PubRescueWhy your Mac can't open the file
A .pub file is a Microsoft Publisher document: a newsletter, flyer, card or bulletin someone made on a Windows PC. Microsoft never released Publisher for Mac, not even as part of Microsoft 365 for Mac. Pages, Preview, Keynote and Word for Mac don't read the format either. When you double-click the file, macOS either asks which app to use or opens it in something that shows nonsense.
Since Publisher was retired on Windows too (see the Publisher retirement), the person who sent you the file may not be able to re-send it as a PDF anymore. Converting it yourself is the reliable route.
Open a .pub file on a Mac in Safari, step by step
- Find the file in Finder (often in Downloads, or save the email attachment there first).
- Drag it from Finder onto the upload box at the top of this page, or click Choose files and pick it.
- Wait a few seconds. A preview of the first page appears; click it to see every page.
- Download the PDF. Safari saves it to Downloads. Double-click it to open in Preview, where you can read, print or share it.
- Need to edit? Download the Word file too and open it in Word for Mac, Pages or LibreOffice.
Have a whole folder of .pub files? Drag the folder itself onto the box (or click Choose a folder), or compress it first with right-click > Compress in Finder. Everything comes back as one ZIP with your folders kept; see bulk conversion.
Editing the file on a Mac
The Word file is the way to edit a Publisher document on a Mac:
- Word for Mac opens it directly. Click into any text box and type.
- Pages can open Word files: use File > Open and pick the .docx. Pages converts it into its own format, and documents built from positioned text boxes, like ours, may shift slightly. Check the result before printing.
- LibreOffice (free) opens the Word file too.
In the Word file each page is kept as a background image with the text in editable text boxes on top, so the design stays put while you change dates, names or paragraphs. More on the Publisher to Word page.
Other ways to open .pub files on a Mac
- LibreOffice for Mac is free and its Draw program can open many .pub files directly. Simple one-page files usually look fine; newsletters with linked columns often don't.
- A Windows PC with Publisher, if someone you know still has one: open the file there and save it as PDF.
- Windows on your Mac through virtualization, if you already have it set up with an old Publisher license. Setting that up just to open a few files is rarely worth it.
For most people, converting in the browser is the fastest of these, and the only one that needs nothing installed. The general guide to opening .pub files without Publisher covers the other options in more detail.
What to expect
- Fonts from Windows and Microsoft Office are replaced with metric-compatible fonts in the PDF, so line breaks match the original, though letters may look slightly different.
- The Word file keeps the look, with text in editable text boxes over a page background. It's not a reflowable document.
- Very old files from Publisher 98 or 2000 convert with lower accuracy. Check the preview first; it's free.
Is it safe?
Your file is used only to produce your PDF and Word file, and is deleted automatically 24 hours after upload (7 days for paid uploads). Each upload has its own random link. See the privacy policy.