Microsoft Publisher alternatives for churches: what replaces Publisher in 2026
Publisher left Microsoft 365 on October 1. If your church made its bulletin in it for years, this guide covers what happened, how to get at your .pub files now, and every realistic alternative, including the free ones. We make one of the tools on the list and we put it last.
If you used Publisher through a Microsoft 365 subscription: the app was removed on October 1, 2026. It no longer opens or installs through your subscription, so it cannot open your .pub files either. The files themselves are still on your computer.
If you bought Publisher outright (Publisher 2019 or 2021, a one-time purchase): it still runs on the computer it is installed on, with no support or security updates from October 13, 2026. You can keep using it, and many small churches will.
Either way, Microsoft is not replacing it. Their advice is to use Word or PowerPoint instead. Here is their notice.
Four things to do now, whatever you choose next
- Find out which Publisher you have. If Publisher still opens, go to File, then Account. Publisher 2019 or 2021 is yours to keep, unsupported. If it no longer opens at all, it was the Microsoft 365 version.
- Get every bulletin you care about out as a PDF. If Publisher still opens: File, then Save As, then choose PDF. If it does not, use one of the ways in under what to do with your .pub files. Do this for your regular Sunday layout, your special-service layouts (Christmas Eve, Easter, funerals), and your newsletter. A PDF cannot be edited easily, but it can be printed, shared, and used as a visual reference when you rebuild.
- Copy your announcements and order of service into a plain document. The words are the part that took years to get right. Put them somewhere that opens anywhere: a Word file, a Google Doc, or a note.
- Pick what comes next, and build one practice bulletin in it this week. Do not let the first bulletin in the new tool be the one you need on a Saturday night. The rest of this page is about the choice.
What replaces Publisher in Microsoft 365
Nothing, directly. That is the short answer to the question a lot of church offices are typing into a search box this month. Microsoft has not announced a successor app. Its notice points subscribers to Word and PowerPoint, which you already have, and it has been steering people who want design templates toward its web tools.
In practice that means the Publisher gap gets filled one of three ways:
- Stay in Microsoft. Rebuild the bulletin as a Word template with two columns and a half-fold page size, or as a PowerPoint file sized to the page. Familiar, free, and a little stubborn about layout.
- Move to a design tool. Canva, Affinity, Scribus or LibreOffice Draw. More control over the look, and each week starts from a template you keep.
- Move to a tool that knows what a bulletin is. Something that starts from your order of service and remembers last week's announcements, so the weekly work is editing rather than laying out.
What to do with your .pub files
The .pub format belongs to Publisher, and almost nothing else opens it well. Now that the app is gone from Microsoft 365, the files on your computer are still there, but you need something to read them.
- A PDF of each one is the safest keepsake. If you saved PDFs before October 1, keep them somewhere backed up. If you did not, use one of the next two ways in to make them now.
- LibreOffice Draw can open most .pub files. LibreOffice is free, and Draw has a Publisher import filter. Text and pictures come across; spacing and fonts often need tidying. It can export a PDF, and it is the best free way to rescue an old layout now.
- A one-time-purchase copy of Publisher still opens them. If someone in the congregation owns Publisher 2019 or 2021, that computer can open and re-save your old files for as long as it runs.
- Word will not open a .pub file. Microsoft's advice to move to Word means rebuilding, not converting.
The alternatives, compared plainly
Most church guides right now point to the same short list. Here is what each one is actually like for a weekly bulletin, including the tool we make.
| Tool | Cost | What it is like for a weekly bulletin |
|---|---|---|
| Word or Google DocsAlready on your computer | Included | Familiar and free. Fine for a single-column bulletin. Two-column half-fold layouts fight you, and every week is copy-paste from last week. Save a template once and it is workable. |
| CanvaFree or Pro | Free, or about $15/mo Pro | Easiest to learn, pretty templates, clean PDF export. But it starts from a blank design every week and knows nothing about your order of service or last week's announcements. Expect 45 minutes to an hour each Saturday. |
| LibreOffice DrawOpen source | Free | The one free tool that opens .pub files. Page layout in the Publisher style, plainer than Publisher, and no bulletin templates to speak of. Good for rescuing old files and for a church that wants no subscriptions at all. |
| ScribusOpen source | Free | Real desktop publishing, real control, the closest thing to Publisher's power. Also the steepest learning curve on this list. Good if someone on your team enjoys software. |
| AffinityPublisher-style layout, now from Canva | Free to use; paid extras through Canva | A proper page-layout app that used to cost money and is now free to use. Strong once learned, closer to InDesign than to Word. Overkill for one half-fold a week, but a real answer if you liked Publisher for what it could do. |
| Adobe Express or InDesignDesign professionals | About $10 to $23/mo | Professional results, especially InDesign. Over-budget for a 60-person church that needs one half-fold bulletin a week. |
| Denominational and church-supply templatesConference, diocese, supply companies | Varies | Some denominational bodies and church-supply companies offer templates. Worth checking with your conference or diocese, though most are templates, not tools: they still start blank each week. |
| PastorPrepBuilt for small churches | $19/mo | Starts from your tradition's order of service, carries recurring announcements week to week, suggests hymns from your hymnal, and prints a half-fold PDF, including a large-print version. Also helps with the sermon, but the bulletin works on its own. Open now. |
We put ourselves last on purpose. If Word or Canva does the job for you, use it. This page exists because a lot of pastors asked us what to do, not to talk you out of a free tool that works.
Which one to pick
The honest way to choose is by who makes the bulletin and how much of their week it is allowed to take.
- The secretary who knows Word and wants nothing new: Word, with a saved half-fold template. Spend one afternoon getting the template right and never rebuild it.
- A volunteer who likes making things look nice: Canva. Accept that each week is a fresh design and budget the hour.
- A church with old .pub files and no budget: LibreOffice Draw to rescue the files, then either stay there or move the words into Word.
- Someone who genuinely enjoyed Publisher's control: Affinity or Scribus. Both reward the learning.
- A pastor doing the bulletin at 9pm on Saturday, after the sermon: a tool that already knows the order of service and last week's announcements, so the weekly job is editing a draft rather than laying out a page. That is what the PastorPrep bulletin builder is for, and it works without the sermon side.
Get the PDFs out, copy the words out, and build one practice bulletin in the new tool before you need a real one. The churches having a hard Sunday this month are the ones finding out on a Saturday night that Publisher will not open, not the ones that chose the "wrong" tool.
Questions people are asking
Have this Sunday's bulletin ready without Publisher.
PastorPrep's bulletin builder starts from your tradition's order of service, keeps the announcements that repeat, and prints a half-fold PDF with a large-print version. It does not need the sermon side, and it does not need Publisher.
What it costs and when
$19 a month, one price, no tiers. There is a 14-day free trial that starts when you build something rather than the day you sign up, and no card to start. PastorPrep is open to everyone now.
If you also write the sermon
Send us the passage you are preaching this Sunday and we will send back an outline in your own voice within 24 hours. Free, whether or not you ever pay us. The form is on the PastorPrep home page, or reply to any email from hello@pastorprep.com.