What's new | PUB Rescue

System requirements

Windows 10 version 1809 or later, or Windows 11, 64-bit. On Windows 10, we recommend the latest update (22H2).
Memory: 4 GB minimum, 8 GB recommended.
No Microsoft Publisher needed.
Internet only to activate a licence key, once per computer. Converting works offline.

WebView2, the part of Windows that draws PUB Rescue's window, no longer sends its own crash reports to Microsoft: they stay in PUB Rescue's data folder on your PC, even when Windows is set to send optional diagnostic data.
PUB Rescue's program file is now named PUBRescue.exe, so Task Manager shows it by name.
A shape with an outline that can't be computed (invalid guide values in the publication) is left out, and the report says so.
An installed PUB Rescue ignores two settings meant only for development (environment variables naming a font folder and a colour profile).
The isolated process that converts each file now gets nothing from PUB Rescue except the three channels it talks over.
For files from Publisher 2000 or older, the report names what isn't carried over: list bullets and numbering, line arrows and dashes, and picture formats.
Updated privacy statement (8 October 2026).

Crash reports never carry the contents of your files: Windows error reporting is off for PUB Rescue's own processes.
A damaged file can no longer make a conversion hang: it is stopped within a time limit (at most two minutes), and the report gives the reason.
Files larger than 128 MB are not opened; the report says so.
Every file is converted in its own fresh, isolated process. If that isolation can't be set up, nothing is converted and the report says so.
A file that makes its process stop unexpectedly is not tried again; "Retry failed" tries it once more in a safe mode, with placeholders for pictures.
The part that reads Publisher files is built with Windows Control Flow Guard, so a damaged or malicious file is harder to misuse.
Updated privacy statement (2 October 2026).

Shapes built from formulas, and callout shapes (cloud, line and rectangular callouts), are drawn closer to Publisher.
Shapes that are hidden in the publication are no longer drawn.
The report now notes a filled shape whose outline has no area and so can't be drawn. Before, text under such a shape could be hidden without a word in the report.
"Send feedback" in About and after each batch opens the feedback page in your browser.
A licence key issued for a newer version of PUB Rescue now says so and asks you to update PUB Rescue from the Microsoft Store.
Updated privacy statement (29 September 2026).

First release in the Microsoft Store.