How to Open PUB File Without Publisher (Free, 2026)

What is a PUB file?

A PUB file is a page-layout document created by Microsoft Publisher, Microsoft's desktop publishing app for flyers, brochures, newsletters, greeting cards, labels and calendars. Unlike a Word document, every text box and picture sits at a fixed position on the page. Inside, a .pub file is an OLE compound file (the same container as old .doc files) holding the page layout, the text stories, the pictures and the fonts list.

How to open a PUB file: quick answer

Microsoft Publisher was retired: what happens to your PUB files?

Microsoft ended Publisher in October 2026. According to Microsoft:

• Microsoft 365 subscribers lost Publisher: it's removed from the subscription, can't be installed or downloaded, and can't be used to open or edit .pub files.
• Perpetual versions (Publisher 2016, 2019, 2021 / Office LTSC 2021) are no longer supported, but they keep working: you can still install them and open your files.

Your .pub files aren't deleted or damaged; you just need another way to read them. Microsoft recommends converting them to PDF (to keep the look) or to Word (to keep editing), and suggests Word or PowerPoint for new flyers, brochures and posters.

Convert PUB to PDF

1. Drop the .pub file into the viewer above and check the pages.
2. Click Print / Save as PDF.
3. Choose Save as PDF (Chrome, Edge, Mac) or Microsoft Print to PDF (Windows) as the printer. The page size is set to the publication's own size, with no margins.

If you still have Publisher, File > Save As > PDF gives the most exact result, because it uses the original fonts. In LibreOffice Draw, use File > Export as PDF.

Convert PUB to Word

Word can't open .pub files directly. Two ways to get an editable Word document:

• Viewer above > Download Word (.docx): puts the text of every page in reading order, with fonts, sizes, bold, italic, colours, bullet lists, tables and the pictures (clip art is kept as vector WMF/EMF, which Word displays). Each Publisher page starts on a new Word page.
• Microsoft's method: save the publication as PDF, then open the PDF in Word (File > Open) and click OK to convert it. Microsoft warns that layouts with many graphics may shift.

Word flows text from top to bottom, so a three-column brochure becomes a single column of text with its pictures. For an exact replica, keep the PDF; for editing, use the Word file.

Open PUB files in LibreOffice Draw (free)

1. Download LibreOffice from libreoffice.org (Windows, Mac, Linux).
2. Open LibreOffice and choose File > Open, then select the .pub file. It opens in Draw, LibreOffice's layout app.
3. Check every page, then use File > Save As to keep an editable .odg copy, or File > Export as PDF.

LibreOffice can read .pub files but can't save back to .pub. Linked text boxes and complex effects are the parts most likely to shift. Scribus, a free open-source layout program, can also import Publisher files.

Open a PUB file on Mac, iPhone, iPad or Android

Publisher was never made for Mac, iPhone, iPad or Android, and Pages, Keynote and Word for Mac can't import .pub files. Your options:

• Any device: open this page in Safari or Chrome and drop the file into the viewer above. On a phone, tap a page to zoom.
• Mac: LibreOffice for macOS opens .pub files in Draw.
• Need it in Pages or Keynote? Download the Word (.docx) version from the viewer; Pages opens .docx files.

Convert many PUB files at once

To convert a whole folder, LibreOffice can work from the command line. In a Command Prompt opened in the folder, run:

for %f in (*.pub) do "C:\Program Files\LibreOffice\program\soffice.exe" --headless --convert-to pdf "%f"

Replace pdf with odg to get editable Draw files. Microsoft also publishes a sample PowerShell script for bulk conversion with Publisher, for people who still have it installed. For a few files, the viewer above is quicker.

.pub files that are SSH public keys (id_rsa.pub)

Not every .pub file is a Publisher document. Files such as id_rsa.pub, id_ed25519.pub or key.pub are public keys for SSH or PGP: a single line of text starting with ssh-rsa, ssh-ed25519 or -----BEGIN.

• Open them with Notepad, TextEdit or any text editor, or with cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub in a terminal.
• It's safe to share a .pub key: that's its purpose (for example, pasting it into GitHub > Settings > SSH keys). Never share the matching file without .pub, which is the private key.

The viewer above recognizes key files and tells you when that's what you have.

PUB problems and fixes

"Publisher is no longer available" or the file icon is blank

Publisher was removed from your Microsoft 365 subscription. Use the viewer above, LibreOffice Draw, or a computer that still has Publisher 2016–2021.

Text looks different or overflows

The original fonts aren't installed. Install them (the viewer lists the fonts used) and reopen the file, or accept the small differences; the PDF from Publisher itself is the only pixel-perfect copy.

Very old files (Publisher 97 or earlier)

These use an older layout format. Open them with LibreOffice Draw, or in Publisher 2003–2021 and save them again.

"The file is damaged" or empty

A 0-byte or truncated .pub came from an interrupted download or copy. Look for a backup, the original email attachment, or OneDrive's version history.

Related file extensions

Sources and technical references

• Microsoft Publisher will no longer be supported after October 2026 — Microsoft Support
• LibreOffice offers .pub support after Publisher's retirement — TechRadar
• How to open Publisher files now that Microsoft killed Publisher — Office Watch
• libmspub: the open-source Microsoft Publisher import library — Document Liberation Project / LibreOffice

Frequently asked questions