Hi I am a teacher and for the last 20 ish years have used publisher for all my work. I understand that publisher is going so what am I going to do about this work there is simply too much to convert into other documents plus converting them will change t

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Hi I am a teacher and for the last 20 ish years have used publisher for all my work. I understand that publisher is going so what am I going to do about this work there is simply too much to convert into other documents plus converting them will change t

Sally Griffiths 0

Hi I am a teacher and I have used publisher for the past 20ish years. now that publisher is going how am I agoing to be able to access all this work that I still use. I do not want to change into another format and i need to be able to edit work and use the documents. why is publisher going please? so many educators are going to have the same issues. there is no way i will be able to convert 20 years worth of work it is an impossible task. please help kind regards sally griffiths

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Answer 1

Hello @Sally Griffiths,

Regarding your concern, I completely understand that the retirement of Microsoft Publisher is impacting your workflow, as well as that of many other educators. Microsoft has decided to retire Publisher because many of its common features are now available in other Microsoft 365 applications, such as Word and PowerPoint.

According to the article Microsoft Publisher will no longer be supported after October 2026 | Microsoft Support, you can continue using Publisher with its current functionality until October 2026. If you are using a standalone (perpetual) version such as Publisher 2019 or 2021, you will still be able to use the application after this date, although it will no longer receive updates or support. However, if you are a Microsoft 365 subscriber, Publisher will no longer be accessible after October 2026.

Therefore, it is important to check which version of Publisher you are currently using.

If you are using a perpetual version, you may refer to the related FAQ for more details.

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That said, Microsoft’s recommendation is to begin transitioning your Publisher files to other formats and gradually move your work to alternative Microsoft 365 applications.

For any further concern, please feel free to let me know.

Answer 2

Microsoft announced in April, 2024 that Publisher will be retired in October, 2026 which gave everyone two and a half years to transition to new software.

Were I in your position, I would have spoken with my professional peers to discuss transitioning to new software or new workflows. There is less time for that now, but more than 5 months still remain.

In my long career I had to change software and workflows many times. This happened with Microsoft, Google and Linux applications. Software has an increasingly shorter shelf life as the pace of technological change has increased.

It's still possible to buy and use older versions of Publisher, but since these apps are not supported, you will be in the unenviable position of needing to provide your own technical support.