Sermon Helper Lectionary Resources
Deadline: October 1, 2026

Microsoft Publisher is retiring. Here’s what your church needs to know.

If your church bulletin is a .pub file, this affects you. The plain-language version — including the part most summaries get wrong: what actually changes, and the honest options for what to do next.

What’s happening

Microsoft has set October 1, 2026 as the end of life for Publisher. It’s tied to the same date Office LTSC 2021 reaches end of support. In Microsoft’s own words: “In October 2026, Microsoft Publisher will reach its end of life. After that time, it will no longer be included in Microsoft 365 and existing on-premises suites will no longer be supported.”

The important detail — the one most write-ups gloss over — is that what happens next depends on which kind of Office you have. For most churches (the ones on a Microsoft 365 subscription) this is not a gentle “no more updates” wind-down. It’s a real cutoff.

What actually breaks (and what doesn’t)

The single biggest factor is whether your church runs Microsoft 365 (a subscription) or a one-time “perpetual” purchase. Microsoft treats them very differently.

Most churches

If you’re on Microsoft 365

After October 2026, Publisher is gone. Microsoft’s own FAQ: Publisher “will no longer be available for installation or download,” and “you will no longer be able to open or edit your Publisher files using Microsoft Publisher.” Not just new installs — even the copy already on your office PC stops opening .pub files. Effectively an off switch.

If you have a perpetual copy

Publisher 2019/2021, or Office Professional 2021 bought outright: “although support will end, you will still be able to install and use the app beyond this date,” and “you will still be able to access and edit your files.” It keeps working — but unsupported: no security patches and no help desk.

Your existing .pub files aren’t deleted or corrupted on the deadline either way. The risk isn’t the files disappearing — it’s losing the only application that can open them. For Microsoft 365 churches, that loss is immediate on the cutoff.

Every claim above is drawn from Microsoft’s own retirement notice, “Microsoft Publisher will no longer be supported after October 2026.”

Your honest options.

01

Export everything to PDF now.

Microsoft’s own recommended first step — “Convert your existing files to another format before 10/1/2026.” Open each bulletin template, File → Save as, choose PDF, and keep a PDF archive. It’s the minimum safe move even if you do nothing else. Trade-off: a PDF isn’t easily editable text — you’re preserving a record, not something you can keep editing each week.

02

Rebuild in a modern, actively-supported app.

Microsoft steers Publisher users toward Word and PowerPoint (Word for newsletters and forms; PowerPoint for signs and posters), plus Microsoft Create’s free templates. Google Docs, Canva, and Affinity Publisher also hold a weekly bulletin template. You rebuild your layout by hand once, but you’re off a retired app for good.

03

Try a free, open-source layout tool.

LibreOffice Draw and Scribus are free, actively maintained, and can act as a long-term Publisher replacement. Both advertise a .pub import filter — but be realistic: that import is unreliable and frequently mangles or drops formatting, and Scribus only reads the older 97–2010 .pub format. Treat these as “rebuild your bulletin here going forward.”

04

Let Sermon Helper turn your bulletin into a weekly template.

Upload a current bulletin (PDF, Word, or a Publisher file exported to PDF). Bulletin Studio reads it and rebuilds it as a live template you edit every week — no Publisher, and no .pub dependency at all. Then AI fills that bulletin for you each week from the pastor’s sermon and your church’s own data (services, hymns, readings, announcements) — cleanly typeset, ready to review.

Weighing AI tools generally? See our honest guide: AI sermon tools compared.

What Sermon Helper does that a plain layout tool can’t.

Word, Canva, or LibreOffice give you a blank page to fill in yourself, week after week. Sermon Helper does the filling. You set up your bulletin template once — its sections, its structure, your church’s details — and then each week the system drafts the content into it automatically from the sermon and the information you already keep: service times, the hymns and readings you’re using, the week’s announcements.

Your bulletin’s structure and content carry over week to week; the AI does the repetitive typing and typesetting, and you review and tweak instead of rebuilding from scratch. And because it’s all web-based, there’s nothing tied to a Publisher install that can retire out from under you.

Turn your bulletin into an editable weekly template.

Free to try — sign up, then upload your current bulletin (PDF, Word, or a Publisher file exported to PDF). Bulletin Studio rebuilds it as a live template, and fills it each week from your sermon and church details.

Upload your bulletin →

Frequently asked

When does Microsoft Publisher retire?
Microsoft has set October 1, 2026 as the end of life for Publisher — the same date Office LTSC 2021 reaches end of support. Check Microsoft's own retirement notice for the authoritative details for your specific plan.
I'm on Microsoft 365. Can I still use Publisher after October 2026?
No. Microsoft's own FAQ says that if you have a Microsoft 365 subscription, Publisher 'will no longer be available for installation or download' after October 2026, and 'you will no longer be able to open or edit your Publisher files using Microsoft Publisher.' That's not just new installs — the copy already on your office PC stops being able to open or edit .pub files too. For a Microsoft 365 church it's effectively an off switch, so convert or move your bulletin before the date.
What if we have a standalone (perpetual) copy of Publisher?
That's the exception. Microsoft says that with a perpetual version (Publisher 2019/2021 or Office Professional 2021 you bought outright), 'although support will end, you will still be able to install and use the app beyond this date' and still open and edit your files. It keeps working — but unsupported, meaning no security patches. Most churches are on a Microsoft 365 subscription, not this.
What happens to our existing .pub files?
The files themselves aren't deleted or corrupted on the deadline. The risk is losing the only app that can open them. Microsoft's recommended action is to convert your files to another format before 10/1/2026 — a PDF for archiving, or into a tool you can keep editing weekly.
Can we just open our .pub files in a free program like LibreOffice or Scribus?
Sort of, but be careful. LibreOffice Draw and Scribus are both free, actively maintained, and advertise a .pub import filter — but that import is unreliable and often mangles or drops formatting, and Scribus only reads the older 97–2010 .pub format. Treat them as 'rebuild your bulletin here going forward,' not 'open the old file and keep going untouched.'
What should our church do instead of Publisher?
Honest options: (1) export to PDF now while Publisher still runs, as an archive; (2) rebuild your bulletin in an actively-supported app — Word, Google Docs, Canva, or free open-source tools like LibreOffice Draw or Scribus; or (3) upload your current bulletin to Sermon Helper's Bulletin Studio, which rebuilds it as an editable weekly template and uses AI to fill it each week from the pastor's sermon and your church's own data — services, hymns, readings, announcements — so you're not depending on a retired app at all.

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