Did you know that Microsoft is ending support for Publisher, as part of its 365 portfolio? For many businesses, schools, charities and community groups, Microsoft Publisher was the go-to design tool for flyers, newsletters, brochures and simple marketing materials for years.
It was never the most sophisticated design platform, but it was accessible, familiar and, for a long time, it got the job done. So it’s a bit sad to see it go.
What is Microsoft suggesting you do?
Organisations are being encouraged to convert older files into Word or PDF before 1 October 2026,. That may work for simple archiving, but it doesn’t always solve the real problem: what happens when you need to actually edit and reuse those designs in future?
That’s where things become more complicated.
In many cases, older Publisher files are better converted into more flexible professional formats such as Adobe InDesign or Illustrator. Canva will also have a crack at creating editable files from exported PDFs.
Or instead you need fully rebuilt editable design files. This is often the better route for brochures, event programmes, newsletters, forms, posters and branded templates that you still use.
A straight conversion to Word can sometimes lose layout integrity, typography, image positioning and branding consistency – especially if the original file was doing more than Word was ever designed to handle.
What next?
For organisations still sitting on a library of old .pub files, now is probably a good time to review what’s worth archiving as PDF, converting for future editing or rebuilding properly for modern use. We can help – and can convert those files into PDFs, artwork in InDesign, Canva or even web pages (a great solution for meeting accessibility standards).
Publisher may be fading out, but the content and designs businesses created with it still matter.
