Updated
Publisher alternatives for churches and schools, and what to do with the old files
If you run the office for a church, parish, school or club, you probably have hundreds of .pub files: bulletins, newsletters, orders of service, certificates, the letterhead. Publisher disappears from Microsoft 365 on 1 October 2026. This page is the plan: what to replace it with, and how to keep the archive usable without paying for anything you do not need.
Two separate problems
- What do we make next week's bulletin in?: choosing a replacement program.
- What happens to the last fifteen years of .pub files?: rescuing the archive.
Most advice mixes these up. They have different answers, and the second one has a deadline.
Problem 1: what to use instead of Publisher
| Program | Cost | Mac | Windows | Feels like Publisher? | Opens converted .pub content? | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Affinity (2025 release, by Canva) | Free | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes | Yes, proper page layout, text frames, master pages | ✓ Yes, via IDML | Recommended for anyone who used Publisher for layout |
| Microsoft Word / PowerPoint | Included in Microsoft 365 | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes | Partly (text boxes in Word; slides in PowerPoint) | Only via PDF → Word (layout breaks) | Fine for letters and simple flyers; Microsoft's own suggestion |
| Canva | Free / paid tiers; free for eligible non-profits and teachers | Browser | Browser | Template-driven, online | No direct route (Markzware sells a paid bridge) | Good for new social/print pieces, weak for archives |
| Apple Pages | Free with a Mac | ✓ Yes | No | Partly (page-layout mode) | No | Fine for new Mac-only offices |
| LibreOffice Draw | Free | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes | Not really, it is a drawing tool | Opens .pub directly, with the multi-page bug | OK for viewing; not a place to build bulletins |
| Scribus | Free, open source | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes | Yes, but a steep learning curve | Imports .pub through the same libmspub parser (same multi-page bug); also imports IDML | For the volunteer who enjoys software |
| Adobe InDesign | Subscription | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes | Yes (the professional standard) | ✓ Yes, via IDML | Only if someone already has Creative Cloud |
Why Affinity: it is the only free option that is a real page-layout program (frames, master pages, styles, print-ready PDF with bleed), runs on both Mac and Windows so a mixed office is fine, and opens IDML files, which is the format your converted Publisher documents can come out in. Canva, which now owns Affinity, has committed to it staying free. Anyone who could use Publisher can learn Affinity's Layout studio in an afternoon.
Why not just Word: Word can do a one-page flyer. It cannot do a folded bulletin with columns flowing across pages without a fight, and Microsoft's own route for your old files (PDF → Word) loses the layout "particularly if the document includes many graphics", their words.
Problem 2: the archive
Fifteen years of bulletins is not fifteen years of documents you will edit. Sort them into three piles:
- Templates and live documents: the bulletin master, the newsletter template, letterhead, certificate templates, the annual programme you tweak each year. Usually 10-30 files. These need to become editable in your new program.
- Records: past bulletins, old newsletters. You need to be able to read and print them. PDF is enough.
- Junk: drafts, duplicates, 2009's fete poster. Keep the .pub files in a folder anyway; storage is free.
Step 1, before 1 October, if you still have Publisher: PDF everything
Microsoft provides a PowerShell script that exports every .pub in a folder (and subfolders) to PDF, on a Windows PC with Publisher installed. Run it once over the whole archive. This solves the "records" pile completely and is your safety net for everything else. Keep the .pub originals alongside the PDFs.
If Publisher is already gone, or the files are on a Mac, skip to step 2, a converter can produce the PDFs too.
Step 2, convert the templates and live documents to IDML
For the small pile of files you will edit again, you need them as real layout documents, not PDFs. The format for that is IDML, which Affinity and InDesign open. Options, honestly:
- Markzware's conversion service: $39 per file for files under 20 MB, done by a technician. For ten files that is $390 and you upload each one. Reliable.
- Markzware: $469 a year for OmniMarkz SE (Windows), or $39 and up per file through their upload service. Overkill for one office.
- PubFile (ours, Mac App Store): convert three files free to see how your documents come out; $29.99 once for unlimited batch conversion to IDML + PDF with a per-file report of what needs fixing. Nothing is uploaded.
Whichever you use, expect to spend a few minutes per template in Affinity afterwards: re-linking a font you no longer have, fixing a table, nudging a photo. Then save it as an Affinity document and never think about .pub again.
Step 3, check, then store
Open each converted template next to its PDF. If they match, you are done. If a page is wrong, the converter's report (if it has one) should say why. Store originals/ (.pub), pdf/ and editable/ side by side on the shared drive or OneDrive, and write a one-paragraph note for whoever inherits the office explaining what is where.
Privacy: why we keep saying "do not upload"
Church and school documents contain names, addresses, children, prayer requests, safeguarding contacts. Online .pub converters are convenient, and many have no stated retention policy. Under GDPR (UK/EU) or your school's data policy, uploading a parish directory to an anonymous converter is exactly the kind of thing that gets someone a difficult conversation. Prefer tools that run on the computer in front of you: LibreOffice, PubHarbor, OmniMarkz, PubFile. If you must use an online service for a file, make sure it contains nothing personal.
A checklist you can forward to the office
- Search every PC, OneDrive and SharePoint for
*.pub. Copy everything to one folder calledPublisher archive. - If any PC still has Publisher: run Microsoft's script to PDF the whole folder. Do this before 1 October 2026.
- Install Affinity (free) on the office Mac or PC.
- List the 10-30 files you actually edit. Convert those to IDML (see options above). Open each in Affinity, tidy, save as .afpub.
- Rebuild next week's bulletin from the converted template in Affinity. It will be slower the first time and fine the second.
- Keep the archive folder forever. Write the note.
Sources
- Microsoft, Publisher end-of-support notice (dates, PowerShell script, PDF→Word caveat)
- Affinity, Layout studio page ("Yes, Affinity really is free") and IDML import
- Markzware, conversion service pricing, OmniMarkz store
- LibreOffice, bug 67299