Microsoft Publisher

Desktop publishing software

".pub" redirects here. For the top-level domain introduced in 2014, see list of Internet top-level domains § ICANN-era generic top-level domains. For the file extension used in public key storage, see Public-key cryptography.

Microsoft Publisher

Microsoft Publisher 2021 running on Windows 10

Developer(s)| Microsoft
Initial release| 1991; 34 years ago (1991)
Stable release(s)

| Microsoft 365 & Retail[a] (Windows)| 2507 (Build 19029.20156) / 5 August 2025; 9 days ago (2025-08-05)[1][2][3][4]

|

Microsoft 365 (Mac)| 16.99.2 (Build 25072714) / 29 July 2025; 16 days ago (2025-07-29)[5]
Office 2024 (LTSC)| 2408 (Build 17932.20428) / 8 July 2025; 37 days ago (2025-07-08)[2]
Office 2021 (LTSC)| 2108 (Build 14334.20136) / 8 July 2025; 37 days ago (2025-07-08)[3]
Office 2019 (LTSC)| 1808 (Build 10417.20030) / 8 July 2025; 37 days ago (2025-07-08)[4]

Operating system| Microsoft Windows
Type| Desktop publishing software
License| Trialware
Website| products.office.com/publisher

Microsoft Publisher is a desktop publishing application from Microsoft, differing from Microsoft Word in that the emphasis is placed on page layout and graphic design rather than text composition and proofreading. Its discontinuation is planned for October 2026.[6]

## Overview

[edit]

Publisher is included in higher-end editions of Microsoft Office, reflecting Microsoft's emphasis on the application as an easy-to-use and less expensive alternative to the "heavyweights" with a focus on the small-business market, where firms do not have dedicated design professionals available to make marketing materials and other documents.[7][8] However, it has a relatively small share of the desktop publishing market, which is dominated by Adobe InDesign and formerly by QuarkXPress.[7]

While most Microsoft Office apps adopted ribbons for their user interface starting with Microsoft Office 2007, Publisher retained its toolbars and did not acquire ribbons until Microsoft Office 2010.[9]

On February 15, 2024, Microsoft announced that Publisher will be discontinued on October 13, 2026.[10][11] On the specified date, Publisher will no longer be included in Microsoft 365 plans, and existing on-premises installations will no longer be supported. This date will mark the end of Publisher as a standalone Microsoft program since its initial release in 1991.

## Compatibility

[edit]

Several applications can import Publisher's proprietary file format (.pub) for editing with some success, including Collabora Online,[12] LibreOffice,[13] and Scribus.[14] Another option is to save the document as a separate EPS file for each individual page in the publication, and to then open the EPS files in the aforementioned applications or other applications.[15]

Publisher supports some other file formats, including Microsoft's Enhanced Metafile (EMF) format, which is supported on Windows platforms. The Microsoft Publisher trial version can be used to view .pub files beyond the trial period.[16][17]

Adobe PageMaker also saved files with a .pub extension, but the two file formats were unrelated and incompatible.

## Release history

[edit]

Name  | Version number  | Release date[18] | Editions of Microsoft Office included in

|
|
|

Microsoft Publisher  | 1.0  | Late 1991 (approx.)  | —
Microsoft Publisher  | 2.0  | Jul 12, 1993  | —
Publisher for Windows 95 (beginning to transition to 32-bit)  | 3.0  | Aug 24, 1995  | —
Microsoft Publisher 97  | 4.0  | Oct 21, 1996  | Small Business Edition
Microsoft Publisher 98 (first fully 32-bit)  | 5.0  | Mar 23, 1998  | Small Business Edition 2.0
Microsoft Publisher 2000  | 6.0  | Jun 7, 1999  | Small Business Edition, Professional, Premium, Developer
Microsoft Publisher 2002  | 10.0[b] | May 31, 2001  | Professional OEM, Professional Special Edition
Microsoft Publisher 2003  | 11.0  | Oct 21, 2003  | Small Business, Professional, Professional Plus, Enterprise
Microsoft Publisher 2007  | 12.0  | Jan 30, 2007  | Small Business, Professional, Ultimate, Professional Plus, Enterprise
Microsoft Publisher 2010  | 14.0[c] | Jun 15, 2010  | Standard, Professional, Professional Plus
Microsoft Publisher 2013  | 15.0  | Jan 29, 2013  | Professional, Professional Plus, Standard (volume licensing), all Office 365 / Microsoft 365 Apps editions
Microsoft Publisher 2016  | 16.0  | Sep 22, 2015
Microsoft Publisher 2019  | Sep 24, 2018
Microsoft Publisher 2021  | October 5, 2021  | Microsoft 365 Apps for business and Business Standard editions[20]

1. ^ Including Office 2024, 2021, 2019 and 2016
2. ^ Starting with Publisher 2002, the version number jumps to 10.0 to tally Microsoft Office versions.
3. ^ Version 13 was skipped due to the superstition attached to the number 13.[19]

## See also

[edit]

* Comparison of desktop publishing software
* List of desktop publishing software

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Release notes for Current Channel". Microsoft Learn. Retrieved August 8, 2025.
2. ^ a b "Update history for Office LTSC 2024 and Office 2024". Microsoft Learn. Retrieved August 8, 2025.
3. ^ a b "Update history for Office LTSC 2021 and Office 2021". Microsoft Learn. Retrieved August 8, 2025.
4. ^ a b "Update history for Office 2016 C2R and Office 2019". Microsoft Learn. Retrieved August 8, 2025.
5. ^ "Update history for Office for Mac". Microsoft Learn. Retrieved June 11, 2025.
6. ^ "Microsoft Publisher will no longer be supported after October 2026 - Microsoft Support". support.microsoft.com. Retrieved February 19, 2024.
7. ^ a b "Desktop Publishing Software 2007 Style". Computor edge. July 27, 2007. Archived from the original on September 2, 2011. Retrieved February 13, 2012.
8. ^ "Office Publisher 07". PC World Australia. IDG. Archived from the original on July 28, 2012. Retrieved February 13, 2012..
9. ^ "User interface differences in Office 2010 vs earlier versions". TechNet. Microsoft. Archived from the original on April 12, 2016. Retrieved April 22, 2016.
10. ^ GitHub-Name. "Publisher LTSC 2021 - Microsoft Lifecycle". learn.microsoft.com. Retrieved February 15, 2024.
11. ^ "Microsoft Publisher will no longer be supported after October 2026". Message center - Microsoft admin center. February 15, 2024. Retrieved February 15, 2024. "Microsoft Publisher will no longer be supported after October 2026". Microsoft Support. Retrieved November 6, 2024.
12. ^ "Collabora Office 6.0". Collabora Office. June 13, 2018. Retrieved April 3, 2024.
13. ^ "LibreOffice 4.0: Release Notes – the Document Foundation Wiki". Archived from the original on May 18, 2017. Retrieved April 9, 2017.
14. ^ Prokoudine Alexandre (April 16, 2013). "Scribus gets basic support for Microsoft Publisher documents". Libre Arts. Retrieved April 3, 2024.
15. ^ "Opening PUB Files Without Microsoft Publisher". LifeWire. Retrieved April 2, 2024.
16. ^ "Where is the Publisher viewer?". Microsoft. Archived from the original on March 16, 2010. Retrieved November 7, 2010.
17. ^ "Where is the Publisher viewer?". Microsoft. Retrieved March 9, 2020.
18. ^ "Publisher Life-cycle". Microsoft. Archived from the original on September 26, 2011. Retrieved October 23, 2011.
19. ^ Paul Thurrott (May 14, 2009). "Office 2010 FAQ". Archived from the original on April 19, 2009. Retrieved December 30, 2009.
20. ^ "See what's in Office 2021". Microsoft. Archived from the original on March 30, 2023.

## External links

[edit]

* Official website
* Microsoft Publisher blog (last updated December 2009) on MSDN Blogs

* v
* t
* e

Desktop publishing software

Locally installed software|

* Adobe FrameMaker
* Adobe InDesign
* Aldus PageMaker†
* Affinity Publisher
* Apache OpenOffice
* Calamus
* MadCap Flare
* Collabora Office Draw
* Collabora Office Writer
* CorelDRAW
* iCalamus
* iStudio Publisher
* LibreOffice Draw
* LibreOffice Writer
* LyX
* Microsoft Publisher
* PagePlus†
* Pages
* PageStream
* RagTime
* QuarkXPress
* Ready, Set, Go!
* Scribus
* The Print Shop
* Timeworks Publisher†
* Ventura Publisher†

Online software|

* Canva
* Collabora Online Draw
* Marq

See also|

* Electronic publishing
* List of PDF software
* Mobile publishing
* Printing
* Web design

* Dagger (†) denotes discontinued software

* Category
* Comparison
* List

* v
* t
* e

Microsoft 365

* History
* A product of Microsoft

Microsoft Office|

| Windows|

* 1.x
* 3.0
* 4.x
* 95
* 97
* 2000
* XP
* 2003
* 2007
* 2010
* 2013
* 2016
* 2019
* 2021
* 2024

|

Mac|

* 3.0
* 4.2
* 98
* 2001
* X
* 2004
* 2008
* 2011
* 2016
* 2019
* 2021
* 2024

Applications
(list)|

| Desktop|

* Access
* Excel
* OneNote
* Outlook
* PowerPoint
* Project
* Publisher
* Teams
* Visio
* Word

|

Server|

* SharePoint
* Excel Services
* Project Server
* Search Server
* Skype for Business Server

Mobile|

* Excel
* Lens
* OneDrive
* OneNote
* Outlook
* PowerPoint
* Remote
* Sway
* Teams
* Word

Web|

* Bookings
* Delve
* Excel
* Forms
* Loop
* OneDrive
* OneNote
* Outlook on the web
* Outlook.com
* Planner
* PowerPoint
* Project
* SharePoint
* Stream
* Sway
* Teams
* To Do
* Video
* Viva Engage
* Word

Discontinued|

* Discontinued shared tools
* Accounting
* Classroom
* Docs.com
* Entourage
* FrontPage
* InfoPath
* InterConnect
* Kaizala
* Liquid Motion
* Live Meeting
* Lync
* Mail
* Office Assistant
* Office Live
* OneDrive Groups
* PerformancePoint Server
* Photo Editor
* PhotoDraw
* Picture Manager
* Ribbon Hero
* Schedule+
* SharePoint Designer
* SharePoint Workspace
* Skype for Business
* Snapshot Viewer for Access
* Vizact
* Word Viewer

Technologies|

* Information Bridge Framework
* Object Linking and Embedding
* Office Open XML
* Office XML formats
* Power Pivot
* Smart tags
* Visual Basic for Applications

Related|

* Microsoft Copilot
* Microsoft Office filename extensions
* Microsoft Office password protection
* Microsoft Power Platform
* Microsoft Product Activation
* Office Genuine Advantage

* Category

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF

National|

* Germany
* United States
* Czech Republic
* Israel

Other|

* IdRef

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