In App Review · Mac App Store · free to try
Open Microsoft Publisher documents without Publisher. Save them as PDF, or as files you can keep editing in Affinity or InDesign. Your originals are never changed.
Not out yet. What to do with your files meanwhile, or get one email when it is approved.
Microsoft's own advice is to convert your files before then. If you have a folder of .pub files, a Mac, and no Publisher, this is the app for that.
Newsletters use linked text boxes: one story runs from page 1 into page 3. The open-source parser inside LibreOffice and PubHarbor has never implemented that link, so it pastes the whole story on every page and leaves the last one blank; that bug has been open since 2013, and PUB Reader's reviews describe the same symptom. PubFile follows the links, so page 2 starts where page 1 ended.
PubFile writes IDML, the exchange format that Affinity (free), Affinity Publisher 2 and Adobe InDesign open. Text stays text, boxes stay boxes, pictures come along in a folder.
No upload, no account, works offline. Parish directories and class lists stay where they are. Originals are read, never rewritten.
For every file: which fonts were substituted, how much of each story was placed on each page and what did not fit, and which objects could not be converted. It says what broke instead of reporting zero warnings on a blank page.
Six screens from the Mac App Store listing. Swipe or use the arrows.
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The free version converts three files at full quality, no watermark. Start with the longest newsletter you have. Buy only if the result is worth it.
$0
Viewer, Quick Look and report, always free.
$29.99 USD, one time
One in-app purchase on the Mac App Store. No subscription.
For comparison: PUB Reader is $29.99 with no free conversion; Markzware charges $39 per file. Every option compared.
1.0 is with App Review. Leave an address and we will send the App Store link, once. Nothing else.
Who makes this. PubFile is built by Rajat, an independent developer. There is no company and no investor; the parser work is tested against a corpus of 541 real .pub files collected from public bug trackers and archives. Questions go to mrr.rajat.contact@gmail.com and get a human answer.
