Which versions open here
- Publisher 2002 to 2021 and Microsoft 365: these all share one format, and open fully.
- Publisher 98 and 2000: an older layout of the format. Text, shapes and tables open, and pictures are read too.
- Publisher 97: text and shapes come through; some pictures and formatting may be missing, and the page says so.
- Publisher 95 and earlier: not supported. The page will tell you the file is too old rather than show something wrong.
When a file opens, the page shows which family of versions it came from, so you know what to expect.
Old files and text encoding
Publisher 2002 and later store text in Unicode, so any language comes through. Publisher 98 and 2000 stored text in the code page of the computer that saved it. The converter recognises Western European and Cyrillic text automatically. Files from Japanese, Chinese or Korean versions of old Publisher may show boxes or wrong characters instead of text; later versions are fine.
Old clip art
Files from this era are full of Windows Metafile (WMF) clip art. Some viewers show an empty box where it was. This page redraws it, so the borders, cartoons and logos come back.
If an old file won't open
Fonts from the 1990s
Older publications often used fonts that came with Publisher or with Windows 95 and 98, such as Tahoma, Garamond, Bookman or various decorative headline faces. They're drawn here in the nearest bundled open font, squeezed or widened to roughly the original letter width, so headlines and columns break in about the same places. Times New Roman, Arial and Courier New match exactly.
Floppy disks and old CDs often give files that are cut short or damaged. If the page says a file is damaged, try another copy if you have one. If it says the file is from Publisher 95 or earlier, the only reliable route is an old copy of Publisher (97 to 2003) that can open it and save it in a newer format.