You received a contract, a report or a form as a PDF and need to change a paragraph, reuse a section or fix a typo, but PDFs aren't made for editing. PDF to Word turns the text of a PDF into an editable .docx file that opens in Word, Google Docs or LibreOffice, rebuilding its paragraphs, headings and images along the way.
A PDF doesn't store paragraphs or headings, only pieces of text placed on a page. The tool works them out from position, font size and font style, so documents with a clear layout convert best. For a scanned PDF, run OCR PDF first. If you're going the other way, from Word to PDF, see the Word to PDF guide.
Step-by-step
- Open the PDF to Word tool, or click the "PDF to Word" card on the home page.
- Click the drop zone or drag in your PDF. The tool converts one file at a time.
- Click "Process now." The status line shows the page being read.
- The tool joins lines into paragraphs, turns larger text into headings, keeps bold and italic, removes page numbers and repeated headers or footers, and places each image where it appears in the text.
- Your browser downloads a .docx file with the same name as your PDF. Open it and check headings, lists and images.
- Use Word's navigation pane to jump between the headings the tool recognized, and adjust anything that needs it.
Common mistakes
- Converting a scanned PDF directly. Without a text layer there is nothing to extract. Run OCR PDF first, then convert the result.
- Expecting tables to stay tables. Table cells come out as lines of text in reading order. Rebuild the table in Word if you need one.
- Expecting the exact look of the PDF. Fonts, colors, columns and page breaks follow Word's defaults; the tool rebuilds the structure, not the design.
- Converting a password-protected PDF. Remove the password with Unlock PDF first.
- Skipping the final check. Headings are detected by size and style, so skim the document to confirm that titles and paragraphs were split where you expect.
FAQ
Does converting PDF to Word keep the original formatting?
It keeps the structure: paragraphs, headings (as real Word heading styles), bold and italic text, list items and images, in reading order. It doesn't reproduce the exact layout: tables come out as lines of text, multi-column pages become a single column, and fonts, colors and page breaks follow Word's defaults.
Why did I get an empty or nearly empty Word document?
The PDF is probably a scan, so its pages are pictures with no text inside. Run it through OCR PDF first to recognize the text, then convert the result to Word.
Does it work with Arabic, Chinese and Japanese PDFs?
Yes. Right-to-left paragraphs are marked as right-to-left in Word, and Chinese and Japanese lines are joined without extra spaces. With Arabic PDFs made by other programs, some letter combinations can come out in the wrong order, depending on how the PDF stores its text; PDFs created with our Word to PDF tool convert back exactly.
Is my PDF uploaded to a server during conversion?
No. pdf.js reads the PDF and the .docx file is assembled with JSZip, both inside your browser tab. The file never leaves your device.
Checklist
- The PDF has selectable text, or was run through OCR PDF first
- The PDF has no password
- Headings, lists and images were checked in the .docx
- Tables were rebuilt in Word where needed
- The original PDF is kept as a reference