Moving from Publisher to InDesign or Affinity: the IDML option
There are two kinds of Publisher users right now. The first kind needs old files opened one last time, saved as PDF, printed, done. The second kind is still making things: the monthly newsletter, next season's menu, the fundraiser flyer. Those people don't just need their old files converted. They need somewhere to keep working.
For them, the real successors to Publisher are page-layout programs: Adobe InDesign if you're in a design shop, Affinity Publisher if you want to pay once and own the software (which, if you liked Publisher, is probably the pitch that works on you).
The problem has always been getting your existing documents there. Neither program opens .pub files. Retyping a 12-page newsletter into new software is nobody's idea of a weekend.
That's what our IDML conversion is for.
What IDML actually is
IDML is an open format that InDesign defined for exchanging layouts. Affinity Publisher reads it too. Unlike a PDF, which is a picture of your finished pages, an IDML file still knows what everything is: this is a text frame at these coordinates, this is the story that flows through it, this is a table with four columns, this image sits here at this size.
Which means when you open it, you can click into a headline and rewrite it. Drag a photo. Add a page. It's a working document, not a snapshot.
What carries over
Our engine reads your .pub file directly and rebuilds the document in IDML: pages at the right size, text frames at their exact positions with their fonts, sizes, colors, and alignment, images placed and scaled correctly, tables with their rows and columns, master pages, the stacking order of overlapping objects. Text that flows between linked frames keeps flowing.
We've run this conversion against thousands of real-world documents and compared the results side by side with the originals. Most files come through ready to edit, with the layout intact.
Some honest caveats, because there are always caveats:
- Fonts have to exist on your computer. If the file uses a font you don't have, your layout program will substitute it and tell you which one it wants. Old Publisher documents are full of fonts that shipped with Office 2003, so expect a prompt or two.
- WordArt and some picture effects come through as graphics rather than editable effects. They look right, but you'd recreate them with your new program's own tools if you wanted to change them.
- Publisher-specific gadgets like its built-in calendar wizard become ordinary tables and text. Editable, just not magic anymore.
How to do it
Upload your .pub file, pick "InDesign" as the output format, download the .idml file, then open it in Affinity Publisher 2 or InDesign. That's the whole process. Affinity opens IDML from its normal File > Open dialog; no import plugin needed.
If you're deciding between the two programs: Affinity Publisher costs about as much as a nice dinner, once, and handles everything a Publisher refugee is likely to need. InDesign is subscription software aimed at professionals. Both will feel more capable than Publisher within an afternoon.
You can preview your file free. If your newsletter comes through cleanly, October stops being a deadline and becomes just another month.