How to use PDF to Word
- Choose the PDF.
- Select Convert to Word. Each page's text is read with its position, size and font, and rebuilt into paragraphs and headings.
- Download the .docx and open it in Word, Google Docs, Pages or LibreOffice.
What it keeps, and what it doesn't
A PDF doesn't store paragraphs. It stores pieces of text and where to draw them on the page. To make a Word document, the tool reads every piece with its position, size and font, puts pieces on the same baseline together as a line, and then decides where paragraphs begin from the space between lines. Lines in clearly larger type than the body text become Heading 1 or Heading 2, so the document's outline shows up in Word's navigation pane. Text in a bold font stays bold.
Inside a paragraph, a line that runs to the right edge flows into the next one, so the text reflows when you edit it. A short line, such as a line of an address or a signature block, keeps its line break. Words split with a hyphen across two lines are joined again.
What you won't get is a copy of the page's appearance. Images, colours, exact fonts, positions, text boxes and table styling are not recreated, and a page with two columns reads across them. Simple tables, with clear gaps between their columns, become plain Word tables; a cell whose text wraps onto two lines becomes two rows. Treat the result as the PDF's text, structured and ready to edit, not as a pixel-perfect replica.
Pages, scans and passwords
Each PDF page becomes its own section in the Word file, at the same paper size, so page one of the PDF starts page one in Word and each later page starts on a new page. Your edits will move text between pages as it grows, as in any document.
A scanned PDF has pictures of text and no text layer, so there is nothing to read. The tool says so instead of giving you an empty file. Run the scan through OCR PDF first, which adds a text layer in your browser, and then convert that. A password-protected PDF needs its password removed first, with Unlock PDF.
Private by design
The PDF is read by pdf.js, Mozilla's open-source PDF engine, in this tab. The Word file is written in a background worker by docx, an open-source library, and saved through your browser's normal download. Both load from this site the first time you convert. Nothing is uploaded and nothing is kept, and there's no account, watermark or page limit beyond what your device's memory can hold.
Questions
- Will the Word file look exactly like the PDF?
- No. The text, its order, paragraphs, headings, bold and simple tables come through, and each PDF page starts a new page in Word at the same paper size. Exact positions, columns, images, colours, fonts and table styling are not recreated, so expect to tidy the layout.
- Why is the Word file empty?
- The PDF is probably scanned: each page is a picture of text, with no text layer. The tool tells you when that's the case. Run it through OCR PDF first, then convert the result.
- Is my PDF uploaded?
- No. pdf.js reads it in your browser and the Word file is written there too, by code loaded from this site. Nothing is sent or saved.
- Can I convert a password-protected PDF?
- Not directly. Remove the password with Unlock PDF first, if you know it, then convert.