LibreOffice Draw Adds Support for Microsoft Publisher Files

LibreOffice Draw can now open Microsoft Publisher files, giving users another way to access documents in the proprietary .pub format after Microsoft ended support for Publisher.

TechRadar reports that Microsoft ended support for Microsoft 365 subscribers earlier in October 2026. It also says Publisher 2021 perpetual licenses lost support, although the application remains installed. Microsoft has directed users toward Word, PowerPoint or another suitable app. The .pub files themselves are not being deleted.

LibreOffice’s Italo Vignoli said developers with the Document Liberation Project reverse-engineered the .pub format, which is not an open standard. LibreOffice Draw can now open the files, though the source does not say that it can fully edit them.

Vignoli criticized Microsoft’s approach as vendor lock-in and urged organizations to check whether important documents depend on a proprietary format and a single vendor’s application. TechRadar says users who have lost Publisher access through a Microsoft 365 subscription are being advised to bulk-convert their .pub documents using a PowerShell script or another automation tool. It also reports that Publisher 2021 may become less functional over time as bugs emerge and vulnerabilities are found.