Convert Microsoft Publisher to PDF, DOC, RTF and More

Convert Microsoft Publisher to PDF
(.pub to .pdf, .doc and many more)
Sitting on a PC in the darkened room with no windows of our studio is Microsoft Publisher. I've never really understood what it was for - until recently. It exists to annoy me.

I have a number of clients who send their layouts in .pub format to give us an idea of what they want. The layout contains all the text we need... "pre-formatted" they cry! "that'll save us time!" Not so.

It would be much more convenient and time-efficent if they sent the text in Word format and a sketch by fax. But that's the blight on designers of desktop publishing today.

Anyway, back to my copy of Publisher. It sits on my solitary PC with a purpose (other than to annoy). It exits only to open .pub layouts sent by my clients so that I can convert them to some sort of readable format. That's all it has to do. Nothing else. Not a thing.

Convert Microsoft Publisher to PDF
Bad experiences with Publisher?
The funny (!) thing is, we only manage to open half the .pub files sent to us using Microsoft Publisher. It always complains that the document I'm impertinently trying to open was created in a different version - so obviously it's not even going to attempt to open it. I mean, even Microsoft Word has the decency to open files created with other versions of itself. (Apart from the more recent .docx files - don't even get me started on those).

So, to cut a long rant short, I had to find a solution, beyond constantly asking my clients to resend the files in Word format, rich text format or, in fact, anything other than Publisher. Recently I found two solutions that enabled me to convert Microsoft Publisher to PDF - one online service and one software solution.

Convert Microsoft Publisher to PDF
The Service Solution

If you visit Zamzar.com you'll find an extremely useful website which offers free file conversion for a plethora of file types, including Microsoft Publisher. You'll be able to upload a .PUB file and they will e-mail you the converted .PDF, .DOC, .RTF etc file you requested. I've tried it on a few .PUB files and had no failures as yet. This is the kind of website that deserves to be found. Here's their FAQ for users.

No such thing as a free lunch
Their free service is effectively their basic service level. If you have lots of files to convert , or large file sizes, you can sign up to an appropriate service level - but for the occasion free file conversion it's the new shining star in my bookmarks/favorites. The only downside of visiting Zamzar that I experienced were the pop-under adverts that kept appearing. It was worth the hassle though.

Resources & More Information

• Case Study: Using the Pub2ID plugin to Convert Publisher Files to InDesign
• Case Study: Convert InDesign to Quark Using ID2Q Quark XPress Plugin
• Case Study: Convert Quark to InDesign CS4 Using Q2ID
• Case Study: Free Quark to InDesign Conversion Method
• Case Study: Convert Quark to InDesign Using Q2ID InDesign Plugin
• Return from Convert Microsoft Publisher to PDF to Home

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