Why nothing else opens it
The .pub format belongs to Microsoft Publisher. Word, Pages, Google Docs, Adobe Reader and the built-in viewers on phones do not read it. Publisher itself was only ever made for Windows, was left out of the cheaper Microsoft 365 plans, and was retired by Microsoft in October 2026.
So when a school, club, church or colleague emails you a newsletter or flyer as a .pub file, most people simply have nothing that can open it. This site reads the file for you and shows the pages as they were designed, so you do not need to install or buy anything.
Your options, compared
- Ask the sender for a PDF. Ideal, if they still have Publisher and you do not mind waiting.
- Buy or borrow Publisher. It only runs on Windows, is no longer sold or supported, and is a lot of cost for one file.
- Install LibreOffice. It is free and can import many .pub files, but it is a large download and the layout sometimes needs fixing.
- Use this site. Upload the file and see the pages in a few seconds, on any device, then download a PDF, PNG or JPG if you want to keep it.
What you can do with the file here
Once the pages appear you can flick through them with the thumbnails or the arrow keys, zoom in on small print, and download whatever you need:
- a PDF of the whole document, which opens anywhere and prints properly;
- PNG or JPG images of each page, for sharing or posting;
- the text itself, by copying it out of the PDF, if you want to reuse it in Word.
Works on whatever you are using
The conversion runs on our servers, so all you need is a browser. Step-by-step help is available for Mac, iPhone and iPad, and Android and Chromebook. On Windows, it works in Edge, Chrome and Firefox.
Good to know
Your file is deleted within 60 minutes. If it is confidential, use the "Delete now" button as soon as you have your PDF. Files are reachable only through a long random link that only your browser knows.
If a document uses fonts we do not have, similar ones are used and we list them above the preview, so you know the text may sit slightly differently from the original.