Other
Microsoft
Microsoft Publisher is being discontinued. Microsoft 365 subscribers will not be able to access Publisher after 1 October 2026, and it will no longer be included in Microsoft 365 or available to install or download. The perpetual (one-time-purchase) version reaches end of support on 13 October 2026 with Office LTSC 2021 and consumer Office 2021. Microsoft's recommendation is to convert existing Publisher (.pub) files to PDF or Word before the cutoff.
departs 1 Oct 2026
Quick answers
- Is it true that Microsoft Publisher end of life — 365 subscribers lose it 1 October 2026; convert your .pub files first?
- Yes. Microsoft has officially announced it, effective 1 Oct 2026. Microsoft Publisher is the desktop desktop-publishing app that has shipped in Office for decades, used for newsletters, flyers, brochures, cards, and simple layouts that Word doesn't handle cleanly.
- When does it take effect?
- 1 Oct 2026. Verified against the vendor's own announcement.
- What should I use instead?
- Before 1 October 2026, convert every Publisher (.pub) file you want to keep — this is Microsoft's own recommendation ("Convert your existing files to another format before 10/1/2026"), and the reason is that no mainstream app reliably opens .pub, so once Publisher is gone the files are effectively stranded.
What this means for you
Microsoft Publisher is the desktop desktop-publishing app that has shipped in Office for decades, used for newsletters, flyers, brochures, cards, and simple layouts that Word doesn't handle cleanly. Microsoft is retiring it. On its official support page Microsoft states: "Microsoft 365 subscribers will not be able to access Publisher after October 1, 2026," after which "it will no longer be included in Microsoft 365" and "will no longer be available for installation or download." For 365 users this is a hard removal, not just an end of updates: "you will no longer be able to open or edit your Publisher files using Microsoft Publisher." The perpetual, one-time-purchase version has a softer landing — its support ends slightly later, on 13 October 2026, alongside Office LTSC 2021 and consumer Office 2021, and Microsoft says perpetual-license holders "will still be able to access and edit your files" after that date, just on unsupported software with no security updates, bug fixes, or technical support. The catch that bites people is the file format: .pub is a proprietary format almost nothing else opens, so a folder full of .pub files can become unreadable the moment the only app that opens them is gone. That risk lands on 1 October 2026 for the large majority of users who are on Microsoft 365.
Where to go
Before 1 October 2026, convert every Publisher (.pub) file you want to keep — this is Microsoft's own recommendation ("Convert your existing files to another format before 10/1/2026"), and the reason is that no mainstream app reliably opens .pub, so once Publisher is gone the files are effectively stranded. Microsoft points to two target formats: PDF if you only need to view or print the finished layout (open the file in Publisher and save/export as PDF), and Word if you need to keep editing (Microsoft's documented path is to convert the Publisher file to PDF and then open that PDF in Word, since there is no direct .pub-to-.docx export). Do this while Publisher still runs, because after the cutoff a 365 subscriber can no longer open the source files at all. If your work depends on true page-layout control that Word can't match, plan a move to a replacement layout tool (Microsoft suggests Word and Designer for many cases; Canva, Adobe InDesign or Express, Affinity Publisher, or Scribus are the usual step-ups) and rebuild the templates you rely on there before you lose the originals. Perpetual-license holders have a little more runway — the app keeps working after 13 October 2026 — but on unsupported software, so treat conversion as the safe path regardless of license.
- Microsoft Word (and Microsoft Designer) — Microsoft's own suggested replacements for much of what Publisher did; convert .pub to PDF, then open in Word to keep editing
- PDF — the format to convert finished layouts to if you only need to view, share, or print them after Publisher is gone
- A dedicated layout tool where you need real page control — Canva, Adobe InDesign or Adobe Express, Affinity Publisher, or the free/open-source Scribus
Microsoft Publisher — the desktop-publishing app that has been part of Office for decades, used for newsletters, flyers, brochures, greeting cards, and the simple page layouts Word never handled cleanly — is being discontinued. Microsoft’s official support page sets out the dates, and they differ by how you licensed Office.
Two dates, depending on your license
Microsoft 365 subscribers — 1 October 2026. Microsoft states plainly: “Microsoft 365 subscribers will not be able to access Publisher after October 1, 2026.” After that it is “no longer included in Microsoft 365” and no longer available to install or download. This is a removal, not just an end of patches — “you will no longer be able to open or edit your Publisher files using Microsoft Publisher.”
Perpetual (one-time-purchase) Publisher — 13 October 2026. Support for the perpetual version ends on 13 October 2026, alongside Office LTSC 2021 and consumer Office 2021. Microsoft says perpetual-license holders “will still be able to access and edit your files” after that — but on unsupported software, with no security updates, bug fixes, or technical support.
The real risk is the file format
The reason this matters more than a typical app retirement is .pub itself: it’s a proprietary format that almost nothing else opens. When the only app that reads your files goes away, the files go with it. For the large majority of users — anyone on Microsoft 365 — that day is 1 October 2026.
What to do — convert before the cutoff
Microsoft’s own guidance is to “convert your existing files to another format before 10/1/2026,” and it names two targets:
- PDF — if you only need to view, share, or print the finished layout. Open the file in Publisher and export to PDF.
- Word — if you need to keep editing. There’s no direct
.pub-to-.docxexport, so Microsoft’s documented route is to convert the Publisher file to PDF and then open that PDF in Word.
Do the conversions while Publisher still runs — after the cutoff a 365 subscriber can’t open the source .pub files at all. If you need real page-layout control that Word can’t match, move to a dedicated tool (Microsoft points to Word and Designer; Canva, Adobe InDesign or Express, Affinity Publisher, and the free Scribus are the common step-ups) and rebuild your templates there before you lose the originals.
Entry changelog
- — last reviewed.
- — Entry created from Microsoft's official support page ("Microsoft Publisher will no longer be supported after October 2026"). Two dates recorded exactly as stated: Microsoft 365 subscribers lose access after 1 October 2026 (recorded as the sunset date, since it affects the majority and is the earlier hard cutoff), and the perpetual version reaches end of support on 13 October 2026 with Office LTSC/consumer 2021. Archive backfill; written from Microsoft's own page. Not machine-detectable in a code repo (a desktop app with .pub files; no package/image/runtime fingerprint, and a .pub/text fingerprint would be too generic to be safe), so no detect fingerprint added.
Put this countdown in your README
Building on Microsoft? Drop this badge into a project’s README or docs — it shows the days left and
refreshes on its own every night from this page. 
[](https://lastcall.dev/entries/microsoft-publisher-eol)Spot an error or a changed date? Tell us and it’s corrected the same night.