Convert Publisher to Word

What the Word file looks like

Word and Publisher store documents very differently. A Word document is a stream of text that flows from page to page. A Publisher document is a set of boxes placed at exact positions on a page: a headline box here, three linked columns there, a photo overlapping a colored shape. There is no way to turn one into the other without choosing what to keep. PubRescue keeps the look and the text:

• Each page is the page. The full page, as it would print, is placed as a picture behind the text, so colors, pictures, shapes and WordArt look right immediately.
• Every text box is a Word text box. Text is laid out again line by line the way Publisher did it (same linked columns, same wrapping around pictures, same font sizes, bold and italic, bullets and tabs) and placed on top of the background in editable text boxes. Click into any text and change it.
• Fonts. The document names the original fonts. If they're installed on your computer, Word uses them; otherwise Word substitutes. Line breaks are preserved as they were in Publisher.

What it is not: a reflowable Word document. Text doesn't flow from one column to the next inside Word, and pictures are part of the page background rather than separate objects you can drag. For changing a date, a paragraph, a price list or a name on a certificate, that's exactly what you want. For redesigning the page from scratch, start a new document and copy the text over.

How to convert Publisher to Word, step by step

1. Upload one .pub file, a folder or a ZIP in the box above.
2. Preview every page for free. Each thumbnail gets a PDF and a Word button.
3. Download the Word file. The first Word file and the first 3 PDFs of each upload are free; a plan from $9 unlocks all files of the upload as one ZIP that contains both the PDF and the DOCX of every file, with your folder structure kept.
4. Open it in Word (2010 or newer). Click into a text box to edit. Use File > Save As > PDF in Word when you're done, or print directly.

Example of the converter's output

The images below are first pages of two Publisher sample files converted with PubRescue, shown exactly as our converter produced them. The Word file of each page looks the same, with the text editable on top.

Which documents convert to Word well

• Certificates, letters, forms, price lists, menus, one-page flyers: very well. Edit the text, print.
• Newsletters and bulletins with linked columns: well. Each column is its own text box; if you add more text to one column than fits, Word will not move it to the next column, so keep edits about the same length.
• Pages with heavy WordArt or pictures you want to move: the look is kept, but those elements are part of the background image. The PDF plus a fresh Word template may serve you better here.

Should you convert to Word at all?

• Archive and print (old newsletters, past bulletins, records): PDF is the better format. It never changes and opens everywhere. You get it with every conversion anyway.
• Reuse with small changes (a yearly flyer, a certificate, a menu, this week's bulletin from last week's): the Word file.
• Redesign (new look, new tool): take the text from the Word file and the pictures from your originals, and rebuild in Word, Canva, Affinity Publisher or Scribus. See our guide to Microsoft Publisher alternatives.