How to Convert PDF to Word (Editable DOCX) for Free
Turn a PDF into an editable Word file that looks the same: fonts, positions, logos, lines and colours kept. Or get plain flowing text. Free, private, no upload.
By Browser Tools Team · · Updated · 4 min read
To convert a PDF to an editable Word document that looks like the PDF, open PDF to Word, drop the PDF in and press Convert to Word. With Keep the exact look (the default) you get a .docx with the same page size, each line of text in the same place, font, size and colour, and the logos, lines and boxes behind it. It runs in your browser.
When is PDF to Word useful?
- Changing a name, date or price on an invoice, letter or form you only have as PDF
- Updating an old CV or report when you've lost the original Word file
- Reusing text from a brochure, policy or article without retyping
- Translating a document in Word or Google Docs
How do I convert PDF to Word step by step?
- Open PDF to Word.
- Drop the PDF onto the box, or click to choose it. PDFs up to 200 MB work on a computer.
- Choose the layout: Keep the exact look for a Word file that looks like the PDF, or Simple flowing text for plain paragraphs.
- Press Convert to Word. A progress bar shows each page being read.
- The .docx downloads with the same name as the PDF. Open it in Word, Google Docs, Pages or LibreOffice.
Keep the exact look: how does it stay the same?
A PDF fixes every line at an exact spot on the page; a normal Word document flows text from top to bottom. To make Word show the same page, the converter:
- gives every Word page the PDF page's size,
- puts each line of text on its own line in Word at the PDF's height, with tab stops where columns and right-aligned text start,
- uses the PDF's font, size, colour, bold and italic, and nudges the letter spacing so each word is exactly as wide as in the PDF,
- keeps everything that isn't text (logos, photos, lines, table borders, coloured boxes) as one picture behind the text on each page.
The text is real Word text, so you can fix a typo or change a number in place. Because each line is placed on its own, a long rewrite won't re-flow into the next line the way it would in a normal document.
Simple flowing text: what does it keep?
- Text and paragraphs, rebuilt from the lines on each page
- Headings, detected from larger font sizes (Heading 1 and Heading 2)
- Bold and italic from the PDF's fonts
- Bullet and numbered lists as real Word lists
- Words split across lines with a hyphen are joined back together
Multi-column layouts become single-column paragraphs, tables become plain text lines, and images aren't copied. Choose it when you want to rewrite a lot, not to recreate the design. Tick Start each PDF page on a new page to keep the PDF's page breaks.
What happens with a scanned PDF?
Some PDFs are just photos of pages, made by a scanner or a phone app. They contain no text, only pictures. Keep the exact look copies those pages into Word as pictures and tells you so; Simple flowing text tells you there's no text instead of making an empty document. To get editable text from a scan you'd need OCR software.
How to tell: open the PDF and try to select a word. If you can't highlight text, it's scanned.
How do I tidy a Simple flowing text file?
- Use Word's Styles to adjust headings in one go.
- Turn on Show formatting marks to spot extra line breaks, then remove them.
- For text copied from narrow columns, our Remove Line Breaks tool joins lines quickly.
- Paste messy text into Remove Formatting to clean hidden characters.
Can I convert PDF to Word on a phone?
Yes. Open PDF to Word in your phone's browser and choose the PDF from your Files app or downloads. The .docx downloads to your phone and opens in the Word, Google Docs or Pages app. Long PDFs take longer on a phone, so for documents over a few hundred pages a computer is quicker.
Troubleshooting
- Password-protected PDF: you're asked for the password; type it and press Unlock and convert.
- Strange symbols instead of text: some PDFs use fonts without proper text mapping, so the extracted letters come out garbled. There's no reliable fix besides OCR.
- Text in the wrong order (Simple flowing text): layouts with sidebars can mix up reading order. Use Keep the exact look, or copy sections separately.
- A word looks slightly wider or narrower in Word: the PDF used a font your computer doesn't have, so Word uses a similar one. Installing the font fixes it.
Is my PDF uploaded?
No. The PDF is read with pdf.js inside your browser and the Word file is built on your device, so confidential documents never leave it.
Convert your file with PDF to Word. Going the other way? See how to convert Word to PDF. To save pages as images, use PDF to JPG.
Frequently asked questions
Will the Word file look exactly like the PDF?
With Keep the exact look (the default), yes: the same page size, and each line in the same place, font, size and colour, with logos, lines and boxes behind the text. Big rewrites won't re-flow like a normal document; for that, choose Simple flowing text.
What happens with a scanned PDF?
A scanned PDF contains pictures of pages, not text. Keep the exact look copies the pages into Word as pictures; to get editable text you need OCR (text recognition), which this tool doesn't do.
Can I convert a password-protected PDF?
Yes, if you know its password. Type it when asked and press Unlock and convert; it's only used in your browser.
Are images copied into the Word file?
With Keep the exact look, yes: logos, photos, lines and table borders are kept as one picture behind the text on each page. Simple flowing text leaves them out.
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