Why your converted .pub file looks slightly different — and what we do about it

Most of the time the answer is a font. Here's what font substitution actually is, why Publisher has been doing it silently to you for years, and how to read the note that comes with your converted file.

A Publisher file doesn't carry its fonts. It records their names — "Papyrus, 28 point" — and trusts whatever computer opens it to have Papyrus installed. When the computer doesn't, a stand-in gets used. Publisher itself has always done this quietly; you may have bulletins that changed fonts years ago when the office PC was replaced, and nobody noticed.

When we convert your file, common fonts like Arial, Times New Roman, Calibri and Georgia are covered by exact-width equivalents, so the layout doesn't move. Decorative fonts get the closest lookalike we have — and unlike Publisher, we tell you: the fidelity note names the font that was missing and the one that stood in, so you can judge the result in seconds instead of proofreading the whole page.