Microsoft Publisher alternatives: what to use instead

Publisher is being retired in October 2026. There is no single drop-in replacement, but there is a good option for almost everything people made with it. Pick the one that matches what you make.

Pick by what you make

Flyers, posters and cards

Canva is the easiest choice. You start from a template in your browser, so it works on a Chromebook too. It has a free plan, and some templates and features need a paid plan. Microsoft Word or PowerPoint also work well if you already have them.

Newsletters

Word or Google Docs handle newsletters well, especially text-heavy ones, and both have free templates. Canva is better when the layout is mostly pictures.

Brochures and trifolds

Word has brochure templates built in. Canva has many trifold and bifold layouts you can print or share as a PDF.

Professional print layout

Adobe InDesign and Affinity Publisher are made for print shops and complex, multi-page layouts. Scribus is free and open source, but it takes more time to learn.

Opening and tweaking old .pub files for free

LibreOffice Draw is free and can open .pub files directly, so you can edit them a little or export them. Some designs will not look identical.

Which should I choose?

• I make a flyer once in a while: Canva.
• I already pay for Microsoft 365: Word or PowerPoint.
• I use a Chromebook: Canva or Google Docs and Slides, since they run in the browser.
• I make print-shop files: InDesign or Affinity Publisher.

Bring your old files with you

No tool turns a .pub file into a perfect editable copy in another program. The safest plan is to save a PDF of every file so you always have the finished design, then rebuild only the ones you still need to edit. The PubToPDF converter does the PDF step for many files at once, privately, in your browser.

See also: what is changing and when, and how to find all your .pub files.