Publisher alternative in 2026

I am running Windows 11 with Publisher 20.2. I've tried a couple of files with LibreOffice 25.2. and so far they are opening up ok and I am able to edit in LibreOffice. It seems unclear what will happen to those of us that have an Office subscription. Can I stop updates and keep Publisher working? Wonder if I could get a PC and keep it running just for Publisher. Could I install just Publisher? Should I just bite the bullet and give up on Publisher now? I have a lot of files I want to keep and converting to PDF defeats the purpose of having editable files. Almost surprised that Microsoft didn't just suggest printing out the files and keep a paper version.

I got burned years ago with Adobe Pagemaker (yea, dating myself) where I lost access to a lot of files. Pagemaker would not install on newer versions of Windows. We have a year before it is cut off so it gives us some time to find alternatives.

I need to update. While "most" of the Publisher files seem to open OK, there are some formatting issues in the documents. Opening any of the files is slow.

I tried converting some Publisher documents last night in Libre, they did not convert well at all. Color and text were a MESS. And no real way to fix it.

I bought a perpetual copy of Publisher.

What about open office? Do any of their programs open .pub files?

Maybe? I've run older versions of Word over the years, decades. If we're happy working with Publisher, MS ought to leave us alone. A lot of us have existing Publisher work that we return to often. I want confirmation that MS won't screw the pooch for us.