Rescue your whole Publisher archive. Offline, with proof.
Open, rate and convert .pub files without Publisher, a whole folder at a time. Every file gets an honest green, amber or red rating, and its text and pictures are always saved.
Your files are converted on your own machine. Nothing is uploaded. PubSalvage has no account and no network code at all.
Windows and Linux. macOS is planned for version 1.1.
- spring-2019.pubGREENAll checks passed: 100% of the text, 6 of 6 pictures
- fete-poster.pubAMBERFont "Brush Script" replaced by a similar font
- board-minutes-2011.pubAMBEROne text box looks too small for its text
- old-flyer-1998.pubREDLayout couldn't be rebuilt. The text and 3 pictures were saved
Years of documents, and nothing to open them in
Newsletters, notices, certificates, forms and flyers: many organisations made them in Publisher for decades. Publisher is no longer part of Microsoft 365, and Microsoft's advice was to save each file as a PDF while you still had it. If you didn't, those files are now hard to open.
Too many to do by hand
Opening a few files one by one is fine. Opening thousands, checking each and exporting it isn't. PubSalvage does a whole folder tree in one run.
Can't use another account
Many schools, councils, health and legal teams can't install apps that need a sign-in to an outside service. PubSalvage has no account at all.
Need to know what was lost
For records and archives, "it opened" isn't enough. PubSalvage tells you, file by file, whether all the text and pictures came through, and why not if they didn't.
Three steps, one folder
Point it at a folder. It never changes or moves your .pub files, and it never overwrites anything it wrote before.
Inspect, free
Checks every file without changing anything: is it really a Publisher file, which version made it, and what's inside it.
pubsalvage inspect Archive --recurseRate the archive
Rates every file green, amber or red with reasons, and writes a report for the whole batch as CSV, JSON and HTML.
pubsalvage rate Archive --recurse --out ReportRescue
Rebuilds every page as SVG with a browser index, plus the text. Add a PDF, or an editable drawing for LibreOffice Draw.
pubsalvage render Archive --recurse --out Rescued --pdfSalvage-first: your content is never lost
When a page's layout can't be rebuilt, pubsalvage salvage still takes the text and every picture straight out of the file (PNG, JPEG, BMP, WMF/EMF, PICT, TIFF).
Prefer clicking? There's a desktop app
Drop files or folders in, choose where the results go, press Rescue. The app keeps no history, no recent-files list and no settings trail.
Ratings you can trust
Each rating comes with its reasons. It's a word, a shape and a colour, so it reads the same in print, in greyscale and for colour-blind readers.
GREEN
Every check ran and passed: all the text, every picture, and fonts with matching replacements.
AMBER
Usable, but look at it: a substituted font, text that may overflow, or a check that couldn't run.
RED
The page couldn't be rebuilt well. The text and pictures are still saved.
UNKNOWN
The rating itself is missing or unreadable. Never shown as green.
A false green is the worst mistake PubSalvage can make, so green needs every check to run and pass. Anything that couldn't be checked is amber, and files from before Publisher 98 are never rated above amber.
Don't trust us. Check it yourself.
Publisher files often hold confidential work. PubSalvage treats every file as hostile and never sends anything anywhere. Each promise below says how it's enforced and how you can check it.
Converted on your machine
- Enforced by
- The programs and the layout libraries contain no networking or TLS functions. The build fails if any appear.
- Check it
- Unplug the network or block it in your firewall. It works exactly the same.
No account, no sign-in
- Enforced by
- Licence keys are digital signatures checked on your computer. No activation server, no call-home.
- Check it
- Activate a key on a machine with no internet connection.
Each file opened in a locked box
- Enforced by
- A separate process per file. Windows: an AppContainer with no capabilities and a Job Object. Linux: seccomp and Landlock.
- Check it
pubsalvage --selftest-sandboxtries to break out on your machine and reports each attempt.
Your files are never changed
- Enforced by
- It only reads the files you name. Results go to a new folder; existing output is never overwritten.
- Check it
- Make your archive read-only and run it.
No history, no logs
- Enforced by
- No index, recent-files list, usage log or saved settings. The app's settings live in a temporary folder deleted on exit.
- Check it
- Look for new files in your profile after a run.
Safe output
- Enforced by
- Rebuilt pages are stripped of scripts, event handlers, external links and entity declarations.
- Check it
- Open any page in a text editor.
Built for IT teams and service providers
For a school district, a council, a company or an IT provider with many clients: triage the archive, convert it in batches, and keep the report.
Scriptable
- Every command takes files and folders, with
--recurse. --jsonprints machine-readable results, valid even for hostile file names.- Clear exit codes:
0ok,1some files failed,2usage,4needs a licence.
Deploy across machines
- Silent install on Windows:
/VERYSILENT /LICENCE=... - One licence key for every user of a machine.
- Works on networks with no internet connection at all.
Ready for your security review
- No personal data reaches us, so there's no data-processing agreement to sign.
- Every third-party component and licence:
pubsalvage licences. - Prefilled answers: see the security overview.
Try it on your own files first
inspectis free with no limit;rateworks on 3 files per run.- Run it on a sample of your real archive and read the report before you buy.
- Organisation and archive licences: ask us.
Made for the whole archive
If you only need to open and edit a few files, a design app that imports .pub may be all you need. PubSalvage is for everything else.
| What you need | PubSalvage | A design app, one file at a time |
|---|---|---|
| Files converted on your own machine | Always, with no network code | Usually, but may sign in online |
| Whole folders in one run | Yes | One file at a time |
| Report of what came through | Per file, with reasons | You check each page by eye |
| Text and pictures when layout fails | Always extracted | Depends on the app |
| Account or sign-in | None | Often required |
| Edit the design freely afterwards | Via PDF or LibreOffice Draw | Yes |
Pay once. Try it free first.
Keys are checked on your computer: no activation server, and no expiry check other than a date written into the key itself.
Free
$0
See what's in your archive.
inspectwithout limitrender,salvageandrateon 3 files per run
Personal
$39 once
For one person with the desktop app.
- The desktop app without the 3-file limit
Pro
$99 once
For converting a whole archive.
- The command line without limits
- Batch reports (CSV, JSON, HTML)
MSP
$249 once
For IT providers serving clients.
- Everything in Pro
- Use on behalf of clients
- Unattended installation
Prices in US dollars. Organisation-wide and archive licences on request.
Where things stand
We'd rather you hear the limits from us.
Engine, sandbox on Windows and Linux, ratings, batch reports, PDF and ODG output, salvage, offline licence keys, desktop app.
Fidelity testing on a large set of real Publisher 2003–2021 files. Until then, PubSalvage is in early access.
Code-signed Windows installers. Until then, Windows shows an "unknown publisher" warning.
macOS (version 1.1) with its own sandbox, and an independent security review.
Questions
Are my files private?
Yes. Your files are converted on your own machine. They never leave your computer: nothing is uploaded, and there's no server to send them to. PubSalvage has no account and no network code at all, so it couldn't send them even if it tried.
It reads the files you choose, writes the results into a new folder you pick, and keeps no index, history or logs. Your .pub files are never changed. To check for yourself, run it with the network unplugged: it works exactly the same. See the security overview.
Do I need Microsoft Publisher installed?
No. PubSalvage reads .pub files itself, using the open-source libmspub layout library from the Document Liberation Project, built and sandboxed by us.
Which Publisher versions does it read?
It recognises files from Publisher 3.0/97, 98/2000 and 2002 and later. Older files are rendered where possible, but never rated above amber.
Can I edit the result?
Yes, with --odg: it writes an OpenDocument Drawing you can edit in LibreOffice Draw. PDF and SVG pages are best for archiving and printing. PubSalvage doesn't save back to .pub.
What if a file is damaged or malicious?
Each file is opened in its own sandboxed process with memory, CPU-time and time limits. If the layout engine crashes or hangs on a file, that file is reported and PubSalvage moves on to the next one.
Our documents are in Greek, Russian, Hebrew, Arabic or Thai. Will the text come out right?
Old Publisher files in those scripts are often read as gibberish by other tools. PubSalvage detects that and decodes the text correctly. You can also choose the code page yourself with --codepage.
Try it on your own archive
Whether you're one organisation or an IT provider, try it on a sample of your real .pub files before you buy. You'll be able to get a build and a trial licence for your own files.
Contact details coming soon. Early access opens with the first public build.