Microsoft Publisher Is Retiring.  If you've been using Microsoft Publisher for years, you probably have a collection of files that are still valuable today. Training handouts. Flyers. Course notes. Marketing materials. Quick reference guides. Templates.

Many organisations have invested hundreds of hours creating Publisher documents, so the announcement that Microsoft Publisher will retire in October 2026 has understandably caused some concern.

The question I'm hearing is:

"What are we going to do with all our Publisher files?"

Recently, I decided to test whether Copilot Cowork could help and the results surprised me.

The Challenge

As a facilator, I have a library of course materials that I've built up over many years.

One of those resources is an Excel cheat sheet that was originally created in Publisher. It has been handed out to course participants countless times and continues to be a useful resource.

The problem wasn't viewing the file. The problem was ensuring I could continue to update and maintain it in the future.

Once Publisher disappears, many organisations will find themselves with files they can still open but can't easily edit or modernise.

Recreating documents from scratch is time-consuming, particularly when they contain screenshots, branding, layouts, footers and carefully formatted content.

I wanted to see if AI could help.

My Experiment

The first thing I did was save the Publisher file as a PDF.

This step is important because Copilot Cowork doesn't currently accept Publisher files directly.

Once I had the PDF, I uploaded it into Cowork and gave it a simple instruction:

Recreate this PDF document as a PowerPoint presentation. Retain the same formatting, fonts, images, colours, layout and overall look and feel.

Then I let Cowork get to work.

The Wait

This wasn't an instant task.

Cowork spent time analysing the document, understanding the layout and rebuilding it in PowerPoint. The entire process took around 10 to 15 minutes. Considering what it was attempting to do, that seemed quite reasonable. The real question was whether the result would actually be usable.

The Results

I opened the PowerPoint presentation expecting to need significant cleanup. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised. Copilot Cowork had recreated much more than I expected.

The PowerPoint version included:

• The screenshots from the original document
• The company logo
• Editable text
• The original colour scheme
• Header and banner elements
• Footer information
• Overall page layout

Most importantly, the text was no longer locked inside a PDF.

It was fully editable. That meant I could update wording, replace screenshots, add new content and continue improving the resource without needing Publisher at all. For a document that would otherwise have required manual recreation, this represented a significant time saving.

Was It Perfect?

No AI solution is perfect. As with any generated content, you'll want to review the results carefully.

Some areas may need:

• Minor formatting adjustments
• Alignment corrections
• Font replacements
• Image repositioning
• Small design tweaks

However, these fixes are generally much quicker than rebuilding an entire document from scratch. Think of it as having an assistant create the first draft for you. You still need to check the work, but the heavy lifting has already been done.

What Did It Cost?

One question people often ask when using Cowork is:

"How many credits will it use?"

For this particular task, the conversion used 14,196 Cowork credits.

Based on current pricing, that worked out at approximately NZ$20.

At first glance, that might sound expensive. But consider the alternative. How long would it take to manually recreate the document? For many people, rebuilding a multi-page handout could easily take several hours. If a $20 conversion saves three or four hours of work, the return on investment quickly becomes clear.

Why This Matters for Organisations

This isn't just about one file. Across New Zealand and around the world, organisations have accumulated years of Publisher content.

This often includes:

• Training manuals
• Safety documents
• Marketing brochures
• Product catalogues
• Newsletters
• Event programmes
• Internal communications
• Forms and templates

Many of these assets still provide value today. The challenge is ensuring they remain editable and usable after Publisher's retirement. AI won't solve every migration challenge, but it may offer organisations a practical way to preserve content that would otherwise be difficult or expensive to rebuild.

Think Beyond Publisher

What I found most interesting was that this wasn't really a Publisher solution. It was a content preservation solution. The same idea could potentially be used for:

• Old PDFs
• Scanned documents
• Legacy training materials
• Internal guides
• Archived resources

Rather than recreating everything manually, AI can often provide a starting point that dramatically reduces effort. The key is learning when these tools are appropriate and understanding how to get the best results from them.

A Better Way to Learn Copilot Cowork

One thing I've noticed while working with organisations is that many people don't realise what Cowork can actually do.

Most users start with simple chat prompts and never explore the more advanced capabilities.

Yet tasks like:

• Converting documents
• Creating presentations
• Analysing files
• Generating first drafts
• Researching topics
• Summarising information

can often save significant amounts of time when used effectively.

That's one of the reasons we created our Copilot Cowork training course. Click here to learn more about it.

Rather than focusing on technical jargon, we show people practical, everyday ways to use Cowork in their role.

You learn:

• What Cowork is and when to use it
• How credits and usage work
• Tips for getting better results
• Real business scenarios
• Time-saving use cases
• Practical prompts they can start using immediately

Most importantly, you leave with confidence. Instead of wondering whether AI could help, they understand where it adds value and where it doesn't.

When Microsoft Publisher retires in October 2026, many organisations will need a plan for their existing files. My experiment won't be the perfect solution for every document, but it demonstrated that Copilot Cowork can successfully recreate Publisher content in a format that is easier to edit and maintain.

For me, converting a Publisher cheat sheet into a PowerPoint presentation was a worthwhile exercise. The output was impressively accurate, fully editable and far quicker than recreating the document manually.

If you have a folder full of old Publisher files, it may be worth trying this approach before investing hours rebuilding them yourself.

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