How to Convert a PDF to a Word Document (4 Easy Ways)

Someone sent you a PDF, and you need to change it. Fix a date, rewrite a paragraph, reuse half of it in something new. PDFs aren't built for that, but yes, you can turn one into a Word document you can edit, and you probably already have a way to do it. Here's how to convert a PDF to a Word document four ways, which one fits which file, and what to do when the result comes out looking wrong.

The quick answer

• Have Microsoft Word? Open the PDF in it. Word converts it for you.
• No Word? Use Google Docs, or an online converter like our PDF to Word tool.
• Is it a scan? Make its text readable with OCR first, then convert.
• Only need to add a note or fill in a form? You might not need Word at all (more on that at the end).

How to convert PDF to Word online

This is the way that works anywhere: Windows, Mac, a Chromebook or a phone, in whatever browser you already use, with nothing to install.

1. Go to PDF to Word.
2. Drop your PDF on the box that says Drag & Drop or Choose File to Upload, or click it and pick the file. The two small icons in the box's corner pull a file from Google Drive or Dropbox instead.
3. The PDF opens in our editor. Click the yellow Download button at the top and choose Word (it's first in the list).
4. Sign in with a free PrintFriendly account, or make one right there, and the .docx downloads.

If the PDF has a password, you'll be asked for it when you upload. Files you upload, and the files we make, are deleted from our servers within 48 hours.

How to convert a PDF in Microsoft Word itself

If you have desktop Word on Windows or Mac, it can open a PDF directly, and that's the quickest free way to do it.

1. Open Word and go to File > Open.
2. Pick the PDF.
3. Word tells you it's about to convert the PDF into an editable document, and that it might not look exactly like the original. Click OK.
4. When it opens, save it as a Word document.

This works best on text-heavy files: letters, reports, contracts. Pages with lots of images, columns or careful design are where the layout tends to shift.

How to convert a PDF with Google Docs

No Word? Google Docs can do the job with just a Google account.

1. Upload the PDF to Google Drive.
2. Right-click it and choose Open with > Google Docs.
3. In the document that opens, go to File > Download > Microsoft Word (.docx).

Be ready for it to look different. Google Docs is good at getting the text out, but much of the layout doesn't survive, so it suits plain documents better than designed ones.

How to convert a PDF to Word on a Mac

Word for Mac opens PDFs the same way as on Windows: File > Open, pick the PDF, and let it convert.

What a Mac can't do on its own is save a PDF as a Word file. Preview opens PDFs fine, but it has no Word option when you export. You can select the text and copy it out, but you'll lose the layout. If you don't have Word, an online converter works the same in Safari or Chrome as anywhere else.

How to convert a scanned PDF to Word

A scanned PDF looks like a page of text, but it's really a photo of one. There's no text in it for a converter to pull out, which is why a scan often lands in Word as one big image you can't edit.

The fix is OCR (optical character recognition), which reads the words in the picture and turns them into real text. Run the scan through OCR PDF first, so you can select and copy its text, then convert the result to Word.

A good scan helps a lot here. Straight, sharp pages with dark text read much better than a crooked phone photo.

Why the converted file looks wrong (and how to fix it)

A PDF records where every letter sits on the page. A Word document is built from paragraphs, headings and tables that flow. Turning one into the other means rebuilding that structure, and sometimes it doesn't come out cleanly. The usual reasons:

• It's a scan. No text, just a picture. See the section above.
• It's locked. Some PDFs are protected so they can't be copied or edited. Unlock PDF removes those restrictions, and if the file needs a password to open, you type it once and get a copy that doesn't.
• The layout is complicated. Multiple columns, text boxes, text sitting on top of images and unusual fonts don't map neatly onto Word's way of doing things.

If you want to convert a PDF to Word without losing formatting, a few things help:

• Try another method. The same file can come out quite differently in Word, Google Docs and an online converter. If one mangles it, try the next.
• Check the tables. They're the part most likely to come out off. Fixing a table by hand is usually faster than fighting the converter.
• Redo the headings. Converted headings are often just big bold text. Apply Word's heading styles to them and the document gets easier to edit and navigate.
• Swap missing fonts. If a font isn't on your computer, Word picks a substitute and line breaks move. Choose a close font and the spacing settles.

Do you need to convert at all?

If all you need is to add a line of text, a highlight or an image, or to fill in a form, converting is the long way round. Open the file in Edit PDF and do it right in the PDF. And when you're finished editing in Word and need a PDF again, Word to PDF turns it back. What needs a free account, and how big a file can be, is all in our PDF Tools help page.