How do I open an MS Publisher file on my Mac?

[kimmer]

Title says it all ...

[Paddy]

As a veteran of this with a couple of clients...

There is no way to do it and maintain the formatting. You have two alternatives - if the content is the thing you need, then open it in MS Word, using the "extract text from any document" option in the drop down menu you'll get when you try open it in MS Word. The results won't be pretty - you'll get pages and pages and pages of formatting gobbledigook, but the text will be there...somewhere. The other (better) alternative is to convert it to PDF. I just found this online service: http://www.freepdfconvert.com/ and gave it a try with a Publisher file that I had from a client and it worked perfectly!!

You can copy and paste text out of a PDF. Just can't edit anything directly.

[krissel]

I used this service about a year ago to convert a pub file to pdf.  There is a size limit.

http://www.pdfonline.com/convert%2Dpdf/

[kimmer]

Thank you both. Got a PDF copy and tomorrow will RSVP to the party invite. Whoo-Hoo! Should be a great 4th (although we celebrate on the 3rd).

THANKS!!!!!!!!

[Xairbusdriver]

Put that link in a Sticky!
OTOH, maybe not, Publisher is one of the last monopolies M$ has...

[Jack W]

Won't the print command for Publisher allow you to create a PDF directly, like almost all other programs on the Mac?

I do that all the time with files I want to email.

Just wandering.

- Jack

[chriskleeman]

QUOTE(Jack W @ Jun 25 2010, 10:37 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Won't the print command for Publisher allow you to create a PDF directly, like almost all other programs on the Mac?

I do that all the time with files I want to email.

Just wandering.

- Jack

Hi Jack,

In a word: NOPE!

Publisher is PeeCee only. Never been offered for Mac as part of any Microsoft Office Suite. As such, there's no option to create a .pdf on your Mac from Publisher because you can't run it unless you've got Windows installed on your machine. And even then, the Window's print command (at least up to XP Pro) doesn't give you that option when printing. Now Vista and Windows 7, I dunno.

Chris  

[Paddy]

Still no integrated PDF creator in Windows 7 (or Vista). There is however, a Print to PDF command in all MS Office 2007 and newer versions. (Office 2010 just came out - we got a version through Richard's office as they released it to businesses before they released it to the general public) However, none of that helps anyone who has received a Publisher file on a Mac, unless they have Windows and Office for Windows installed. Either you have to find a way to extract the text or view it as a PDF. Since you can't open it on a Mac, you cannot print it (using the Mac's built-in print to PDF ability) and therefore one must use online options or ask the original sender to send you a PDF instead of a Publisher file.