For Parishes Still Using Microsoft Publisher
If your parish builds its bulletin in Publisher, this affects you directly — the program, the template, and every .pub file in your office. Here's exactly what happens, what your options are, and what it costs to fix. No scare tactics; the deadline is real enough on its own.
Days Until October 1
Microsoft 365 subscribers lose access to Publisher on October 1, 2026; perpetual versions lose support on October 13. Parishes that wait until September will be making this decision in the middle of Advent planning.
The bulletin layout your parish has used for years lives inside Publisher. When the program goes, so does the ability to open and edit it.
Every archived bulletin, flyer, and ministry form saved as a .pub file. Microsoft recommends converting them before the deadline — but nobody has time to open them one at a time.
Word wasn't built for two-column page layout with images, pull quotes, and a Mass schedule that has to fit exactly. Anyone who has tried it knows within an hour.
The Facts
Microsoft has set October 1, 2026 as the date Microsoft 365 subscribers lose access to Publisher, and October 13, 2026 as the date support ends for the perpetual version, when Office LTSC 2021 and Consumer Office 2021 reach end of support. Which one applies depends on how your parish bought Office — check under File → Account in any Office program. Microsoft began showing in-app retirement warnings earlier this year, so if your office has seen a popup about this, that's what it was.
This is the part most parishes miss. If your Office comes through a Microsoft 365 subscription, you will no longer be able to open or edit your Publisher files in Publisher after the deadline. Not just new files — existing ones. Microsoft's guidance is to convert important .pub files to PDF or Word before that date.
If your parish bought a standalone version outright — Publisher 2021, 2019, 2016 — the app stays installed and your files stay editable. Support for it ends October 13, 2026, when Office LTSC 2021 and Consumer Office 2021 reach end of support, which means no security updates and no technical support from that point forward. For a parish office computer that also handles donor records and sacramental data, running unsupported software indefinitely is not a small decision.
Several applications claim to open .pub files. None of them offer complete compatibility — fonts shift, images move, and multi-column layouts come apart. For a one-page flyer that may not matter. For a bulletin template with a fixed Mass schedule block, it does.
Check it yourself. This is all published by Microsoft, and I'd rather you verify it than take my word for it: Microsoft Publisher will no longer be supported after October 2026.
Your Options
Three of these don't involve hiring anyone. If one of them fits your parish, take it — you'll be fine, and you don't need me.
How the Migration Works
The rebuild happens once. After that it's the same four steps every week, quietly, in the background of your Tuesday.
A PDF is enough. If you can send the .pub file too, even better — I can pull the exact fonts, spacing, and structure.
Your masthead, your layout, your parish's look — rebuilt properly, not approximated by a converter.
We adjust until it looks right to you. Nothing goes to print until you've signed off.
You send content by your deadline, I send back a print-ready file. Your printer and your publisher arrangement stay exactly as they are.
What It Costs
Parish budgets are real and finance councils meet on a schedule, so here's the number you can bring to whoever approves it.
per 8-page issue · redesign included
No setup fee and no minimum term. The migration off Publisher is part of starting weekly service, not a separate charge — which is worth comparing against anyone quoting you a one-time conversion fee.
Work is covered by a simple one-page agreement setting out the schedule, the rate, and what happens if either of us wants to stop. It also confirms that the InDesign design files remain mine — you receive finished, print-ready bulletins rather than the source layout. That's standard for ongoing design work and it's part of why the weekly rate is what it is.
Friday — you send that week's content. Monday — you get a near-final proof back, and we handle any corrections or late additions. Tuesday — print-ready file delivered. Tuesday changes are still included; the schedule has room in it on purpose.
Wednesday onward — changes at that point mean rebuilding a finished file against your print deadline, so a $50 rush fee applies. You'll hear about it from me before I start the work, never on the invoice afterward. Most parishes never see one.
$150 covers a standard 8-page, single-language bulletin. Longer bulletins and bilingual layouts may cost more, but I quote them rather than charging by the page — because a page of static content isn't the same work as a page that changes every week.
Most parishes have two or three pages that stay put: the ministry directory, Mass times, your parish staff listing. Those get built once and carried forward, and it wouldn't be fair to bill for them weekly. Tell me roughly what your bulletin looks like and you'll have a number in my first reply, not after a sales call.
Questions Parishes Are Asking
No. They print your bulletin; this is about what the bulletin is built in before it reaches them. Your printing arrangement, your ad revenue, and your contract all stay exactly as they are. I deliver files in whatever format your publisher needs.
Archived .pub files should be converted to PDF before October so they stay readable. If you're moving to weekly service with me, I'll handle your bulletin archive as part of the transition — the ministry forms and flyers in that folder are a separate conversation.
Yes, if that's what you want — some parishes want the migration to be invisible to parishioners. Others use it as the moment to finally update a layout that's been the same since 2009. Either is fine, and it costs the same.
It's a fair concern and worth raising with her directly. In practice the parishes I work with reassign those hours to things she'd rather be doing — sacramental records, funeral coordination, ministry support. She stays in control of the content; she stops fighting the software.
Roughly two weeks from the first email to your first bulletin, depending on how quickly approvals move at your end. Starting in August means it's finished well before Advent planning begins.
There's no minimum term. If it isn't working, tell me and we stop — you keep every finished bulletin I've produced for you, in print-ready and digital form, and they remain yours to use however you like. The InDesign design files themselves stay with me, which is set out in the one-page agreement we start with. That's standard for ongoing design work, and it's what lets me include the rebuild at no separate charge instead of billing a migration fee up front.
Get In Touch
Whether you're ready to move or just trying to work out what this means, send a note. I answer every message personally, usually the same day.
Not sure yet? Ask for the parish guide below — a plain-language walkthrough of the deadline, what happens to your files, and how to evaluate each option. It's free, there's no follow-up unless you ask for one, and it's written for parish staff rather than IT departments.
One Last Thing
If that person isn't you, they'll want to know about the deadline — and they may not have seen the warning yet. Sharing this page costs nothing and could save someone a difficult October.
Email This PageLast updated: July 2026
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