Publisher replacement ideas

I’m deeply disappointed that Microsoft is retiring Publisher. I have relied on it to create many assets for our office, and the suggested alternatives do not provide the same familiar desktop publishing workflow. Rebuilding my existing publications in other apps will take substantial time and may affect their layout.

Please reconsider removing Publisher from Microsoft 365, or provide a supported way to keep opening and editing existing .pub files - such as a standalone version or a long-term compatibility option. At minimum, please provide a reliable conversion tool that preserves layouts, text, and images. Please share this feedback with the team responsible for the decision.

Unfortunately, none of those "Solutions" will work for the many of us with a large number of complex documents made in Publisher. It's astonishing to me that Microsoft would kill such a great tool without a proper replacement. I did find a work-around that costs a bit of money, but does seem to be working quite well and has no restrictions while allowing a perpetual key for Publisher and Office 365 to live on the same physical computer. In summary, 

• Purchase an Office 2021 Pro Plus DVD or just purchase a product license key; Put the ISO file for the DVD somewhere you can browse to. This cost me $150.
• Enable Hyper-V in system settings (you might need to restart the PC).
• Launch Hyper V manager.
• Use Quick-create to create a virtual machine (VM):
  • Select Windows 11 Dev Environment (this will install with a 90-day windows license … it might be possible to use this forever and skip buying a license for Windows).
• Change settings for the VM:
  • If you have a physical DVD, this might be unnecessary … When you enable local resources in the VM (below), you might be able to install directly from the physical DVD. The help online is ambiguous about whether Hyper V VMs can connect to physical DVD’s and suggest an ISO file is necessary. My VM does appear to be connecting, but I used the ISO to install Office.
  • Use Virtual Hard Disk. I gave the disk 124GB, though the initial installation used "only" 65.3GB, so you can likely get away with less than 124GB.
  • I gave my VM a memory allocation of 8192 MB and that works fine for me.
  • Select SCSI Controller; DVD Drive; Add … select an unused “Location” in the list; Image File and browse to the ISO you saved above.
• Launch the VM (in Hyper-V manager):
  • Move the slider for Display Configuration to max.
  • Click on Show Options; Local Resources tab; More; Select everything (i.e. physical disks and other options). Make this default.
  • Connect.
  • Sign in.
  • Hit Connect in the Hyper V manager.
  • Start – a window will pop-up titled “Connect to Windows 11 dev environment”.
  • Open the file Explorer; Open the DVD; Install Office 2021 (run Setup). The first time you run an office program it will ask you to enter the product key. This step's only necessary the first time to install Office Pro Plus. I didn't explore how to reduce the installation size, so have all Office (2021) tools inside the VM. I also haven't yet explored preventing the VM from accessing the internet and from installing updates (so Microsoft can't kill this workaround). 
  • You can minimize the VM window to use your normal desktop and copy/paste between environments.  Physical disks will show up in the VM explorer window and you can browse to files there. I was able to open and edit the Publisher files that I had created earlier. The PDFs are exported directly from Publisher.
• Subsequently: Launch the Hyper-V manager and open the VM:
  • Select the latest Checkpoint, right click and select "Connect"
  • Sign in.
  • If you had made the physical disks a default connection, the VM will open in the state you left it.

  Good luck, and please post enhancements/cautions.

If the big worry is all your old .pub files, have a look at PubStudio (pubstudioapp.com). Full disclosure, I make it.

It's a Windows app that opens .pub files from Publisher 98 right up to 365 and lets you keep editing them, with a ribbon that should feel pretty familiar. The free version opens, edits, prints and saves anything, and exports to PDF. New installs also get a week of Pro to try the extras like mail merge and the full template library.

If you try it and a file doesn't look right, there's a button in the app to send it to me and I'll fix it.

Has anyone tried the AI generated alternatives ?

Will this work here in the UK?  Do you sell to the UK?

We built PubKeep (https://pubkeep.com/desktop) to be the best Microsoft Publisher replacement. It opens and can edit all your .pub files. No need to convert or rebuild your designs in another tool. Over 700 churches, 300+ nonprofits and 150+ businesses helped us shape it to open their designs just right.

Hey all - I was very frustrated that Publisher was leaving as many of you are.

My husband created a mass conversion (into PPT) program that allowed me to convert my 4500+ files more efficiently than one by one. I know this is the last day, but here is the link to purchase in the Microsoft store if that can help you. The PPT files aren't perfect but at least I have access to my info for now. You do need Adobe Pro installed as well as your Publisher in order for this to work. You can download it for free with 3 free conversions to see if it's a fit for you.

https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9MT750S78B1Q?hl=en-us&gl=CA&ocid=pdpshare

or search "PubBridge" in the Microsoft store if this doesn't work.

Good luck!

I have a different idea: why replace Publisher at all?

Microsoft could offer a Microsoft Publisher Legacy Edition for a small one-time fee, for example €9.99-€19.99.

It would not need new features or continuous development. It could simply be the final stable version of Publisher with:

- full opening and editing of existing .pub files
- a permanent one-time licence
- a complete offline installer
- permission to make a personal backup on DVD or USB
- limited or no technical support

Microsoft would have almost no physical distribution costs because users could download it themselves, while Microsoft could still receive revenue from an existing product.

Most importantly, people could continue using the thousands of Publisher files and layouts they have created over many years.

Even €9.99-€19.99 from a large number of existing Publisher users would be better than abandoning the product completely.

Download it, keep it, back it up and continue using Publisher.

I believe this could be a simple solution for both Microsoft and Publisher users.

Since I first posted, I’ve been using the Pro version of Canva. I decided It was time for me to quit whining and save my work. 

The positives: You can copy and paste from Publisher and it pretty much keeps your formatting, so that’s great. It’s easy to add text boxes and place them anywhere, so that’s also great. I’m finding it easy to add graphics of all kinds, so all in all, I don’t hate Canva. 

The negatives:  I find it very difficult to outline a text box. I hate having to google how to do things, and in my opinion, that alone means it’s not user friendly. The tool bar should have a lot more functionality. Also, when you copy and paste a text box from Publisher, you can’t add anything in the box without deleting all contents, and then adding contents back inside. However, if the contents are stationary, you’re good to go. 

Thank you all for this free therapy session. Microsoft still sucks and I’ll forever be angry about this 💩💩💩 decision. 

Come on Microsoft.  Help us fix this!  Don't you even care??????

Seemingly not................and for that I say shame on you.