PDF to Word

How to use the PDF to Word converter

1. Check the PDF has selectable text: if you can highlight a sentence in your viewer, it will convert.
2. Choose the layout. Keep page layout suits forms, invoices and designed pages; Flowing text suits letters and reports you plan to rewrite.
3. Convert and open the DOCX. If editing feels clumsy, run the same PDF again with the other mode.

Keep page layout or flowing text

A PDF records where each line of text sits, not where paragraphs begin and end. In Keep page layout mode LibreOffice puts every line into a text box at its original position, with matching fonts, sizes and pictures. Swapping a date or an amount is simple, but a new sentence will not push the rest down.

Flowing text mode uses calibre to stitch the lines back into paragraphs and headings, so text wraps as you type. In exchange, columns collapse into one, table cells turn into separate lines and repeated page headers may land between paragraphs.

Files that will disappoint

A scanned page is a photo of paper. This converter has no OCR, so a scan becomes a Word document holding images rather than editable words. Ask for the original file, or run OCR in a PDF reader before converting.

Encrypted PDFs must be unlocked first. Magazine spreads, equations and charts built from vector shapes arrive as scattered pieces: readable, but rarely worth editing.

Server processing

Our merge, split and compress pages never leave your browser, but this conversion needs LibreOffice and calibre, so the PDF is sent over HTTPS to our server.

The conversion happens in a sandboxed process that cannot go online, and the PDF and DOCX are both deleted right after the converted file is returned.

Questions