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Microsoft Announces Upcoming Retirement Of Publisher
After more than three decades of service, Microsoft is retiring Publisher. Included in many editions of its Office suite, Publisher has found use in small businesses, community groups, and home users to produce newsletters, brochures, business cards, and other print-ready materials.
Microsoft has officially announced that Publisher will reach its end of life in October 2026. That means that, on that date, it will no longer be included in Microsoft 365 subscriptions. It will also no longer be supported for on-premises Office suites.
What Does This Mean?
For users of the subscription-based version, Publisher will effectively disappear. Perpetual (stand-alone) versions may still run after 2026, but they will not receive updates/bug fixes and the lack of official support will likely mean that when an issue with the program arises, there may be no fix available.
Part of their reasoning for retiring the product is that Microsoft says that most of the primary uses of Publisher, like creating flyers, cards, newsletters, labels, etc., can be done using other Microsoft 365 programs like Word or PowerPoint.
What Should I Do?
If you currently rely on Publisher or have old .pub files: now’s the time to plan. Microsoft recommends exporting important documents to PDF or converting them into Word (or other supported formats) before October 2026. If you’d like any additional assistance or have any questions regarding the upcoming retirement, please feel free to reach out to our offices.
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