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Cannot re-install Publisher 2021 after upgrading to Office Home & Business 2024????

Dave D'Arche 0 Reputation points
2025-03-03T02:05:11.42+00:00

Upgraded to Office Home & Business 2024 today.  Have now spent 6 HOURS to determine that Office 2021 had to be uninstalled to make 2024 work and Publisher cannot be re-installed. What a waste of time!

I got online help with a MS Tech and while he didn’t know this, I happened to see another post about this today and mentioned it to him.  I think he did some searching and found that this needed to happen.  He felt it was necessary to remove Office 2021 and Publisher 2021.  He did make a restore point which was very smart.

I had a 2021 Publisher standalone app that I use frequently for newspaper advertising.  He felt the need to remove that app as it was apparently “connected” with Office 2021, even though it was an individual purchase.  It was not initially included in the 2021 version I purchased.

Now I cannot re-install Publisher, which I paid $160 from the Microsoft store, a few years ago.  It is listed as a subscription in my MS account.  However, it does try to install and eventually fails

I am NOT a happy camper!!  I use Publisher quite often.  I would not have upgraded to Office 2024 if I knew this was the case.  I understand that Publisher will be end-of-life soon and updates will stop but it is still a very usable app.

The MS tech which helped me today, thankfully made a restore point. I may just go back to 2021 Office and use that if I cannot get anywhere with this issue.  I am not a fan of 365 and doubt that I will ever be a user.  Now I have to see if can get a refund from the MS Partner un which I purchased the Office 2024.

So, are any other options?

DaveD

Office Management
Office Management
Office: A suite of Microsoft productivity software that supports common business tasks, including word processing, email, presentations, and data management and analysis.Management: The act or process of organizing, handling, directing or controlling something.
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  1. Jiajing Hua-MFST 15,870 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff
    2025-03-04T09:30:40.4133333+00:00

    Hi @Dave D'Arche

    Could you please tell us which version of Publisher are you using?

    Is it a retail version that you need to sign into licensed Microsoft account to activate it?

    If yes, I suggest you try following steps to have a check.

    • Create a folder, we may call it "ODT".
    • Download the ODT, then run the self-extracting executable file in ODT folder.
    • Create a new .xml file like following one in ODT folder, we may call it "publisher2021.xml".
    <Configuration>
  <Add OfficeClientEdition="64" >
    <Product ID="Publisher2021Retail" >
      <Language ID="en-us" />
      </Product>
    <Product ID="HomeBusiness2024Retail">
      <Language ID="en-us" />
      </Product>
  </Add>
  <Remove All="True" />
</Configuration>

    Please open ODT folder, enter: cmd in file path location box of Windows File Explorer.

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    Then enter: setup.exe /configure publisher2021.xml in Command Prompt. This command will install Office and Publisher.

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