How to Convert a Microsoft Word Document to PDF

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An easy-to-use guide to turn Word documents into shareable PDFs

Co-authored by Luigi Oppido and Nicole Levine, MFA

Last Updated: March 22, 2024 Fact Checked

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Using Word on Windows

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Using Word on Mac

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Using Adobe Acrobat Online

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Using Google Drive

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Video

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Q&A

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Tips

Do you want to convert your Word document into an easy-to-send PDF file? PDFs are compatible with all platforms, so turning your Word document into a PDF ensures that more people can open the file. It's incredibly easy to convert a Word document to PDF—we'll show you how to do it on any Windows PC or Mac!

How do you convert a Word document to PDF?

Use the Export or Save As feature to convert DOCX to PDF within Microsoft Word. You can also upload your Word document to Google Drive, open it in Google Docs, and then download it as a PDF. Adobe Acrobat Online also offers a web-based Word-to-PDF converter that's free to use.

Method 1

Method 1 of 4:

Using Word on Windows

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1
Open the Microsoft Word document. Double-click the Word document to open it in Microsoft Word on your PC.
- If you haven't yet created the document, open Word, then click Blank document and create the document as needed before proceeding.
It's in the top-left corner of the Word window.

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You'll see this in the left panel of the menu.
This button is on the right side of the menu. The "Publish as PDF or XPS" dialog will appear.^{[1]
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5
Select a save location. On the left side of the window, click the folder in which you want to store your converted PDF.
- Since the PDF is a different file type than the Word document, you can store the PDF in the same file location as the Word file.
- You can also enter a new file name in the "File name" text box if you like.
It's in the bottom-right corner of the window. This will convert the Word document to the PDF format.

Method 2

Method 2 of 4:

Using Word on Mac

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Open the Microsoft Word document. Double-click the Word document to open it in Microsoft Word.
It's in the upper-left corner of your Mac's screen. A drop-down menu will appear.
This option is in the menu.
4
Enter a file name. Type a new name for your PDF into the "Save as" box.
- Be sure to enter a file name that's different from the Word document you're converting. If you use the same file name, Word will overwrite the existing file with the PDF, making it so you can no longer edit the file.^{[2]
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Select the folder in which you want to save your converted PDF.
This tells Word that you want to save the document as a PDF.
Doing so saves your PDF in the specified file location.

Method 3

Method 3 of 4:

Using Adobe Acrobat Online

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Go to https://www.adobe.com/acrobat/online/word-to-pdf.html in your web browser. This free tool from Adobe makes it easy to convert Word documents to the PDF format without installing any software.
Alternatively, you can click the blue Select a file button to select the Word document from your computer. Adobe Acrobat Online will immediately start converting the Word document to a PDF.
3
Click Download. This saves the PDF file to your computer.
- Depending on your web browser, you may need to click Save or OK to start the download.

Method 4

Method 4 of 4:

Using Google Drive

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1
Open Google Drive. Go to https://drive.google.com in your PC or Mac's web browser. This will open your Google Drive page if you're logged in.
- If you aren't logged in, click Go to Google Drive, then enter your email address and password when prompted.
It's at the top-left side of the Google Drive window.
It's in the drop-down menu. Doing this will open either a File Explorer (Windows) or a Finder (Mac) window.
4
Select your Word document and click Open. Go to your Word document's location, then click the Word document to select it. Once you click Open, your document will upload to Google Drive.
- On a Mac, you may click Choose here instead.
Once the Word file finishes uploading to Google Drive, double-click it in Google Drive, then click Open with Google Docs at the top to open it in your browser.
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Click the File menu. It's at the upper-left side of the window.
- On a Mac, make sure you're clicking File in your browser window and not in the menu bar at the top of the screen.
Another set of options will expand.
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Click PDF document (*.PDF). This creates a PDF version of the document and prompts you to save it to your computer.
- The file may download automatically on some browsers. On others, you'll need to select a saving location and click Save or OK to download the file.

Community Q&A

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Question

Why doesn't Microsoft Word give me the option to "Save as PDF" in the file menu?

Community Answer

A special type of software (technically called add-in) has the ability to convert Microsoft Word documents to PDF. However, Word 2007 does not include this add-in by default. To convert to PDF with Microsoft Word 2007, you have to download the add-in from Microsoft's website.

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Question

I need to convert a PDF file to a Microsoft Word document. Is there a way to do this?

Community Answer

Open up your PDF document and select "Save as --> Word Document." You'll need to clean it up afterwards (remove paragraph signs, reformat, etc.).

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Question

How do I fix the glitches and formatting errors that show up in the new PDF file?

Community Answer

The latest versions (after MS Office 2007) allow you to save the document as a pdf, thus avoiding formatting errors. Go to Files->Save As and select ".pdf format" from Save As Type. Click to save.

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