School newsletters made in Publisher: your options now

Class newsletters, PTA flyers and school notices were often made in Publisher. Microsoft 365 no longer opens .pub files, and many school devices are Chromebooks that never could. The easiest way to keep them going is to turn them into Word or PowerPoint with EditMyPub.

Keep this month's newsletter going with EditMyPub

EditMyPub converts a .pub newsletter into Word (.docx) and PowerPoint (.pptx), the replacements Microsoft itself suggests, plus LibreOffice Draw, a PDF and page images, in one download. Text stays in editable boxes and each page keeps its layout. Stories that jump between columns or pages are re-flowed in reading order instead of piling up, which is the main thing free converters get wrong.

1. Upload last month's .pub at editmypub.com. Nothing to install; it works in any browser, including on a Chromebook.
2. Check the free watermarked preview.
3. Pay $12 and download. Update the dates and stories, and send it out.

Use Word for multi-page newsletters and PowerPoint for one-page flyers. A pack of 10 files ($39) covers a school year of monthly newsletters. Full refund within 30 days, no questions asked.

• On Chromebooks / Google Workspace: open the PowerPoint file in Google Slides, which keeps positioned text boxes better than Docs. See opening .pub files on a Chromebook.

Years of old newsletters

For a folder of past issues, use bulk upload: up to 50 .pub files or one .zip, paid with a pack ($39 for 10, $99 for 50). They convert in the background, and you get one email with a download link, a folder per file and a report. Files that fail don't use a credit. Every conversion includes a PDF, which opens on Chromebooks, iPads and phones and prints exactly.

Other ways

• A computer that still has Publisher can save a PDF (File > Save As > PDF). That gives you a copy to read or print, but not one you can keep editing without Publisher, which no longer gets security updates on older perpetual copies.
• Canva for Education is another common choice; see moving Publisher files into Canva. It means learning a new tool and rebuilding the layout there.
• Free online converters mean uploading your files to another service and checking each result yourself. Many give only a PDF or images, and multi-column newsletters with linked stories are where they most often go wrong: here's why.

Tips for a smooth switch

• Once a converted newsletter looks right, save it as your main template (masthead, columns, footer) and reuse it every month.
• Check the fonts on the new device; missing fonts change line breaks. Your download lists the fonts each file uses: fonts missing after converting.
• Tables, WordArt and some effects may come through as plain shapes or text, so give each page a quick look.

Get started

Upload a newsletter and see the free preview before you pay. Clearing out a whole archive? Bulk upload takes up to 50 files at once.