How to Convert Publisher Files to PNG or JPG

Sometimes you do not need an editable bulletin. You need a picture of the page: a graphic for the church website, a square post for social media, an image in a newsletter email, or a slide in a Sunday presentation. Microsoft Publisher files do not work in those places. PNG and JPG do.

This is different from extracting photos that were already embedded in the publication. Extraction pulls the original pictures out. This article is about rasterizing whole pages—turning each page into an image.

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PNG or JPG?

JPG (JPEG) is a good default for photographs and full-page designs that look like a poster. Files stay relatively small. Fine text can look slightly soft, especially at low resolution.

PNG is better when you need sharper type, a transparent background (for a logo or a cut-out masthead), or a graphic that will be resized on a website. PNG files are often larger.

For a weekly bulletin posted as a preview image, either format can work if the pixel dimensions are large enough that the type stays readable on a phone. For a photo-heavy flyer, JPG is usually enough.

Do not email a .pub file and hope a phone will "just show it as an image." It will not.

If Publisher Is Still Installed

Publisher can export pages as pictures, though the exact menu label has varied by version. Look under File → Export, Save As, or Save as Picture / Export as image. Choose PNG or JPEG, pick a resolution, and export.

Use a high enough resolution for the destination:

Website or email preview: something in the range of 1200–2000 pixels on the long side is typical
Print-quality raster (only if you must print from an image): closer to 300 pixels per inch at the physical size of the page

If you cannot find an image export, print or save as PDF, then turn the PDF pages into images with the methods below. That two-step path is often clearer than hunting version-specific menus.

Installed Publisher may still run after Microsoft retired the product in October 2026. Export the images now for files you know you will need on the web, then keep the .pub in an archive.

Without Publisher: PDF First, Then Images

The dependable sequence is .pub → PDF → PNG or JPG.

Convert the Publisher file to PDF. How to convert a Publisher file to PDF lists Publisher's own export, LibreOffice Draw, and browser-based conversion.
Open the PDF.
Export or save each page as an image.

How step 3 looks depends on the computer:

Windows (Microsoft Edge or Chrome). Open the PDF, use the print dialog, and print to a file only if you need another PDF. For images, Windows Fax and Scan is not the right tool. Use a PDF reader that offers "Export as image" or "Save as picture," or use a small local tool such as Poppler's pdftoppm if you are comfortable with a command line. Many people simply open the PDF at 100% zoom and use a screenshot for a rough web graphic; that is acceptable for a proof, not for small type.

Mac (Preview). Open the PDF, choose File → Export, and pick PNG or JPEG. For a specific page in a multi-page file, view that page first. Preview is one of the easiest desktop paths.

LibreOffice Draw. If Draw opened the .pub file, you can export a page as an image from File → Export. Check fonts and wrapping; Draw's Publisher import is incomplete.

Phone. Convert to PDF on a computer first, then open the PDF and use the share sheet to save images if your PDF app supports it. Direct .pub to camera-roll conversion on iPhone or Android is not a built-in feature.

What Bulletin Rescue Gives You

Bulletin Rescue is a Publisher converter and browser editor, not a dedicated "export every page as JPG" batch app.

What it actually does:

You upload .pub files in a browser (or a folder of them).
A free preview shows a watermarked PNG of the first page only, sized for on-screen review. That preview is not a clean image for your website.
After a one-time $29 lifetime purchase, you download PowerPoint and PDF for each converted file.
You can open a converted design in the browser editor and export PNG of the current page or PDF of all pages. PNG export is a page image from the editor, not a second copy of the original Publisher artwork.

So the practical image workflow with Bulletin Rescue is: convert to PDF (and PPTX), download those files within 24 hours, then export page images from the PDF on your computer—or open the converted file in the editor and export the current page as PNG. Fonts and spacing can change in conversion. Look at the preview before you pay, and look at the PNG before you post it.

The product does not write .pub files, does not claim Microsoft affiliation, and does not keep your uploads as a media library. Save anything you want to keep.

For Websites and Social Posts

Church website. A full-page PNG of the bulletin can work as a thumbnail that links to the PDF. The PDF remains the document people print. Posting only an image makes it hard to zoom and search. See how to post a church bulletin on your website.

Email. Large PNGs bounce or get downsized by Gmail and Outlook. A reasonably compressed JPG, or better, a link to the PDF, is easier on inboxes. Emailing a bulletin without Publisher covers attachments.

Social media. Crop or redesign for the platform's shape. A tall letter-size bulletin shrunk into a square post will make hymn text unreadable. It is often better to export the PDF, then recreate a simplified announcement graphic than to post a tiny full page.

Slides. If you only need the bulletin on a lobby screen, a PNG per page is fine. If you need to change the date next week, keep the PowerPoint file too.

Quality Checks

Before you publish an image:

Zoom to 100% and read the smallest type
Confirm crop marks or gray conversion artifacts are not in the frame
Confirm you exported the correct page of a multi-page newsletter
Keep the PDF alongside the image so you can regenerate it later at a different size

If the page looks wrong in the image, the problem is usually the conversion or missing fonts, not PNG versus JPG. Fix the PDF first.