Page 7 - Newsletter_October_2026

Publisher, Microsoft's desktop publishing application, dates back to the Windows 3.x era. Microsoft an-
nounced its retirement in 2024 and will remove it from Microsoft 365 subscriptions on October 1, 2026.
Support for perpetual versions will end on October 13 alongside Office LTSC 2021 and Consumer Office
2021.

Project Online will retire on September 30. The following day, Project Online Essentials – a licensing SKU
that gives users limited access to Project Online and Project Server – will reach end of life. It has not been
available to new customers since October 2025.

The retirement could catch out organizations that have not migrated. Essentials provides relatively inexpen-
sive licenses for users who needed to update tasks, submit timesheets, and view project information without
the broader capabilities of Microsoft's more expensive plans.

Unlike Publisher, which has no direct replacement, Microsoft recommends moving Project Online Essentials
users to Planner Plan 1 or Planner and Project Plan 3, depending on the capabilities and Project Server ac-
cess rights they require. The additional functionality and potentially higher cost may not appeal to everyone,
though.

There are also third-party replacements. ProjectLibre, for example, launched ProjectLibre Cloud AI 2.0 this
week. It costs just under $10 per user per month when billed annually and is one of several third-party alter-
natives to Microsoft's project management products.

While Microsoft will not offer an Extended Security Updates program for Office 2021 after support ends,
third-party provider 0patch says it will supply unofficial security fixes for critical vulnerabilities for at least
another three years.

Organizations still assigning Project Online Essentials licenses must move affected users to supported alter-
natives before October 1 to avoid interrupting their access.

Alternatives to Microsoft Publisher

Affinity Publisher: The closest professional desktop-publishing equivalent to Publisher
for traditional page layouts, multi-page books, and print-ready files, available as a one-
time purchase or via Affinity's expanded access.

Canva: An extremely user-friendly, browser-based graphic design tool ideal for quick fly-
ers, brochures, social media graphics, and simple newsletters.

Microsoft PowerPoint: A surprising but effective alternative for single-page visual lay-
outs, posters, and simple templates using slide dimensions and master layouts.

Scribus: A powerful, free, and open-source desktop publishing program that handles pro-
fessional typesetting and print-ready PDFs, though it features a steeper learning curve.

• Adobe InDesign: The gold standard for commercial and high-end professional page
layouts, though it is costly and has a steep learning curve.