Why text piles up in linked text boxes after converting a Publisher file

You open an old newsletter in LibreOffice, and the columns are a mess: the same story appears in every column, text spills off the bottom of the page, and lines print on top of each other. Here is what is going on, the easiest way around it with EditMyPub, and how to fix it by hand if you prefer.

What linked text boxes are

In Microsoft Publisher, a long story can flow through several text boxes. You fill the first column, and the extra text carries on into the second column, then the third, or onto another page. Publisher calls these linked text boxes. Newsletters and bulletins use them all the time.

In the file, there is one story and a chain of boxes. Publisher works out where each box ends and the next begins, based on the size of the boxes and the fonts.

What goes wrong in LibreOffice

LibreOffice Draw has no everyday way to link text boxes so that text flows from one into the next. (LibreOffice Writer can link frames, but Publisher files open in Draw.) When LibreOffice imports a Publisher file, it has to turn each linked box into an ordinary, separate text box.

In our own tests with LibreOffice (version 24.2) on a sample newsletter, each box in a chain received the whole story, not just its own part. So three linked columns showed the story three times, each copy starting from the top. The boxes grew to hold all that text, ran off the page, and overlapped the boxes below them. Office Watch, reviewing ways to open Publisher files this month, also warns that linked text boxes are where conversions usually break.

The same thing carries through to anything made from that import: a PDF exported from LibreOffice, a batch conversion run from the command line, or a PDF you then upload to Canva or open in Word.

The easy fix: convert with EditMyPub

This problem is the main reason we built EditMyPub. Instead of putting the whole story in every box, EditMyPub re-flows each story through its boxes in reading order, so each box holds only its own part. There is nothing to install and no new program to learn. You get the newsletter back as Word (.docx) and PowerPoint (.pptx) files you already know how to edit, plus LibreOffice Draw (.odg), a PDF and page images, all in one .zip.

Go to editmypub.com and upload your .pub file. It works in any web browser.
Look over the free watermarked preview. It shows how many linked stories were re-flowed.
If you are happy with it, pay and download. One file is $12 (USD). Packs are $39 for 10 files or $99 for 50, and a whole folder of back issues can go through bulk upload. Full refund within 30 days, no questions asked.

It is not perfect, and we would rather you know now:

On our test newsletter, most of the pile-up went away, but a few headlines still overlapped nearby text and needed a nudge.
Text that wrapped around pictures follows the outline in small steps, which can shift where a box breaks. A story that still runs long is shrunk slightly (at most 15%).
If your computer lacks the original fonts, lines may break a little differently from our preview.
After conversion, boxes are separate, not linked.

The preview is free, so you can see the result on your own newsletter before you decide.

How to tell if this is your problem

The same paragraph appears at the top of two or more columns.
Text runs past the bottom of the page.
The problem is worst on multi-column pages and stories that say "continued on page 4".

If instead the text is all there but just wraps a little differently, the cause is more likely fonts. See fonts missing after converting.

The harder way: fix it by hand in LibreOffice Draw

You can untangle the boxes yourself for free, but it means installing LibreOffice and working through every story, box by box. On a newsletter with several multi-column stories, expect it to take a while. Do one story at a time.

Keep a copy of the full story. Click in the first box of the story, select all its text, and paste it into a plain document as a reference.
Stop the boxes from growing. Select a box, right-click and choose Text Attributes. Untick "Fit height to text" so the box keeps its original size. (The same setting is under Format > Text Box and Shape > Text Attributes.)
Trim the first box. In the first box, delete everything after the last line that fits inside the box.
Trim the second box. In the next box, delete the text from the start up to where the first box now ends. Then delete everything after the last line that fits.
Repeat for each box in the chain, in reading order.
Check the joins. Read across each break to make sure no sentence was lost or doubled.

Install the original fonts first if you can. Otherwise, the right place to break each box can shift once the fonts change.

Remember that the boxes are still not linked afterwards. If you edit the story later, you will need to move text between boxes by hand. EditMyPub does this splitting for you on every story at once, and you end up editing in Word or PowerPoint instead of Draw.

Other ways around it

Rebuild with real linked boxes. LibreOffice Writer can link frames so text flows from one to the next (click a frame, then use Link Frames, and pick an empty frame). Microsoft Word can link text boxes too. Copy each story from your reference copy into the first box, and let it flow. The trade-off: you are rebuilding the layout yourself, page by page.
Use Publisher's own PDF. If you or someone else still has a perpetual copy of Publisher, a PDF saved from Publisher keeps the stories where they belong. The trade-off: a PDF is not easy to edit, and perpetual Publisher no longer gets security updates. EditMyPub gives you editable Word and PowerPoint files without needing Publisher at all.

Get your newsletter back in one piece

Upload your .pub at EditMyPub and check the free preview before you pay. Have a stack of old issues? Use bulk upload for up to 50 files at once.