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

Microsoft never made Publisher for the Mac, so a Mac can't open a .pub file out of the box. The easiest way is to turn it into Word or PowerPoint with EditMyPub, right in your browser. Here is how, plus the other ways that work.

1. EditMyPub: get Word and PowerPoint files you can edit

EditMyPub converts your .pub file into formats Mac apps understand. Nothing to download or install, and no new program to learn: you keep working in the apps you already use.

Word (.docx) opens in Microsoft Word for Mac and in Pages. Each page keeps its layout, with text in positioned text boxes.
PowerPoint (.pptx) opens in PowerPoint for Mac and in Keynote. Each page becomes one slide at the original page size, so a one-page flyer works well.
You also get a PDF, page images and a LibreOffice Draw (.odg) copy, all in one .zip.

Open editmypub.com in Safari or any browser 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.

Other ways

LibreOffice Draw (free, needs installing)

LibreOffice is a free office suite for macOS. Its Draw program can import Publisher files.

Download LibreOffice from libreoffice.org and install it like any Mac app.
Open LibreOffice, choose Open File, and pick your .pub file. It opens in Draw.
To keep a copy you can share, choose File > Export as PDF. To keep editing in LibreOffice, save it as a Drawing (.odg).

The trade-off: you have to install, update and learn a new program, and you edit in Draw rather than Word or Pages. Newsletters where a story continues from one text box to another often come out wrong: LibreOffice copies the whole story into every box, so text piles up. Fonts you don't have are swapped for others, so lines can break differently. See why linked text boxes overlap after converting. EditMyPub re-flows those linked stories in reading order instead.

Use a Windows PC that still has Publisher

If a colleague or a library computer still has an older, perpetual copy of Publisher, it can open the file and save it as PDF or Word. Microsoft says perpetual copies keep working but no longer get updates. The trade-off: you need access to that computer each time you want to change something, and it is running software with no security updates. EditMyPub works from your own Mac. See Publisher is retired: what now?

Open your .pub on your Mac today