Microsoft Publisher: End of Life
After over 30 years of existence, Microsoft announced discontinuing its standalone desktop publishing program Microsoft Publisher. This article will first go over the reasons behind the retirement of Publisher. A second section will describe the key dates and detail the retirement process of MS Publisher. In addition, the article will cover some tips to prepare to transition from MS Publisher, as well as the alternatives to Publisher that are already present in Microsoft Office suites.
Why is Microsoft Publisher being retired?
While Microsoft has not officially shared its reasons for retiring MS Publisher, there are several that can be observed.
First, MS Publisher has been getting less and less users over the years, as other office applications, such as MS PowerPoint or Word, include more and more features that overlap with the ones found in Publisher. The main functionalities of Publisher are thus less unique than before, and most use scenarios can now be handled through other Office applications. This can also be seen through the lack of extensive updates over recent years, leaving MS Publisher behind in terms of features in comparison to other office apps. For example, the auto save feature that was deployed through all classical Office applications, was not added to Publisher, thus hinting at the declining interest of Microsoft in this application.
Another reason for the discontinuation of Microsoft Publisher, is the strategy Microsoft has adopted in recent years, aiming to respond to modern needs through full cloud-integration and a streamlined line of products. As MS Publisher is a standalone program, mainly desktop-based, it does not align with the cloud-based logic behind the most recent version of Office, in which Publisher is not included.
Additionally, the market trends regarding software development are pushing towards more cloud-based activities, which is true for Microsoft as well. Overall, users are looking for more flexible and integrated solutions in comparison to standalone products such as Publisher, further explaining its upcoming retirement.
- Declining user base
- Overlapping features of Office applications
- Cloud-focused strategy
- Current market trends – flexibility and integration
Microsoft Publisher end of life: When and how?
Microsoft has announced the retirement date of Microsoft Publisher, as well as how the retirement of the application will happen.
When will Microsoft Publisher be retired?
The retirement of Publisher was announced by Microsoft on February 15, 2024, leaving time for users to adapt to this change. The announced end of life date of Microsoft Publisher is October 13, 2026.
Since the announcement of the discontinuation of Publisher, Microsoft has announced the end of standalone Publisher licenses sale for March 2025, which is already effective as it is not possible to buy a publisher license through Microsoft anymore. Resellers are also progressively running out of standalone Microsoft Publisher licenses. As of today, accessing MS Publisher can either be done through the Microsoft 365 subscription, in which Publisher can be found until its retirement date, or through the purchase of an Office 2021 perpetual license.
- Retirement date: 13/10/2026
- End of standalone license sale: March 2025 (already effective)
How will Microsoft Publisher be retired?
Regarding how the retirement of Publisher will be conducted, Microsoft started by excluding MS Publisher from its latest version of the Office suite, Office 2024.
Microsoft announced that users under the 365 subscription will be able to access, open, and edit in Publisher until October 2026. Past October 1. 2026, opening and editing .pub files will not be possible anymore for 365 subscribers.
On the other hand, perpetual license holders will still be able to use Publisher in its most recent version indefinitely. This includes accessing to Publisher itself, as well as opening and editing .pub files. After October 13. 2026, the support for all Publisher versions will end, which means that perpetual license holders will still be able to use Publisher as per usual, but won’t receive any further updates, whether it is in terms of features, or security.
Also, Microsoft Publisher can still be installed through a 365 subscription until the end of support date, after which it won’t be accessible anymore, but perpetual license holders will be able to install Publisher locally on their device, even after October 13, 2026.
- MS Publisher not available in Office 2024
- For 365 subscribers: accessible until 01/10/2026
- End of support for perpetual licenses on 13/10/2026
- Installation still possible under 365 until 01/10/2026
- Installation possible after retirement date for perpetual license holders
Prepare the transition from Microsoft Publisher
In order to prepare for the retirement of MS Publisher, Microsoft published guidelines for actions to be taken before October 2026 to guarantee that users do not keep .pub files as they will not be possible to open after October 1, 2026.
Regarding to 365 subscribers, as access to publisher, and thus the edition of .pub files, will be completely shut down, converting .pub files to other formats is mandatory in order for users to not lose their content. As per the guidelines of Microsoft, 365 users are advised to either convert their .pub files to PDF files for viewing only, or convert .pub files to Word files in order to edit the content. The latter can be done by first converting .pub files to PDF, and then converting PDF files to Word files.
Regarding perpetual license holders, their access to Publisher will remain the same, but without further support from Microsoft. This means that perpetual license holders are not required to convert their .pub files as 365 subscribers do.
In addition, the use of third party tools to convert .pub files to other format is possible, but not supported by Microsoft, who mentioned possible loss of file quality by converting through non-Microsoft tools.
- 365 subscribers: convert .pub to PDF for viewing, convert to Word for editing (via PDF conversion)
- Perpetual licenses: no need for conversion
- Third party conversion possible, not supported by Microsoft
Alternatives to Microsoft Publisher
As mentioned previously, most applications that can be found in Office suites are now capable of replacing the main features of Publisher. After the retirement of Microsoft Publisher, users will be able to use alternatives within the Office suites in order to create their publications. For example, the creation of ads, flyers, and cards, can be done through MS Word, PowerPoint, or Designer. Regarding brochures, certificates, business cards, or calendars, Word or PowerPoint include all the tools necessary. And finally, in order to create invoices, forms, envelopes, labels, or letterheads, Microsoft Word offers all necessary features.
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