If you bought Office 2021 outright rather than subscribing to Microsoft 365, Publisher didn't disappear on 1 October. It still opens and edits your files. What ended, on 13 October 2026, is support: no more security fixes, bug fixes or help from Microsoft. Here's what that means in practice.
Publisher 2021 keeps working exactly as it did on 12 October. Nothing switches off and nothing is uninstalled. But it will never be updated again, so any security problem discovered from now on stays unfixed, and Microsoft won't help if something goes wrong.
Older versions are further along: support for Publisher 2016 and 2019 ended on 14 October 2025.
For your own trusted files, on a computer that is otherwise kept up to date, the practical risk is modest. The risk comes from opening files from elsewhere: a document from an unknown sender, an attachment, a download. Unpatched software is a common way in for attackers, and document files have been used that way before. If you keep using Publisher 2021, use it only for files you made yourself.
The best use of a still-working copy of Publisher is converting your files out of it. Publisher can save a copy of a document as a PDF itself (File → Save As, then choose PDF), made by the same program that created the file.
The catch is that it's one file at a time, and PDFs aren't easy to edit. For documents you'll keep changing, also make an editable copy: LibreOffice Draw, which is free, opens .pub files and saves them as ODG.
The day the PC running Publisher 2021 is replaced, or its Windows installation is rebuilt, may be the last day you have a working copy. Reinstalling depends on finding both the licence and the installer. Converting now saves you from discovering that problem on the day you need a file.
Everything above works one file at a time, which is the right answer for a handful. For an archive, PubRevive converts everything at once: every file comes back as a PDF and an editable ODG copy, your folders stay as they were, and a report shows exactly what converted.
Upload the folder and you'll see page one of one of your files rescued, with the exact price, before you pay anything. If fewer than 80% of your files rescue, you get a full refund.
On 13 October 2026, alongside Office LTSC 2021.
No. It keeps working; it just stops receiving fixes and support.
Possibly, if you can find your licence and installer, but it would remain unsupported. Converting your files is the safer long-term plan.
They lost Publisher altogether on 1 October 2026. Their files need a different program, such as LibreOffice, to open.
Last updated 16 October 2026.