Anyone still use Microsoft Publisher? It will no longer be supported after October 2026

[highplainsdem]

Last edited Sun Apr 5, 2026, 08:25 PM - Edit history (1)

Saw this Microsoft notice posted on Hacker News today.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/microsoft-publisher-will-no-longer-be-supported-after-october-2026-ee6302a2-4bc7-4841-babf-8e9be3acbfd7

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In October 2026, Microsoft Publisher will reach its end of life. After that time, it will no longer be included in Microsoft 365 and existing on-premises suites will no longer be supported. Microsoft 365 subscribers will no longer be able to open or edit Publisher files in Publisher. Until then, support for Publisher will continue and users can expect the same experience as today.

Many common Publisher scenarios—including creating professionally branded templates, printing envelopes and labels, and producing customized calendars, business cards, and programs—are already available in other Microsoft 365 apps such as Word and PowerPoint. For recommendations on where to start common Publisher scenarios, see below. You can also find a wide array of customizable templates at Microsoft Create.

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Action Recommended: Convert your existing files to another format before 10/1/2026. After this date, you will no longer be able to open or edit these files in Microsoft Publisher.

How to prepare your files for Publishers retirement by saving them in another format.

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Editing to add this from Neowin, 4/3:

https://www.neowin.net/reports/people-are-furious-that-microsoft-is-killing-off-publisher

People are furious that Microsoft is killing off Publisher
As October 2026 nears, Publisher users slam Microsoft over access loss and messy workarounds, reigniting frustration over its upcoming app retirement.

Usama Jawad · Apr 3, 2026 03:22 EDT

Back in February 2024, Microsoft announced that it was killing off Publisher and removing it from Microsoft 365. For those unaware, this utility is typically used to create professionally branded templates, envelops, and labels, but Redmond stated that customers should start using PowerPoint, Designer, and Word for these purposes instead. Now, ahead of the retirement deadline of October 2026, users have started seeing reminder notifications, and they aren't happy.

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Neowin has noticed that in several Facebook groups, hundreds of people are publicly voicing their displeasure at this move. Some comments from users are highlighted below:

It won’t let you open files? That’s bull****.
F**k, I use publisher for all of our printed handouts. Trying to make a ledger sized PowerPoint is going to be a nightmare. Also publisher has so many amazing alignment/design tools that PowerPoint just doesn't.
This is why cloud based software sucks.
It's the only piece of software Microsoft didn't ruin with bad UI, so obviously they had to dump it.
And there goes my M365 subscription, because I really only use it for publisher projects. I do IT support at a library and use Publisher for a lot of our handouts and such.
Come on now!!! Why, just why?

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That said, Publisher users are still not happy that they won't even be able to open their existing Publisher files. Indeed, Microsoft has highlighted considerably convoluted ways to export Publisher content and then re-open it in Word, PowerPoint, and Designer. Notably, this retirement echoes the feelings behind the retirement of WordPad, where Microsoft eventually began integrating the same functionalities in Notepad.