different jobs.
How to open a .pub file without Microsoft Publisher
Six routes that genuinely work, free ones first — plus the widely-repeated ZIP-rename tip that cannot work on this format, and why.
How to convert hundreds of .pub files without opening each one
Microsoft's free Convert-PubFileToPDF.ps1 script explained properly: the prerequisite people miss, the exact commands, the error that stops most runs, and how to check the output.
How to get the text and images out of a .pub file
Extraction rather than viewing. What is really inside a Publisher file, why a PDF is a poor place to keep reusable material, and how to rescue old vector logos.
How to open .pub files on a Mac
Microsoft has not shipped a Mac version of Publisher, so a .pub will not open natively. What works on macOS instead, and the suggestions that will only waste your time.
A Publisher archive plan for churches, schools and charities
A realistic plan for a volunteer with a couple of afternoons — count, sort, decide what you should not still be holding, convert, and write it down.
The tool behind these guides
Publisher Rescue reads your own .pub files on your own computer, with no copy of Publisher required and nothing uploaded. You get your text as a Word .docx plus RTF and plain text; the pictures stored in the file as ordinary image files, including WMF and EMF metafiles decompressed and written out; a PDF of the recovered content ending in a notes page listing what could not be rebuilt; the page size and the number of pages rebuilt; and a per-file report, in plain language and in JSON, of exactly what was and was not recovered — with a SHA-256 checksum of your original taken before and after the scan and printed in that report. Buy once, no subscription. It recovers content rather than page design, and says so.
Supported operating systems: Windows 10 and 11 (64-bit), and macOS 10.15 or later on Intel and Apple silicon Macs. One purchase covers both — you get each download.