Microsoft Kills Publisher

Microsoft announced to Microsoft 365 commercial customers that its Microsoft Publisher desktop publishing app will reach the end of life on October 13, 2026.

“In October 2026, Microsoft Publisher will reach its end of life,” a newly posted message in the Microsoft 365 Admin Center explains. “After that time, it will no longer be included in Microsoft 365, and existing on-premises suites will no longer be supported. Until then, support for Publisher will continue and users can expect the same experience as today.”

“As we look ahead to the retirement of Microsoft Publisher, we are exploring modern ways to achieve other common Publisher scenarios across applications like Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Designer,” the message continues. “We will update [you] as we have more to share.”

Microsoft Publisher is a traditional desktop publishing solution for Windows that dates all the way back to 1991, if you can believe that. It was introduced as an alternative to market leaders like Aldus PageMaker and QuarkXPress, though it never rose to that level of popularity and was only included in the more expensive versions of the Microsoft Office suite. It had a brief moment of hope in the late 1990s when Microsoft was trying to figure out a consumer-focused webpage creation solution, but improvements to FrontPage, which Microsoft acquired with Vermeer in 1996, put a stop to that.

Thanks to @StephenCWLL for the tip!