PDF to Word

How to convert a PDF to Word

1. 1

   Step 1: Add your PDF

   Drop a PDF on the page, paste it, or choose it from your device, your Google Drive or your Dropbox.

2. 2

   Step 2: Choose how to convert

   Editable text gives flowing paragraphs. Keep layout holds each page as it is. Name a page range if you need only part of the file.

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   Step 3: Download your Word file

   The download starts on its own. Open the file in Word, Google Docs, Pages or LibreOffice and edit it.

Features

• Two ways to convert. Flowing paragraphs when you plan to rewrite the text, or page by page when the layout matters more.

• Scanned pages are spotted. We check the pages themselves, not the file name. A scan with no text is sent to OCR first, in nine languages.

• Fonts your computer has. A PDF stores names like TimesNewRomanPSMT. We map those to real families, so Word does not swap them quietly.

• Text repaired as it comes across. A word broken over a line end is joined again, a running head becomes a real Word header, and columns stay single.

• Convert only the pages you need. Name a range such as 1-3, 5 to convert part of a long report instead of all of it.

When to convert a PDF to Word

Four jobs this tool handles every day.

• A document you have to change. A contract, a letter or a form arrives as a PDF and the only copy you can edit is the one you make.

• Quoting from a report. Pull paragraphs and tables out of a paper or a report without retyping them, then cite the source.

• A template you want to reuse. Turn an invoice or a certificate into a Word file you can fill in again next month.

• An old scan on paper. Run OCR on the scan first, then convert it, and the words become text you can search and edit.

Tips for a cleaner Word file

What to try when the first result needs tidying.

• Try the other mode. After a result, the page offers the mode you did not pick, using the same file and no second upload.

• Convert fewer pages. A long file is slower and harder to get right. Converting a chapter at a time usually gives a better result.

• Run OCR before a scan. A scanned PDF holds pictures of words. OCR PDF adds the text layer this tool needs, then convert the result.

• Check tables and headings first. Those are the parts that most often need a hand. Body text and images usually come across as they are.

Limits worth knowing

All of it is true today, and better read here than after an upload.

• File size and pages. One PDF at a time, up to 15 MB and 150 pages. Split a longer file first, or name a page range.

• Tables without ruled lines. A table drawn with lines usually comes across as a table. One held together by spacing alone may arrive as loose paragraphs.

• Layout is close, not identical. Line and page breaks move, because your fonts are not the ones inside the PDF. In Keep layout a full page can spill onto a second one.

• Equations and handwriting. Equations arrive as pictures, not as Word equations. Handwriting is not read, even by OCR.

• Long files take minutes. Our server sleeps when nobody uses it, so the first file waits up to a minute to start, then converts at a few seconds a page.

• Fair use. Our free server allows 30 jobs in 10 minutes for each visitor. Running OCR first counts as a second job.

Where your file goes

PDF to Word runs on our server, because a browser cannot rebuild a Word document from a PDF well enough to be worth it. Your file is sent over an encrypted connection and deleted right after your result is sent. We do not keep copies, we do not sell or share your files, and we do not add watermarks. A file you pick from Google Drive or Dropbox is downloaded into your browser first, then handled like a file from your device. For Google Drive we ask for the drive.file permission only, which covers the files you pick with Optimax PDF and the files we save there for you.

What we collect, and what we do not, is set out in our Privacy Policy.

Frequently asked questions