For many parishes, Publisher was where the weekly bulletin, the order of service and the newsletter were made, sometimes for twenty years. Since Microsoft removed Publisher on 1 October 2026, that history sits in files nobody can open. Here's a plan a parish office can actually finish.
Publisher files tend to be scattered: the office PC, a shared drive, a previous
administrator's old laptop, a USB stick in a drawer. On each Windows computer, open File
Explorer, go to This PC and search for *.pub. Check OneDrive or SharePoint too, and
ask anyone who used to produce the bulletin whether they kept copies at home.
Copy everything you find into one folder, keeping the original subfolders (by year or by ministry) if they exist. Don't worry about duplicates yet.
Most parishes find three kinds of file. Records, such as past bulletins, orders of service for weddings and funerals, and anniversary booklets, need to be readable and printable forever. Templates, such as this week's bulletin layout, the parish letterhead and registration forms, need to stay editable. Then there's clutter. Records need a PDF; templates need a PDF and an editable copy; clutter can go once you're sure.
For a few dozen files, the free route works: install LibreOffice, open each file in LibreOffice Draw, and export a PDF, plus an .odg copy for templates. The step-by-step guide walks through it. Expect two to four minutes per file once you're in a rhythm.
For hundreds, that becomes a week of volunteer time. That's where a batch service makes sense: upload the folder, and get every file back as a PDF and an editable copy, with the folders intact and a report of anything that didn't convert.
Put the PDFs somewhere shared and backed up, such as the parish's OneDrive, SharePoint or
Google Drive, in a simple structure: one folder per year, with files named date first, like
2019-12-24 Christmas Eve order of service.pdf. Date-first names sort themselves. Keep
the original .pub files alongside, untouched.
Directories, prayer lists and pastoral notes can hold personal details. Before uploading files anywhere, check what happens to them. PubRevive deletes originals as soon as conversion finishes, and everything else after seven days. Whichever route you choose, keep personal records under your parish's privacy policy.
For next week's bulletin, the editable .odg copy of your template opens in LibreOffice Draw. Many parishes also move to Word, Canva or the newsletter tool in their church-management system. Rescue the archive first, then choose the new tool at leisure.
Upload the whole folder, with years of bulletins, orders of service and newsletters, and get every file back as a PDF and an editable copy, folders kept, with a report of what converted.
You'll see page one of one of your files rescued, with the exact price, before you pay. A typical parish archive falls in the $49 tier, and if fewer than 80% of your files rescue, you get a full refund.
By hand, roughly two to four minutes per file once LibreOffice is installed. A batch service turns hundreds of files around in minutes.
Usually very close. Layout, images and text normally survive; unusual fonts are the most common cause of small changes. Check anything you plan to reprint.
Yes. They take little space, and keeping them means nothing is lost if better conversion tools appear later.
It's worth asking. Some diocesan offices coordinate IT for their parishes and may already have guidance on Publisher's retirement.
Last updated 16 October 2026.