This month, Nigel Milligan reflects on the long-standing popularity of Microsoft Publisher among teachers, particularly considering its recently announced end-of-life in October 2026
Publisher was first launched in 1991 as an entry-level desktop publishing package which was a more affordable option than Adobe software. Throughout the years there have been many updates to Publisher with each new version of MS Office.
The news of the discontinuation of Publisher seems to have not broken with many teachers and school administrators. This was first announced in February 2024 and will be withdrawn from all future editions of MS365 with no more support in place for it. Microsoft has stated that many features are available in PowerPoint and Word along with the Online Microsoft Designer which offers many features for creating visual content.
Learning to Live Without You
So far, the news of this with most schools I work with hasn’t been an issue as we helped them to move away from Publisher many years ago. However, I am hearing news from many other schools and teachers that the 80’s hit song “How am I supposed to live without you?” by Michael Bolton will be getting some airplay! There are many years of resources that teachers have created and rely on so much.
Looking at the Alternatives
How do we live without Publisher then? There are many other options, many of which schools used some time ago. It’s interesting to see why so many schools over the past 10 years or so won’t move away from Windows systems. MS Publisher is one of the top software solutions that has prevented them from moving to iPads and Chromebooks for teaching and learning purposes. Apple Pages on iPad is a popular option for creating visual content as well as free for education apps such as Canva. Canva has a 100% free option for schools from individual teachers through to district / trust level. Some schools moved away from Windows many years ago and have MacBook, iPad & Chromebooks. If there were any legacy publisher files that they needed to use, they would make use of the free Libre Office on Mac to work with the old Publisher files.
Check Online Resources
To summarize and encourage everyone to think creatively about moving away from Publisher, there are many online resources which are free to use and work on any device in schools without the need to be installed on a desktop or laptop pc.
- Canva for Education
- Adobe Express & Fresco
- Microsoft Designer
Please also remember as you look at all your ongoing productivity options Google Workspace & 365 Online versions are free for education and offer so much more for you to use on any device, not just a conventional desktop PC or laptop.
As the sun sets on Microsoft Publisher, it’s a timely reminder for schools to explore rowing ecosystem of modern, intuitive, and free tools designed specifically for education – and prepare for the day when .pub files are a thing of the past!
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