Bulletin Rescue Free file check

Publisher is going away. A plan for the United Methodist church office.

For UMC church secretaries and administrators, including offices that make bulletins for more than one church on a charge.

The dates

Oct 1
2026

If you pay for Microsoft 365, you lose access to Publisher on October 1, 2026.

Oct 13
2026

If you bought Publisher 2021 (or Office 2021) outright, it keeps running, but support ends October 13, 2026.

What the UMC's own resources say

United Methodist resources have covered this more than most. ResourceUMC published a guide to bulletin and newsletter tools after Publisher, and it says United Methodist churches and related ministries qualify for Canva for Nonprofits. Conferences such as Virginia and Desert Southwest have posted notices too.

Those guides are about what to use next. This page is about what's left behind: the years of bulletins, newsletters and programs already sitting in .pub files.

One office, two or three churches

Many United Methodist secretaries make bulletins for more than one congregation on a charge. That makes the folder harder to sort, because the files look alike and often have the same names. A few habits help:

  • One folder per church, from the start. Don't mix them, even for a week.
  • Put the church name in every file name, with the date first, for example 2026-10-04 Grace bulletin.
  • Keep a separate template for each church, even if they differ only in the name, the service time and the announcements.

The worship content is the easy part to get back. Discipleship Ministries publishes weekly lectionary and worship planning resources, and your hymn numbers come from The United Methodist Hymnal. What only your office has is the layout.

What to save first

  1. This Sunday's bulletin for each church.
  2. The newsletter, one per church or one shared.
  3. Once-a-year pieces: Christmas Eve candlelight, Holy Week and Easter, charge conference materials if you laid them out in Publisher, and Vacation Bible School.
  4. Funeral and wedding bulletins. Families come back for them.
  5. The back archive, church by church.

How to save them

Check which Publisher you have: File, then Account. "Microsoft 365" means it stops on October 1. An older version you bought once keeps opening files after that, but Microsoft ends support for Publisher 2021 on October 13.

While it works, save each file as a PDF (File, then Export, then PDF) and keep the .pub file beside it. Microsoft's free bulk script converts a folder at a time, but needs a working, licensed Publisher. If Publisher is already gone, LibreOffice Draw opens most .pub files for free; check newsletters with stories that jump across linked boxes, which can come out jumbled. Our free guide walks through each option, and our Canva guide shows how to rebuild the weekly bulletin.

Proving your 501(c)(3) for Canva

Canva asks US applicants for proof of 501(c)(3) status. Most United Methodist churches don't have their own IRS letter. They're covered by the UMC group ruling, which the General Council on Finance and Administration (GCFA) has held since 1974.

Request your church's Certificate of Inclusion at umgroupruling.org. It shows your church's legal name, address and EIN. Send it with GCFA's 1974 IRS letter from the same packet. If your congregation belongs to another Methodist body, ask that body's office what it provides.

Canva reviews every application, and approval can take a few days, so apply before you need it.

Questions

Do United Methodist churches qualify for Canva for Nonprofits?

ResourceUMC says United Methodist churches and related ministries qualify. Canva still reviews each application and makes the final decision, so apply early and have your Certificate of Inclusion ready.

We're a three-point charge. Is that one project or three?

Whichever suits you. Tell us in the free file check how the files are organized, and we'll quote a fixed price for the whole thing.

Can a district or conference arrange this for several churches?

Yes. We quote a fixed price for several churches at once. Ask through the free file check.

If you have hundreds of files and no time

Two or three churches' worth of bulletins, newsletters and programs is a lot of files to sort by hand.

That's what we do. Send us the folder. We turn every file into a searchable PDF, remove the duplicates, sort everything by year and type, and rebuild the templates you still use in Canva. Archive is $249 for up to 2,000 files. Complete is $495 and adds 3 templates rebuilt in Canva, a 45-minute training call, and help applying for Canva for Nonprofits. You pay after delivery.

Not sure how many you have? Count your Publisher files free. It runs in your browser, and nothing is uploaded.

Get a free file check

Or call or leave a message: (207) 776-7530

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