Converting PDF to Word: The Best Options for PC & Mac

If you convert a PDF to a DOCX file, you can open and edit it in Microsoft Word. Free tools like Adobe's online PDF converter and Google Drive make it easy to convert PDFs to Word, but some PDF formatting won't be preserved. If you have Word, you can use it to open and convert a PDF in seconds. Adobe Acrobat Pro does the best job at preserving the PDF's original formatting and images, though you'll need a subscription or free trial.

Quick Steps

Go to Adobe's free PDF to Word converter.
Drag your PDF to the box to upload and convert.
Click Download to save the converted Word document to your computer.

Method 1

Method 1 of 4:

Using Adobe's Free Online Converter

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Go to https://www.adobe.com/acrobat/online/pdf-to-word.html in your web browser. Adobe, the creator of the PDF document format, now offers a free PDF to Word conversion tool that's easy to use in any web browser. While you may lose some special formatting from the original PDF, you'll be able to edit the converted text in any version of Word.
- This is the fastest way to convert PDF to Word, and the most convenient if you don't have Word or Adobe Acrobat.
- While you can convert your first PDF to a Word document without signing in, you may be prompted to log in with an Adobe, Facebook, or Apple account to convert more documents.
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Drag your PDF to the box. This instantly begins uploading the PDF and converting it to the Word DOCX format.^{[1]
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- Alternatively, you can click Select a file, choose your PDF, and then click OK or Open to start the upload.
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Click the blue Download button. This downloads the converted file in the Word DOCX format.^{[2]
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- You may have to click Save or OK to start the download.

Method 2

Method 2 of 4:

Using Microsoft Word

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Right-click or Ctrl + click the PDF you want to open. This will open a context menu.
- As long as you have Word 2013 or later on your PC or Mac, you can open PDFs in Word to convert them to the DOCX format.
- You may lose some special formatting (like tables, images, and columns) from the PDF, but you'll be able to edit the text in Word as needed.
Another menu will expand.
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Click Word or Microsoft Word on the menu. If you don't see this option on Windows, select Choose another app, select Word, and then click Just once. This opens Word and attempts to display the PDF.
- If you're having trouble doing this on Windows, here's another way to open the PDF in Word:
  - Open Word. Or, if Word is already open, click the File menu and select Open.
  - Click Browse at the bottom.
  - Click the drop-down menu at the bottom-right (the one that says "All Word documents" and select All files.
  - Select your PDF file and click Open.
4
Click OK to convert the file. When the PDF tries to open, you'll see a pop-up that says, "Word will now convert your PDF to an editable Word document." Once you click OK, the PDF will convert to a Word file and display in Word.^{[3]
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- If you're converting a larger file, it can take a few minutes to complete.
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Edit the Word document. The converted document may not have perfect page-to-page correspondence due to line and page breaks, graphics, and other details. Making manual edits may be necessary.
- If you downloaded the PDF from the internet, you'll see a bar at the top of the document asking if you want to enable editing. Click Enable Editing so you can make changes to the converted document.
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Save the converted PDF. Once you're ready to save the converted PDF as a Word document, do the following:^{[4]
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- Windows — Click File, click Save As, click This PC, enter a file name, select a save location on the left side of the window, and click Save.
- Mac — Click File, click Save As, enter a name, select a file location, and click Save.

Method 3

Method 3 of 4:

Using Adobe Acrobat

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Open the PDF you want to convert in Acrobat. If you use the paid version of Adobe Acrobat, you can easily convert PDFs to the Word DOCX format. If double-clicking the PDF doesn't open it in Acrobat, you can open it in Acrobat by right-clicking (or control-clicking) the PDF, selecting Open with, and then selecting Adobe Acrobat (or Adobe Acrobat DC).^{[5]
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- This method is the best option if you want to retain as much formatting from the original PDF as possible. It's also helpful if your PDF contains scanned text, as the conversion will read and convert text from images.
- While Acrobat is not free, you can get a free 30-day trial at https://www.adobe.com/acrobat.html.
This tool is in the right panel. A list of file types will expand.^{[6]
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Additional options will expand.^{[7]
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It's the first option on the right panel. This tells Acrobat what type of document to create.^{[8]
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Acrobat will now convert the file and prompt you to name it.^{[9]
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Now that you've saved the PDF as a Word document, you can open and edit it in Microsoft Word.^{[10]
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Method 4

Method 4 of 4:

Using Google Drive

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Go to https://drive.google.com in your computer's web browser. This will open your Google Drive if you're logged in to your Google account. If you aren't logged in, enter your email address and password when prompted.
- While you can use Google Drive to upload a PDF, open it in Google Docs, and convert it to Word, special formatting like tables, columns, and images will not appear correctly (or not at all). So, this method works best if you just want to edit the text and not work with the current format.
It'll be at the top-left corner of your Google Drive.
It's the second option on the menu. This opens your computer's file browser.
Your PDF will now upload to your Google Drive.^{[11]
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You'll see it under "1 upload complete" at the bottom-right corner of Google Drive and in your main Google Drive folder. This opens a preview of your PDF.
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Click the Open with menu. It's at the top-center part of the window.^{[12]
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- If you don't see the Open with drop-down box, move your mouse to the top of the window.
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Click Google Docs on the menu. This opens the PDF in Google Docs.
- If you don't see Google Docs as an option in the drop-down menu, you can add it: click Connect more apps in the drop-down menu, search for google docs, and Install to get it.
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Download the PDF as a Word document. Now that you've opened the document in Docs, you can save it as a Microsoft Word file and download it to your computer. Here's how:^{[13]
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- Click the File menu at the top-left corner of Google Docs and select Download.
- Click Microsoft Word (.docx) as the format.
- Select a save location and/or click Save if prompted.

Expert Q&A

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Question

How do I open a PDF document in Word?

Luigi Oppido
Computer & Tech Specialist
Luigi Oppido is the Owner and Operator of Pleasure Point Computers in Santa Cruz, California. Luigi has over 25 years of experience in general computer repair, data recovery, virus removal, and upgrades. He is also the host of the Computer Man Show! broadcasted on KSQD covering central California for over two years.

Luigi Oppido

Computer & Tech Specialist

Expert Answer

You'll have to open the PDF document as a Word file. You can do this by converting the PDF into Word using Google Docs, or you can export it into Word by opening the document with the Word application.

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Not Helpful 22 Helpful 7
Question

If I convert a PDF magazine to MS Word format, will I be able to edit or print?

Community Answer

Yes.

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Why did the document get messed up when I used Google Drive? Tables are different, margins won't adjust and I am trying to help a friend submit a paper that is due tomorrow.

Nathan Roberts

Community Answer

This happens because Google Docs uses a different code (UI) to a PDF Document. Hence why it is a different file type. So when the document is getting converted, it tries to place everything in the right place, but looses a lot of the code. This is why you have to edit it to make everything look smart again.

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Tips

If the text in your resulting file isn't editable, it's usually because the text was actually an image rather than plain text. Adobe Acrobat will convert scanned text to editable text, but other options will not.

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Warnings

Converting a PDF file to a Word file will almost always result in some loss of formatting.^{[14]
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