Microsoft Publisher retires October 2026
Keep making your flyers & newsletters.
Pagewell opens your Microsoft Publisher .pub files and exports print-ready PDF — right on your own computer. One-time purchase. No subscription. No cloud.
- Free .pub→PDF converter
- Works 100% offline
- No account needed
Everything you actually used
A real desktop publishing tool — minus the subscription.
Pagewell rebuilds the parts of Publisher people relied on, in a calmer, faster app that opens your old files and keeps them printing.
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Opens real .pub files
Pulls every photo and all your text — accents and all — out of legacy Publisher files and reflows them onto a clean page.
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Print-ready PDF
Export press-ready PDF with CMYK, bleed and crop marks. The same scene that draws the screen draws the PDF — pixel for pixel.
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Works fully offline
No server, no cloud, no telemetry. Your documents never leave your computer — open it on a plane, it just works.
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Templates & master pages
Bulletins, flyers, business cards, certificates, Avery-style labels — plus master pages for repeating headers and page numbers.
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Mail merge from CSV
Drop in a spreadsheet and Pagewell fills one finished page per record — perfect for invitations, labels and certificates.
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Buy once, own it
A real one-time licence with offline activation — two seats by default. No renewals, no “your plan expired” emails.
Familiar from day one
If you knew Publisher, you already know Pagewell.
The same ribbon, the same task panes, the same keyboard shortcuts. A built-in tour maps every concept across, so there’s nothing new to learn.
- The ribbon, tab for tab — Home, Insert, Page Design, Arrange, Mailings.
- Task panes become the Format pane on the right.
- Ctrl+S, Ctrl+Z, Ctrl+P — every shortcut works exactly the same.
Three steps
From old file to fresh print.
- 01
Open or start
Drag in a .pub file, or begin from a template or blank page. Your content lands on a tidy canvas in seconds.
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Edit freely
Drag, resize, retype in place, recolour, add shapes and tables. Smart guides snap everything into alignment.
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Export & print
Save the native .pwl file or export a print-ready PDF — CMYK and crop marks included for the print shop.
Honest pricing
Pay once. Keep it forever.
No subscription, ever. Free to open and convert; pay only when you want to edit and save.
Open any .pub file and export PDF, forever.
- Open & view .pub / .pwl
- Export to PDF
- Works offline
Two seats. Free updates within the major version.
- Everything in Free, plus…
- Full editing, save & templates
- Mail merge & master pages
- CMYK / press-ready export
Questions, answered.
Yes. Pagewell reads the text and images straight out of Microsoft Publisher files — accented characters included — and reflows them onto a clean, editable page. It’s built to absorb the Publisher userbase as Publisher reaches end-of-life in October 2026.
Yes. There is no subscription. The Reader & Converter tier is free forever; the full editor is a single one-time purchase with two seats and an offline licence — no license server, no renewals.
Completely. There is no server and no cloud. The importer, the editor and the PDF export all run on your own computer, so your documents never leave your machine.
Windows 10 and newer, macOS 12 and newer, and 64-bit Linux. The same app, the same files, on every platform — plus a browser-based free converter if you can’t install anything.
Yes. Export press-ready PDF with CMYK colour, bleed and crop marks. The exact scene drawn on screen is what’s written to the PDF, so what you see is what prints.
Your files are waiting.
Let’s keep them printing.
Free to download. Free to open and convert. One-time purchase to unlock the full editor.