Publisher alternative in 2026

Scribus is a free open source DTP that has been around a long time.

LibreOffice is another freebie alternative for Office and you can open .pub files in Draw.

I would suggest you look at Affinity Publisher from the old Serif company.

https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/publisher/

I think they still offer a free trial and purchase price is only $70. It runs on a PC, a MAC and an iPad. It is where I wish MSFT had taken Publisher.

Serif has always been a small innovative company and I would even bet that they will develop the ability to open Pub files by the time MSFT officially dumps Publisher. Or maybe Scribus will...

DavidF

I too have published my nationwide newsletter for over 25 years using Publisher. My genealogy newsletter has a lot of family photos in it. If you've ever tried to place a photo in the right position in

Word, you'd realize it's almost impossible. And then Publisher flows the text around the photo, but not Word.

Whoever made the decision to eliminate Publisher must be a computer techie who never published anything.

Bonnie Dailey

Hello

Thanks for bringing up the issue of 'MS Publisher in 2026' again. I have also been waiting for a clear answer from Microsoft about this for months.

I work in education, where MS Publisher can play an important role, precisely because it 'gives priority' to images over text (in MS Word the opposite happens and the text cursor is the 'boss'). It is just as fantastic a tool because its interface fits perfectly with Word, Powerpoint and Excel, without too many detailed functions (as is the case with Adobe Indesign)

The two main questions I have:

1. What about the thousands of Publisher files that we use daily in our educational practice?
2. Which software will take over the specific functions (basic pages, alignment help, booklet format, ...)?

My suggestion would be: integrate both the file format and the unique Publisher functions into Powerpoint, because Powerpoint is most closely related to Publisher in terms of working method and interface.

What I regret is that within the current Office 365 environment no online version of Publisher was offered. What really annoys me is that Publisher files are even labeled as 'unsafe' by the Office 365 environment.

Furthermore, I notice that Microsoft is trying very hard to compete with Canva via their MS Designer. That looks promising, but can not possibly be considered a decent replacement for Publisher. If only because Designer does not have Publisher compatibility, nor the possibility to download the source file (only PDF or photo format is possible).

AI may be the future, but I really hope that Microsoft also really listens to a large group of its users, who may not be looking for AI-driven cloud software, but all the more for solid, stable offline software. I myself am slowly starting to look at Linux and LibreOffice and I am sure that many Microsoft users are doing the same, with the end of Windows 10 support in sight. Maybe I underestimate the AI ​​potential? However, data mining via the cloud environment also makes me shudder. Perhaps unjustified? Time will tell.

Anyways: Microsoft, please do not make the mistake of throwing the fantastic functionality of an app like Publisher completely in the trashcan.

I use Publisher to write a newsletter for a charity. There is not the money to buy a fancy programme, and I am not good at learning new software. We also frequently lose internet connection at work, so having everything based online is not ideal.

Dear Amanda Wilkinson,

Good day!!

I understand your concern but as per official Microsoft KB, currently there is no any particular application replacing the Publisher app but Microsoft is exploring the modern ways to achieve common Publisher scenarios and they will release the detailed blog when there is any update.

Moreover, I suggest you add your valuable feedback in the Publisher application (Open the Publisher app> Feedback at the bottom left> Send a Suggestion) which is the best place to share our ideas and improve the Microsoft products.

In addition, I will keep this thread open so that MVPs and experts in this community can share their ideas on this scenario.

Appreciate your patience and understanding. Have a great day!!

Best Regards,

Sophia

Dear Microsoft Team / Sophia,

I must express our deep frustration regarding the current situation with Microsoft Publisher. Our company has relied on Publisher for over 25 years, accumulating over 7,000 files that would be nearly impossible to redesign or import into any other Microsoft product without have to do major revisions.

This is completely unacceptable. We urgently need a response outlining our real options moving forward. At the very least, these Publisher files should allow for straightforward conversion to Word (keeping all styles, formats etc... in tack without needing to redo the whole project), which is the alternative being suggested to us.

It’s extremely unprofessional for a software company of your stature to leave users in this predicament. We urge you to reconsider your approach—either by maintaining the product or ensuring that users can seamlessly continue using it with Microsoft 365.

We look forward to your prompt response.