Help Converting Publisher Files To PDFs

The path error others have covered, so I won't repeat it — and Shawn's revised script above is genuinely better than the original if you stay on the PowerShell route, particularly the long-path handling.

But it's worth saying plainly: your frustration is fair. The documentation calls this easy, and for anyone who doesn't already live in PowerShell it isn't. Execution policy, working directory, the Office.dll path — three separate things that each fail with an unhelpful message.

If you'd rather skip PowerShell altogether, I wrote a script that does the same job as a double-click. Same underlying approach — it drives your installed copy of Publisher via ExportAsFixedFormat, so the PDFs are rendered by Publisher itself and come out identical to a manual export. It walks sub-folders, opens each file read-only, writes a CSV log, and skips anything already converted, so if it stops on a damaged file you move that one aside and run it again rather than starting over.

https://pubfilerescue.com

Free, no sign-up, nothing uploaded. There's a .bas macro version in the same download for machines where IT blocks script files.

Full disclosure: I wrote it. I also do paid rebuilds of Publisher templates, which is a separate thing and not what you asked about. For a few thousand files, either route works — mine just has fewer places to fall over.

We ran into issues/error messages caused by long file names and wildcard characters. This is the adjusted script to handle those issues; I converted 25 years worth/ 33,000 files with this script. So far the PDF files are perfect.

<#
.SYNOPSIS
	Converts Microsoft Publisher .pub files to PDF format.
.DESCRIPTION
	This script automates the conversion of Microsoft Publisher (.pub) files to PDF format using the Microsoft Office Interop Publisher library.
	It processes all files matching the specified filter, checks if a PDF already exists for each file, and skips conversion if the PDF is present.
	The script logs successful conversions and any errors encountered during the process.
    Updated to fully support Windows Long Paths (>260 characters) and wildcard filters.
.PARAMETER Filter
	Specifies the file filter to select Publisher files for conversion.
	This can be a specific file name (e.g., "document.pub") or a wildcard pattern (e.g., "*.pub").
.PARAMETER Recurse
	If specified, searches for Publisher files recursively in all subdirectories that match the filter. If omitted, only the current directory is searched.
#>
param
(
	[ValidateNotNullOrEmpty()]
	[string]
	$Filter,
	[switch]
	$Recurse
)
if (-not $PSBoundParameters.ContainsKey('Filter')) {
	Write-Error "The -Filter parameter is required."
	exit 1
}
if (-not ($Filter -like "*.pub")) {
	Write-Error "The filter must specify .pub files (e.g., '*.pub' or 'file.pub').";
	exit 1;
}
try {
	# Safely determine the search directory and file pattern without letting GetFullPath choke on wildcards
	$resolvedFilter = $ExecutionContext.SessionState.Path.GetUnresolvedProviderPathFromPSPath($Filter)
	
	if ([System.IO.Directory]::Exists($resolvedFilter)) {
		$searchDir = $resolvedFilter
		$searchPattern = "*.pub"
	} else {
		# Split the path into directory and file pattern parts safely
		$searchDir = [System.IO.Path]::GetDirectoryName($resolvedFilter)
		$searchPattern = [System.IO.Path]::GetFileName($resolvedFilter)
		
		# If the directory part still contains wildcards, strip them to find the base path
		if ($searchDir -like "*[*?]*") {
			Write-Error "Wildcards are only supported in the filename/extension part of the filter, not in folder names."
			exit 1
		}
	}
	if (-not [System.IO.Directory]::Exists($searchDir)) {
		Write-Error "The directory does not exist: $searchDir"
		exit 1
	}
	# Use modern dotnet enumeration which natively ignores the 260 character path limit
	$searchOption = if ($Recurse) { [System.IO.SearchOption]::AllDirectories } else { [System.IO.SearchOption]::TopDirectoryOnly }
	try {
		$rawFiles = [System.IO.Directory]::EnumerateFiles($searchDir, $searchPattern, $searchOption)
		$files = @()
		foreach ($f in $rawFiles) {
			$files += New-Object System.IO.FileInfo($f)
		}
	} catch {
		Write-Error "Error finding files: $_"
		exit 1
	}
	if ($files.Count -eq 0) {
		Write-Error "No Publisher files found for the filter: $Filter";
		exit 1;
	}
	Write-Output "Running...";
	Add-type -AssemblyName Office;
	Add-type -AssemblyName Microsoft.Office.Interop.Publisher;
	try {
		$app = New-Object -ComObject Publisher.Application;
	} catch {
		Write-Error "Microsoft Publisher is not installed or accessible.";
		exit 1;
	}
	$successCount = 0;
	$failCount = 0;
	foreach ($file in $files) {
		if ($file.Extension -eq ".pub") {
			$fileFullName = $file.FullName;
			
			# Prepend long path escape prefix if the path length exceeds standard limits
			if ($fileFullName.Length -ge 240 -and -not $fileFullName.StartsWith("\\?\")) {
				if ($fileFullName.StartsWith("\\")) {
					# Network UNC paths
					$fileFullName = "\\?\UNC\" + $fileFullName.Substring(2)
				} else {
					# Local drive paths
					$fileFullName = "\\?\" + $fileFullName
				}
			}
			$pdfFilePath = [System.IO.Path]::ChangeExtension($fileFullName, '.pdf')
			
			# Use dotnet's Exists check to circumvent standard Test-Path path length limitations
			if ([System.IO.File]::Exists($pdfFilePath)) {
				Write-Error "PDF file already exists: $pdfFilePath";
				$failCount++;
				Continue;
			}
			# Open the file
			try {
				$doc = $app.Open($fileFullName);
			} catch {
				$failCount++;
				Write-Error "Error opening file: $fileFullName $_";
				Continue;
			}
			if (-not($doc)) {
				$failCount++;
				Write-Error "Failed to open file: $fileFullName";
				Continue;
			}
			try {
				# Export file as PDF
				$doc.ExportAsFixedFormat([Microsoft.Office.Interop.Publisher.PbFixedFormatType]::pbFixedFormatTypePDF, $pdfFilePath);
				if ([System.IO.File]::Exists($pdfFilePath)) {
					Write-Output "Exported to $pdfFilePath.";
					$successCount++;
				} else {
					$failCount++;
					Write-Error "Failed to export file: $fileFullName";
				}
			} catch {
				$failCount++;
				Write-Error "Error during export: $_";
			}
			$doc.Close();
		}
	}
	#Log output
	Write-Output "Converted $successCount files with $failCount errors.";
}catch{
	Write-Error $_;
}finally {
	if ($app) {
		#Quit Publisher
		$app.Quit();
	}
}

Hi,

The PowerShell script by Microsoft does provide a free way to batch convert all .pub files to PDF. However, the process does not just simply paste Convert-PubFileToPDF.ps1 -Filter "*.pub" -Recurse and then it runs. I will provide you the guidance in the most detailed and easiest way to follow:

• First, go to this page and download the sample script: Microsoft Publisher will no longer be supported after October 2026 | Microsoft Support.

• After that, go to C:\ and create a new folder named PubConvert > copy the downloaded file (named Convert-PubFileToPDF.ps1) into this folder
• Then put all your .pub files into a single folder, for example: PublisherFiles in C:\ like this

After that, open Windows PowerShell and follow this instruction:

• Paste cd C:\PubConvert > press Enter
• Paste Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope Process -ExecutionPolicy Bypass > Enter > if you see a prompt asking for confirmation, press Y and Enter
• Paste Start-Transcript -Path "C:\PubConvert\PublisherConversionLog.txt" > Enter
• Paste .\Convert-PubFileToPDF.ps1 -Filter "C:\PublisherFiles\*.pub" -Recurse > Enter
• Wait until it finished and returns a message "Converted xxx files with xxx errors" > paste Stop-Transcript > Enter and close PowerShell.
• This is a sample PowerShell interface if everything is done properly

• Then go to the PublisherFiles folder and you will see all your .pub files are converted to PDFs.

You can give it a try and let me know whether it works. If you have any other questions, please feel free to reach out again in the comments on this post. I'm happy to assist you further.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation. I'm looking forward to your reply.

If the answer is helpful, please click "Yes" and kindly upvote it.

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The error is not coming from the conversion script itself. PowerShell is telling you it cannot find the script to run. This usually means you are not in the folder containing Convert-PubFileToPDF.ps1 or you did not specify its path.

First, check your current folder:

Get-Location

Then check whether the script is actually there:

Get-ChildItem Convert-PubFileToPDF.ps1

If the script is in the current folder, run it like this:

.\Convert-PubFileToPDF.ps1 -Filter "*.pub" -Recurse

If the script is in another folder, specify the full path, for example:

C:\Scripts\Convert-PubFileToPDF.ps1 -Filter "*.pub" -Recurse

This script also requires the desktop version of Microsoft Publisher to be installed, since it automates Publisher through COM. If Publisher is not installed, the script will fail when it tries to create the Publisher.Application object.

If the above response helps answer your question, remember to "Accept Answer" so that others in the community facing similar issues can easily find the solution. Your contribution is highly appreciated.

hth

Marcin