What to Do With Old .pub Files After Publisher Shutdown

You've got a folder. Maybe several folders. Full of .pub files going back years. Decades, possibly.

Church bulletins from 2008. School newsletters from 2015. Event flyers from every fundraiser your organization ever ran.

Now Microsoft is ending support for Publisher in October 2026, weeks away now, and you're wondering: what do I do with all of this?

First: don't panic

Your files aren't going to evaporate. They'll still exist on your hard drive. You just might not be able to open them easily after October 2026.

You have time. Use it strategically instead of converting everything in a weekend panic.

Step 1: Figure out what you actually have

Before you start converting anything, take inventory.

  • How many .pub files do you have?
  • Where are they stored? (Local drives, network folders, cloud storage?)
  • How old are they?
  • What categories are they? (Newsletters, flyers, templates, one-off projects?)

A quick way to count: search your computer for *.pub files. On Windows, use File Explorer search. On Mac, use Spotlight or Finder.

You might find 50 files. You might find 5,000. The approach is different depending on scale.

Step 2: Decide what's worth keeping

Not everything needs to be converted.

That flyer for the 2012 bake sale? Probably doesn't need to be preserved in PDF format for eternity.

The newsletter template you still use every month? That's worth converting carefully.

I'd sort files into three piles:

Keep and convert - Templates you reuse, important documents, anything with historical value

Maybe keep - Old projects that might be useful for reference, past newsletters someone might want to look at someday

Let go - One-off flyers for events long past, drafts, duplicates

Most people overestimate how much they need to keep. If you haven't opened a file in 10 years, you probably won't miss it.

Step 3: Choose your conversion method

How you convert depends on how many files you have and whether you still have access to Publisher.

If you have Publisher now

The cleanest option is to open each file in Publisher and export to PDF. This uses Microsoft's own export, so the output is as accurate as possible.

For a few dozen files, just do it manually. Open, File > Export > PDF, save, next file.

For hundreds of files, Microsoft recommends using a macro to batch convert. There's a VBA script that loops through a folder and exports each .pub file to PDF. Search for "Publisher batch convert to PDF macro" if you want to go this route.

If you don't have Publisher (most people)

This is where most people will land, especially after October 2026. My recommendation: use PubConvert.

It works in your browser, runs on any OS (Windows, Mac, Linux, Chromebook), and doesn't require installing anything. You don't even need to create an account. Just:

  1. Go to pubconvert.com
  2. Drop your .pub file(s) onto the page
  3. Pick your output format (PDF for archival, Word or IDML if you need to edit later)
  4. Click Convert
  5. Download your file

The whole thing takes about 30 seconds per file. Preview any file free first. Working through the archive is a one-time $49 for unlimited conversions. No subscription.

Here's what makes PubConvert especially useful for migration projects like this: it's the only online converter that handles batch conversion, up to 20 files at once (2GB total). If you're staring down a folder of 200 newsletter PDFs, you can work through them in batches of 20 instead of dragging files one at a time. Files are deleted from the server after conversion, so your documents stay private.

LibreOffice is the other option. It's a free download from libreoffice.org, and LibreOffice Draw can open .pub files directly. If you're comfortable installing software and want to do everything offline, it works. You can also write a script to batch convert from the command line, though that takes some technical know-how.

Either way, the quality will be slightly lower than Publisher's native export. Complex layouts may shift. Fonts may substitute. For archival purposes, it's usually good enough.

Step 4: Handle your templates differently

Templates are the tricky part. You can convert a finished newsletter to PDF easily. But what about the template you use to create each month's newsletter?

Options:

Recreate in Word or PowerPoint. Microsoft says most Publisher uses can now be handled by Word and PowerPoint. It's extra work upfront, but you'll have a modern, supported template going forward.

Recreate in Canva. If you're doing flyers, posters, and social graphics, Canva's templates are often better than what Publisher offered anyway.

Recreate in Google Slides or Docs. Free, cloud-based, works on anything.

Keep Publisher running. If you have a perpetual Office license, Publisher will keep working after October 2026. It just won't get updates. Some organizations are taking this approach for templates they rarely change.

Step 5: Organize your converted files

When you convert, don't just dump everything in one folder. Create a structure:

/Archive
  /Newsletters
    /2020
    /2021
    /2022
  /Flyers
  /Templates (PDFs for reference)
  /Original-PUB-Files (keep these too, just in case)

Keep the original .pub files even after converting. Storage is cheap. If a better converter comes along in the future, you might want to re-convert.

Step 6: Set a deadline

"I'll get to it eventually" means you won't get to it.

Pick a date. Block time on your calendar. October 2026 is the deadline, and you don't want to be doing this in the final weeks when everyone else is scrambling.

What about really old files?

If you have .pub files from Publisher 97 or 2000, they might have compatibility issues even with current Publisher. Old versions used slightly different formats.

LibreOffice actually handles some old Publisher files better than newer versions of Publisher do. If you're getting errors opening ancient files in Publisher, try PubConvert or LibreOffice instead. PubConvert runs its own conversion engine and falls back to LibreOffice's importer for stubborn files, so you get both engines' coverage without installing anything.

The emotional part

I'll be honest: going through old files is tedious. You'll find newsletters you forgot about. Flyers for events where half the people have moved away. Old logos you've since replaced.

Some people get nostalgic. Some people get overwhelmed. Both are normal.

Break it into sessions. Don't try to do 500 files in one day. Do 50, take a break, come back tomorrow.

The short version

  1. Count your files
  2. Decide what's worth keeping
  3. Convert the keepers (Publisher export if available, PubConvert if not)
  4. Recreate templates in modern tools
  5. Organize the converted files
  6. Keep the originals as backup

The window is closing: Microsoft ends Publisher support in October 2026. That's weeks away now, not the comfortable runway it was in January. Start this week and you're fine. Wait, and you're doing it under pressure.

Go try it with one file. Drop a .pub onto pubconvert.com and see the output. If it looks good, come back and batch convert the rest, 20 at a time.

Ready to start your migration? PubConvert converts .pub files to PDF, Word, or IDML. No signup, no install. Batch convert up to 20 files at once (2GB total). Preview your file free.