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Microsoft is cleaning out its closet this month, first killing Skype, and now the Publisher app.
The rationale for moving on from both programs is similar: Microsoft has newer technology with overlapping—and better—functionality.
"In order to focus on new benefits, we occasionally remove features and products," says Microsoft. Publisher, which first came out in 1991, is next on the chopping block. Redmond recommends Word, Designer, and PowerPoint as viable replacements for most tasks.
"Many common Publisher scenarios—including creating professionally branded templates, printing envelopes and labels, and producing customized calendars, business cards, and programs—are already available in other Microsoft 365 apps such as Word and PowerPoint," says Microsoft.
The app will stick around until Oct. 26, 2026, when it "will reach the end of its life," meaning it will no longer be included in Microsoft 365 and on-premise suites will no longer be supported.
In an email sent to Microsoft 365 subscribers today, the company recommends users preserve their work from Publisher by converting the files to PDFs or Word docs before the shutdown. That's in over a year, so there should be plenty of time. But after Oct. 26, 2026, you won't be able to open or edit files in Publisher.
To convert your Publisher file to PDF format, open the file, go to File > Save as. Then, choose a location to save the file, select PDF, and hit save. From there, you can convert to a Word document. Open Word, go to File > Open, locate file you just saved as a PDF, then select "OK."
Keeping it as a PDF is probably your best bet. Microsoft warns that the layout in Word may be messed up: "Converted Word document will be optimized for text editing. As a result, its layout may vary from the original PDF—particularly if the document includes many graphics."
To convert many publishers at one time, you can automate the process by using a macro to convert all Publisher files in a folder to a PDF, Microsoft recommends.
Microsoft also notified subscribers that beginning March 3, 2026, they will no longer have access to 60 minutes of monthly Skype calls to mobile phones and landlines. That's almost a year after the solo Skype app dies off in May 2025. Microsoft is replacing Skype call capability with a Teams benefit: Personal and Family subscribers can join group calls and talk for up to 30 hours with up to 300 people for free.