Opening Microsoft Publisher Files in InDesign

As more and more people start relying on our favorite page-layout program, the question is bound to come up: How do I open a Microsoft Publisher file in Adobe InDesign? In the past, the only solution I could offer was to open the file in PageMaker for Windows (you’d need a free converter from Adobe to do this; you can find more information on this page), then save it as a PageMaker file and open that in InDesign. But not only did that require PM, but it only worked with Publisher 95 and 97 files.

Now there are two other methods you might consider. First, you could export the file from Publisher as a PDF file and use Recosoft’s PDF2ID plug-in. That will attempt to keep the look and feel the same, though you’ll almost certainly have to do some cleanup in InDesign.

Another option is Markzware’s new PUB2ID. (Why do all these plug-in names make me feel like I’m watching THX 1138?) Note that PUB2ID hasn’t been released yet; it’s just in beta. But if you need this kind of thing, and are willing to give Markzware some feedback, give it a shot! Let us know what you think.

(Personally, I’m pleased to say that I don’t have a single Publisher file on my computer, or else I’d try it myself.) ;)