Microsoft Publisher is a desktop publishing application designed for and marketed to beginners for creating invitations, greeting cards, newsletters and other simple publications. Adobe Illustrator is a drawing application for creating vector drawings. The Adobe Illustrator native file type is the ".ai" file type -- it's really just a Portable Document Format (PDF) file. To convert a Microsoft Publisher, or .PUB, file to an Adobe Illustrator file, export the PUB file to PDF format in the Microsoft Publisher application and give the PDF file a file extension of ".ai."

  • Microsoft Publisher is a desktop publishing application designed for and marketed to beginners for creating invitations, greeting cards, newsletters and other simple publications.
  • To convert a Microsoft Publisher, or .PUB, file to an Adobe Illustrator file, export the PUB file to PDF format in the Microsoft Publisher application and give the PDF file a file extension of ".ai."

Open the PUB file in Microsoft Publisher.

Click the "File" option on the top navigation bar and click "Save As." The File Save dialogue box opens.

Click the "Save as Type" drop-down box and select the "Portable Document Format (PDF)" option from the list.

Type the file name plus the ".ai" file extension in quotes into the "File Name" input box. For example, type "filename.ai" with quotes into the input box. The file name and extension in quotation marks forces the renaming of the file extension from ".pdf" to ".ai."

  • Click the "Save as Type" drop-down box and select the "Portable Document Format (PDF)" option from the list.
  • For example, type "filename.ai" with quotes into the input box.

Click the "Save" button. The PUB file is converted to a PDF and renamed with the AI file extension.

Right-click on the AI file and click "Open With." Click "Adobe Illustrator" from the list of available applications. The AI file opens in Adobe Illustrator.