PubBridge turns .pub publications into fully editable .pptx presentations using the highest-fidelity route there is: Publisher's own PDF export plus Adobe Acrobat's PDF-to-PowerPoint converter — the exact output of the careful manual workflow, at about 15 seconds per document, hands-free.
Free to install · pay per conversion, no subscription · Windows 10/11 · requires Microsoft Publisher and Adobe Acrobat Pro
Microsoft 365 subscribers lose access to Publisher on 1 October 2026 — after that the app is gone and your .pub files can no longer be opened or edited with it. Time left to convert your archive:
Formal end of support for the perpetual version is 13 October 2026, when Office LTSC 2021 and Consumer Office 2021 reach end of support. Perpetual licence holders can keep installing and using Publisher after that date, but it will be unsupported. Microsoft recommends converting your files before the deadline — read Microsoft's announcement.
Convert a single publication or point it at thousands — the pipeline drives Publisher and Acrobat for you, with the guardrails you'd want on a long unattended run.
Point it at a folder and every .pub inside — subfolders included — is converted, with one Publisher and one Acrobat instance reused across the whole batch.
Drop a .pub file anywhere on the window for a single conversion, or drop a folder to set up a bulk run instantly.
Output comes from Acrobat's converter: real text boxes, real shapes, real fonts — the same result as converting by hand in Acrobat Pro.
Interrupted mid-run? Re-run with “Skip if existing PowerPoint” and only the remaining files are converted.
Converted and Skipped counters (e.g. 12/24) update as the batch runs, alongside a full scrolling log of every step.
Existing files are never overwritten unless you say so — collisions get numbered names (Flyer 01.pptx). Watchdogs retry stalled conversions so one bad file can't hang a batch.
The same two-step route a careful human would take — automated end to end.
Each publication is opened in your installed Microsoft Publisher and exported with its native PDF engine — pixel-faithful to the original layout.
Adobe Acrobat Pro's own PDF-to-PPTX converter rebuilds the pages as editable slides. Acrobat's security sandbox stays fully enabled.
The app sequences both programs, isolates each export under a watchdog with automatic retries, and delivers the .pptx files where you asked.
Sensible defaults mean you can just press Convert. These are the switches for when you want something specific — the same explanations are in the app under Help → Requirements & Troubleshooting.
Single .pub file converts one publication. Bulk: folder of .pub files converts every publication in a folder you choose, and unlocks the two bulk-only options below. Either way you can drag & drop a file or folder onto the window instead of browsing.
Same folder as the .pub file writes each presentation beside its own source, preserving your archive's folder structure. Custom folder collects every presentation from the run into one folder, created for you if it doesn't exist.
Converts .pub files inside sub-folders too, at any depth. Turn it off to convert only the files sitting directly in the folder you picked.
Left unchecked — the safe default — an existing file is never touched: a numbered name is used instead, so if Flyer.pptx already exists you get Flyer 01.pptx, then Flyer 02.pptx. Check it to replace same-named files instead.
Conversion runs .pub → PDF → .pptx, and that middle PDF is normally created in a temp folder and deleted the moment the presentation exists. Check this to save a copy next to the .pptx — handy when you want the PDF as well, or to see exactly what Publisher handed to Acrobat. Same collision rules: numbered unless Overwrite is on.
Any .pub whose .pptx already exists is skipped and counted under Skipped. This is how you resume a long run that was cancelled or interrupted — only the files still missing are converted, and nothing already done is repeated. It takes precedence over Overwrite: if both are ticked, matching files are skipped rather than replaced.
Applies to pre-1997 publications that modern Publisher refuses to open. Left unchecked, they're rescued through Publisher 98 and converted in the same pass — but Publisher 98 has no automation interface, so its window opens and takes real keyboard focus; don't type or click while that runs. Check it to defer the rescue: those files are just counted as Too old so you can run it later, when the computer is idle. Without Publisher 98 installed the option is greyed out and old files are always reported as Too old.
The app drives the real applications on your PC — that's where the fidelity comes from. It checks for both at startup and shows green ticks before converting.
Free to install from the Microsoft Store, and your first 3 conversions are free — enough to prove it works on your own files. After that, pay only for what you convert — buy conversion packs in the app, and bigger packs cost less per conversion. No subscription, credits never expire, and your balance follows your Microsoft account across PCs.
Purchases are handled securely by the Microsoft Store inside the app. Only successful conversions count — skipped and failed files are never charged.
Yes — your first 3 conversions are free, so you can check the output on your own publications before buying anything. You can also drag your folder onto the window before buying: PubBridge counts the .pub files inside it and tells you how many are in the pre-1997 format that needs Publisher 98. Only successful conversions count against them; files that are skipped, fail, or are too old for Publisher to open are never charged. The free conversions are tracked on your PC, so they are not tied to your Microsoft account.
No. The app is free to install, and you buy conversion packs only when you need them. Credits never expire, and larger packs cost less per conversion — up to 50% less on the 10,000 pack.
Yes — your conversion balance lives with your Microsoft account, and the app verifies it as it works. The conversion itself still happens entirely on your PC; only the credit balance is checked online.
No. The small bridge script that automates Acrobat's converter runs inside Acrobat's own built-in JavaScript engine. Nothing extra is installed on your system.
Yes — slides contain real text boxes and shapes, exactly as if you had exported the PDF from Publisher and used Acrobat's “Convert to PowerPoint” by hand. Fidelity of exotic elements (WordArt, unusual effects) is determined by Acrobat's converter.
PubBridge doesn't reimplement either format — it orchestrates the two applications that understand them best. That's why its output matches the manual workflow instead of approximating it.
It opens each file with your installed Microsoft Publisher, so it converts anything your Publisher can open — in practice, .pub files from Publisher 2000 through the current Microsoft 365 version. Your installed Publisher needs to be 2007 or newer, which is when it gained the built-in PDF export the converter relies on.
Pre-1997 files are handled too. Publications from roughly mid-1990s Publisher and earlier are refused outright by modern Publisher as an unsupported format. If you also have the old Microsoft Publisher 98 installed, PubBridge drives it to re-save those files into a format current Publisher understands and then converts them in the same run — so a mixed archive goes through in one pass instead of being re-saved by hand, file by file. Without Publisher 98 they are simply counted as Too old and listed for you, never failing silently.
Nothing is lost: completed conversions are already on disk. Re-run the same folder with “Skip if existing PowerPoint” checked and the app converts only the files that are still missing.
Those belong to Microsoft Publisher ("Publishing…") and Adobe Acrobat ("Preprocessing file for export") — the two applications doing the actual work. They're normal, they show real progress, and they close on their own as each step finishes. PubBridge keeps them gathered at one consistent spot on screen so they stay out of your way; there's no need to click or cancel them. If a dialog reports an error rather than progress, that one matters — the log window will show the affected file.
Publisher consults the default printer while exporting, and an unreachable network printer can stall it. During a batch the app temporarily selects a local software printer (like Microsoft Print to PDF) and restores your printer automatically when the batch ends.
No. Conversion happens entirely on your PC using your installed applications. Nothing about your files leaves the machine.
Adobe Acrobat only accepts a scripted PDF-to-PowerPoint export from a trusted "folder-level" JavaScript file, and it only loads those from one fixed per-user folder: %APPDATA%\Adobe\Acrobat\Privileged\DC\JavaScripts. So before your first conversion PubBridge places a single small file there, AuraPdfBridge.js, and Acrobat loads it the next time it starts. You are shown the full path and asked to agree before anything is written. The file contains no personal data, makes no network connections, and does nothing at all unless PubBridge is driving Acrobat. It is the only place outside PubBridge's own data folder that the app writes to — nothing machine-wide, nothing in the registry, nothing in Program Files or Windows.
In the app, choose Help → Remove Acrobat bridge script. It deletes the file, and tidies up the folder only if that file was the only thing in it — Acrobat owns that folder, so anything else in it is left untouched. Conversions stop working until it is reinstalled, which happens automatically (with the same prompt) the next time you convert.
If you installed the .exe version, uninstalling removes the script for you. If you installed from the Microsoft Store, Windows uninstalls Store apps itself and runs no code from us, so the file stays behind — use Help → Remove Acrobat bridge script before uninstalling, or delete that one file by hand afterwards.