Can I still buy a stand alone version of Publisher from Microsoft in order to keep using my files.

Lotti 65 Reputation points

I am horrified that my subscription to Microsoft 365 is going up 40% and yet the programme I use more than any other is being discontinued in October next year.

Many of the other "benefits" of Microsoft 365 are of no benefit to me. I have no family to share it with, I don't use the cloud storage and I find Powerpoint good for presentations - but not for anything else.

Why is Publisher being discontinued when so many of us rely on it every day?

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  1. Janet 15 Reputation points

    I too am dismayed and at a bit of a loss as to how I will be able to access and use my Publisher files after October 2026. Saving them to Pdf would be completely pointless, as they will then be unusable and uneditable. There doesn't seem to be any alternative being offered by Microsoft to replace Publisher. Neither Word nor PowerPoint have the features or the ease of use that Publisher has. Does Microsoft recommend any alternatives?

  2. Mary Power 0 Reputation points

    where can i get a version - ANY version - of publisher that i can download and save as-is on my new windows 11 laptop??

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Answer recommended by moderator

WordWizzard 1,050 Reputation points

Affinity Publisher is free.

You can supposedly use it to import and edit your Publisher files, if you first convert them to PDF. See

https://www.affinity.studio/page-layout-software

https://www.affinity.studio/help/get-started-import-pdf/

For the few cases were the conversion is not acceptable, you can convert the Publisher files directly to Affinity using https://markzware.com/markzportal/converting-microsoft-publisher-to-affinity-publisher/

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  2. sun up 5 Reputation points

    That markzware site is very expensive to use, and the result didn't look great to me. I just tested importing a PDF that had been created using Publisher into Affinity Publisher 2, and it's fine. It works in a similar way to MS Publisher, learning curve is not steep.

5 additional answers

  1. Gary Shows 5 Reputation points

    I have been using Microsoft Publisher for more than 20 years to produce a newsletter for my organization and have gotten very proficient with it. Please see our website, www.pointrichmondhistory.org, all of the issues that you see open as PDF. I am very disappointed that it is leaving, not even passed on to another company or allowing me to use it without support if that is necessary. Why are you doing this? It seems to me that it is thoughtless and rude. If I have to stop using Publisher, I think that there will be a few more Microsoft products that I can do without.

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  2. Mark Goodge 5 Reputation points

    There's no standalone version of Publisher. But it's still included in the non-subscription Office Professional suite. All of the one-time-purchase installations will carry on working after Publisher reaches end of life, although there will be no further updates, security patches or bugfixes.

    The most recent version of Office Professional is 2021, which is quite pricey - particualrly if you're really only buying for Publisher. But Office Professional 2019 is still available on Amazon, at least (I haven't looked elsewhere, you may find a better deal if you shop around) at a much more reasonable price. So if you don't need the absolute latest version that may well be OK.

    1. Andy Pearce 5 Reputation points

      To say there is no standalone version of Publisher is incorrect. There is Publisher 2019 available. The question is whether it can be installed on a PC that is already tied into a Microsoft 365 subdscription.

      To say I am incensed at this cavalier attitude by MS is an understatement... Dumping an application used by thousands without any solutions in place to even convert files to other MS applications successfully is outrageous!

  3. Janet 15 Reputation points

    I've been looking at Affinity. I copied one of my publisher files to pdf and uploaded it into Affinity. It looked OK and seems to be editable.

    So I now need to embark on a learning journey to learn how to use it. I've enrolled on an online course.

    The only reason I subscribed to MS365 was for Publisher. I don't really need Word and Excel, as there are alternatives available, such as Google docs - and I never use PowerPoint.

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  4. Mary Power 0 Reputation points

    I have the same question too! Plus Microcosft started charging me a subscription for office 365 when i already HAD a fully paid-for version of Office 2019 - and threatened to cut off my access to my old emails claiming i did not have enough space on OneDrive... So i started paying the subscription - even though (like many others here) Microsoft has pulled the plug on my favourite MS app and won't listen to it's loyal customers who now have to search elsewhere for suitable alternative(s). Mary

    1. Stefan Blom 342.6K Reputation points • MVP • Volunteer Moderator

      @Mary Power

      If your version of Office 2019 included Publisher, you can still make use of that product. Install from your account at https://account.microsoft.com/services . You may have to activate by telephone; use the number from the article at https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/-telephone-activation-is-no-longer-supported-for-your-product-error-when-activating-office-9b016cd2-0811-4cb3-b896-5a6a13177713 (even if you don't encounter the error message mentioned in the article).