How to open a Microsoft Publisher (.pub) file on a Chromebook

Chromebooks, Google Drive and Google Docs can't open .pub files. Schools and families run into this all the time. The easiest way is EditMyPub, which runs in the Chrome browser you already have. Here is how, plus the other options.

1. EditMyPub: convert it in your browser

EditMyPub needs nothing installed, so it works on school-managed Chromebooks too. Upload the .pub and you get PowerPoint (.pptx), Word (.docx), a PDF, page images and a LibreOffice Draw (.odg) copy in one .zip.

Open editmypub.com in Chrome and upload the .pub file.
Check the free watermarked preview.
Pay and download: $12 (USD) for one file, $39 for 10 or $99 for 50. Full refund within 30 days, no questions asked.
Upload the file you want to Google Drive and open it.

Google Slides: open the .pptx with Slides. This keeps the page layout best, because each page becomes one slide at the original size, and Slides works with positioned boxes like Publisher. Step by step: Publisher to Google Slides.
Google Docs: weaker for page layouts. See Publisher to Google Docs.

Other ways

Install LibreOffice through Linux (free, more setup)

Many Chromebooks can run Linux apps. If yours can, you can install LibreOffice, whose Draw program imports .pub files:

Open Settings, search for Linux development environment, and turn it on. School-managed Chromebooks often block this.
In the Terminal that opens, install LibreOffice (for example sudo apt install libreoffice-draw).
Copy the .pub file into the Linux files folder, then open it with LibreOffice Draw and export a PDF or keep editing.

The trade-off: you are setting up Linux, typing terminal commands, and then learning a new program that stays outside Google Drive. Newsletters with stories that continue between text boxes often come out with piled-up text in LibreOffice: see why that happens. EditMyPub needs none of the setup and re-flows those linked stories in reading order.

Ask whoever sent it

If the file came from a teacher, church office or club, you can reply and ask for a PDF, now that Publisher itself is being retired. The trade-off: you wait on someone else, and a PDF is hard to edit. If you need to change the file yourself, EditMyPub gives you an editable copy.

Open your .pub on your Chromebook now