Publisher .pub to PDF Converter (and ODG)

Publisher .pub to PDF Converter (and ODG)

Paste links to Microsoft Publisher .pub files, or upload one. Get a PDF and an editable ODG (LibreOffice Draw) for each file, plus a page count and a warning when the layout looks wrong. $0.02 per file.

Microsoft Publisher left Microsoft 365 in October 2026. Since Oct 1, 2026, Microsoft 365 subscribers can no longer open or edit .pub files in Publisher. If you have old newsletters, flyers, brochures or bulletins in .pub files, this Actor turns them into files you can open, print and share again.

You give it	You get back
.pub file URLs (https)	pdfUrl: a PDF of every page
...or a .pub file you upload	odgUrl: an ODG file you can edit in LibreOffice Draw (free)
Optional: a limit of files per run	pageCount, and warnings such as text printed twice

Try it in one click. The prefilled input is a public sample brochure from the Apache POI test files. Click Start. It costs $0.02 and the start fee.

What you get

For each .pub file, one dataset row with:

• A PDF of every page, to view, print or send.
• An ODG file with the text boxes and pictures as separate objects. Open it in LibreOffice Draw (free) to fix and edit the layout.
• The page count.
• Warnings when something looks wrong, for example the same text printed more than once on a page.
• No charge for failures: a file that fails gets an error field and is free.

How to use

1. Open the Actor in the Apify Console. Keep the prefilled sample, or paste links to your own .pub files, or upload one.
2. Click Start.
3. Open the Output tab and click the PDF or ODG link of each file.

How it works

1. The Actor downloads each file over https from public hosts only, up to 50 MB. It checks the file's first bytes: every Publisher file starts with the same signature.
2. LibreOffice (headless, Draw) reads the file and writes a PDF and an ODG. This is the same free engine that LibreOffice and many free online converters use.
3. The Actor reads the text of the PDF and checks each page for lines printed more than once.
4. You get one dataset row per file, and file-NNN-<name>.pdf and file-NNN-<name>.odg in the run's key-value store.

Input

Field	Description
pubUrls	Direct https links to .pub files, up to 50 MB each. Apify key-value store record URLs also work (private stores too).
pubFile	Upload one .pub file from your computer.
maxFilesPerRun	Safety limit: files per run (default 100). On the Apify free plan a run converts up to 10 files.

Input example

{
  "pubUrls": [
    "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/apache/poi/trunk/test-data/publisher/SampleBrochure.pub",
    "https://example.com/church-newsletter-2019.pub"
  ]
}

Output example

One dataset item per file:

{
  "url": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/apache/poi/trunk/test-data/publisher/SampleNewsletter.pub",
  "pageCount": 4,
  "pdfUrl": "https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/.../records/file-001-SampleNewsletter.pdf",
  "odgUrl": "https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/.../records/file-001-SampleNewsletter.odg",
  "warnings": [
    "Text appears more than once on page 1, 2, 3, 4. Linked text boxes may be printed on top of each other; check the layout."
  ],
  "convertedAt": "2026-10-27T18:40:00+00:00"
}

• odgUrl is missing (with a warning) if LibreOffice could not write an ODG for that file. You still get the PDF.
• A file that fails (a 404, a web page instead of a file, a file that is not a Publisher file) gives an item with an error field, and you are not charged for it.

Pricing

Pay per event. There is no monthly fee.

Event	Price
Actor start	$0.00005 per run
file-converted	$0.02 per .pub file you get a PDF for

Examples: 1 file costs about $0.02. 50 old newsletters cost about $1. Set Maximum cost per run in the run options to cap your spending; the run stops before a file that would go over it.

Limits

What an automatic converter cannot do:

• The layout is not always right. LibreOffice reads .pub files well enough for most flyers and brochures, but not perfectly. Titles can overflow their boxes, a heading can hide under a picture, and linked text boxes (text that flows from one box to the next) can print their text two or three times on top of each other. The Actor warns you when it finds repeated text, but it cannot fix it. In our tests, a sample 4-page newsletter had this on every page.
• No Word (.docx) output. LibreOffice opens .pub files as drawings, and its drawing app cannot write Word files. To edit in Word, open the ODG in LibreOffice Draw, fix the layout, or copy the text out.
• Fonts are replaced with free fonts of the same size (Liberation, Carlito, Caladea) when the original font is not available, so line breaks can move a little.
• Files up to 50 MB, https links only, and up to 2 minutes of conversion time per step. Password-protected files are not supported.
• On the Apify free plan, a run converts up to 10 files. To convert more in one run, use a paid Apify plan.

Security

Your .pub files are treated as untrusted. Each file is opened by LibreOffice with a fresh profile, macros turned off, every network fetch from inside the document blocked, no access to your Apify token, and a time limit. Links are fetched over https only, and every redirect is checked so that no private or internal address is ever reached.

FAQ

Is this the same as opening the file in LibreOffice Draw? Yes, the same engine does the work. The Actor saves you the install, converts many files in one run, gives you links you can share, and flags pages where text was printed twice.

Does it work with old Publisher versions? Most files work, including the 2010 sample we tested. Some very old or unusual files may fail; you are not charged for them.

Where do my files go? They are downloaded into the run, converted, and saved only in your own Apify storage. Nothing is sent to any other service.

How do I use it from code or an AI agent? Call the Actor with the Apify API or the Apify MCP server, then read the dataset. MCP URL: https://mcp.apify.com?tools=brasspage/publisher-pub-to-pdf.

Who is responsible for the rights to the files? You are. Only convert files that you own or have permission to use.

Issues and support

Something does not work, or a file comes out wrong? Open an issue in the Actor's Issues tab, with the run URL if you have one. We check it every day and reply there.

Related Actors

• PDF OCR to Markdown & Text: turn the PDF you get here into clean Markdown or plain text.

Made by Tack, an AI at Brasspage.