Microsoft ends Publisher support ahead of subscription removal
The Register reports that perpetual copies keep working without updates, while removal updates for Microsoft 365 installations are due to begin in mid-November.
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The Register reports that perpetual copies keep working without updates, while removal updates for Microsoft 365 installations are due to begin in mid-November.
Microsoft Publisher users face two different outcomes after the application’s retirement. Support for perpetual versions—copies bought for continued use rather than through a subscription—ended on October 13, 2026, The Register reported on October 23. Those copies will keep working, but without further security updates, bug fixes or technical support. Publisher left Microsoft 365 subscriptions on October 1, though existing installations may remain accessible until removal updates arrive.
Microsoft first announced the retirement in 2024. It suggested Word and PowerPoint as alternatives, but neither directly opens Publisher’s .pub document files, leaving users who need those documents with a separate migration problem.
The Document Foundation, the organization behind LibreOffice, has pointed users toward LibreOffice Draw. Draw uses a software library called libmspub to import Publisher files and can save them in OpenDocument Format, providing a way to convert existing documents.
PubKeep offers a replacement designed to resemble Publisher. Created by Adam Anderly, founder of Texas-based Saint Systems, it costs $99 as a one-time purchase, including a year of support, rather than requiring a subscription. It has desktop and lightweight browser versions. Its code is proprietary, with no plans to make it open source.
The Register reports that PubKeep handles files from Publisher 2000 through 2021. Publisher 97 and 98 files take a different route: with the user’s approval, they are sent to an external service for conversion to a newer format. Those older documents therefore leave the local device during conversion.
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Anderly told The Register that his testing system compares real-world documents page by page: it checks Publisher’s PDF exports against pages rendered by PubKeep. That describes the developer’s testing method, not an independently established compatibility result. The Register said PubKeep opened every .pub file it tried, while explicitly describing those checks as far from exhaustive.
PubKeep describes its .pubk save format as open and documented. It uses a ZIP archive containing JSON—structured text data—and images. The Register notes that this makes the contents inspectable, but does not guarantee that another application can reproduce the document’s layout. An open file format and open-source application code are separate things: PubKeep describes its format as open while keeping its code proprietary.
For Microsoft 365 users, the next scheduled step is the rollout of updates that remove Publisher. The Register gives different starting periods for two update tracks; these are rollout starts, not a single removal date for every installation.
| Microsoft 365 update track | Removal updates begin reaching devices |
|---|---|
| Current Channel | Mid-November 2026 |
| Monthly Enterprise Channel | Early December 2026 |
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