Microsoft Publisher is being retired, and our organization uses Microsoft 365 along with some workstations running Office 2024. Publisher is currently installed on those machines. Do we need to uninstall it manually, or will Microsoft remove it automatically through an update? Also, what should we expect from Microsoft 365 installations versus perpetual or LTSC versions of Office?
3 Answers
If Publisher remains installed on a perpetual Office installation, it may continue to launch for a while, but there will be no future fixes or support. For Microsoft 365, plan for Microsoft to remove it as part of the normal servicing process rather than relying on a manual uninstall.
You probably do not need to uninstall it immediately. The more important step is to locate any remaining .pub files and convert or recreate anything that the business still needs, such as PDFs or files that can be opened in another application. Once Publisher is removed or unsupported, recovering access to those files may be difficult.
Microsoft 365 installations are expected to have Publisher removed through an update when it reaches end of life. That behavior does not necessarily apply to perpetual or LTSC editions. Those versions may continue running Publisher but will no longer receive support or updates.
The automatic removal applies to Microsoft 365 installs. Perpetual and LTSC versions are generally left installed, even though Publisher is no longer supported.