Microsoft updates support page with alternatives to the soon-to-be-retired Publisher

Last year, we reported that Microsoft was killing Publisher in October 2026. At the time, Microsoft claimed that this move was to "focus on new benefits" and "provide customers with the tools they need to achieve what matters."

Microsoft Publisher is a 35-year-old program (yes, 35), first released in 1991 as part of the Microsoft Office suite. It offers users tools to create various publications such as brochures, newsletters, and business cards.

The program is not as popular as its star siblings (Word, PowerPoint, and Excel), and it seems Microsoft is not really interested in it, leading some Microsoft Most Valuable Professionals to call it an "unwanted step-child" in the Office family due to the lack of dedicated support channels for users.

In our last report on this, Microsoft said it would share more as it looked into new ways to handle common Publisher tasks in Word, PowerPoint, and Designer. That has now been fulfilled, as Microsoft has updated the original support article.

The previous "What you need to do to prepare" section of the article used to have the following message:

No action is required. This information is to allow you sufficient time to plan, and we will share additional updates as the date approaches.

Now, the section has been replaced with a "How to prepare before October 2026" section that begins by advising users to convert their .pub files to another format, as after October 2026, they won't be able to access or edit these files in the non-Perpetual version of Publisher.

The company recommends that you convert your Publisher files to PDF using the following steps:

1. Open the Publisher file.
2. Go to File > Save As.
3. Choose a location to save the file.
4. Select PDF as the file type and click Save.

If you have many files to convert, you can use a macro or one of the many online services that can handle the conversion for you. If you want to edit those files after October 2026, you'll need to convert them to PDF first, then convert them to Word:

1. Open Word.
2. Go to File > Open.
3. Locate and open the PDF file.
4. Select OK in the dialog box.

Your document will open as a Word file.

Note: The converted Word document will be optimized for text editing. As a result, its layout may vary from the original PDF, particularly if the document includes many graphics.

The promised "Recommended alternatives to Microsoft Publisher" section contains this table:

Microsoft still maintains that Publisher will be removed from Microsoft 365 next year. This comes after the company recently confirmed reports that Skype was going away after users dug into the app's code and discovered a hidden message notifying users of the app's shutdown in May this year.