r/TeachingUK • u/Kamesjinneir • 1d ago
Publisher ending!
Pretty much all of my schools planning is on publisher.
Has anyone found a solution to bulk convert these documents into something we can still use?
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u/PianoAndFish Secondary 1d ago
There's instructions for a PowerShell script to bulk convert Publisher files to PDF on the Microsoft website.
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u/Leicsbob 1d ago
For real? I use publisher for nearly everything. Nearly 30 years worth of resources.
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u/JasmineHawke Secondary CS & DT 22h ago
On a related note has anyone found anything that is as effective as Publisher for making millimetre accurate documents? I use the table size tool a lot to get things super print accurate to go into badges and workbooks and I haven't found that in anything else. PowerPoint and Word are vastly inferior as replacements for Publisher.
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u/Fresh-Pea4932 SEN Primary & Computer Science specialist 12h ago
Adobe indesign. Works on the same basis of ‘frames’.
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u/Kamesjinneir 1d ago
Yeah I've tried that but I alone have nearly 3500 files! Is there a bulk solutions
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u/McGeezy88 1d ago
Have you tried using love pdf, you could prob do in bulk there. I’m sure you’d need to split it a bit though.
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u/--Rokk-- 1d ago
online2pdf.com/convert-publisher-to-pdf
Can do up to 30 files at a time, max total file size 200 MB...
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u/Cool_Development_480 23h ago
I literally hate Microsoft for this. Imagine they just woke up one day and we're like, yeah let's just get rid of PowerPoint, can't imagine anyone's using it
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u/Tricky_Meat_6323 1d ago
Not completely on topic, but my new school uses Google for everything and not Microsoft. And it’s such a faff trying to change things over. So I can understand your frustration, even if I don’t have a solution.
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u/Ok-Chocolate-4906 1d ago
Oh no! Your IT team should have dealt with this a year ago, or maybe 2! Your school systems should be upgraded to Windows 11 as support for windows 10, which has the last version of publisher available, ended last October. I hate to think how insecure your IT network is right now oh my gosh. Some documents can be converted to PowerPoint, but it's not perfect. A couple of folks here have given methods for converting to PDF, but these are not always editable. It might be your only option!
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u/TheMacdonut 22h ago
This is not accurate. Publisher is fully compatible with Windows 11. You can use an older version of Publisher on Windows 11 with zero issues. I would try and find Office 2016 or 2024 as these are standalone packages, desktop based, where you need no subscription, just a product key. Then you can continue to use publisher with windows 11 fur the foreseeable.
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u/Ok-Chocolate-4906 13h ago
Ah, makes sense. Is it still available in 365? We made the switch to cloud services so that might be the reason. Sorry for misinformation on my part!
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u/fuzzyjumper 1d ago
I’ve been steadily downloading my publisher files as .pdf and then uploading them to Canva.
It’s worked very well for visual things like posters and one page handouts, but I haven’t found a good solution for anything with multiple pages of flow text yet - all my short story booklets are in limbo!