Turn a PDF into an editable Word file on your phone

The short answer: six taps, no app

You don't need to install anything to change a PDF into a Word file. The browser on your phone can do it:

1. Open PDF to Word in Chrome on Android, or in Safari or Chrome on an iPhone or iPad.
2. Tap Choose PDF files and pick your PDF. It gets a row with a picture of its first page, its number of pages and its size.
3. Tap Convert to Word. You can watch the progress, like "Page 12 of 117".
4. Tap Download. The Word file is named after your PDF: report.pdf becomes report.docx.
5. Open the .docx file in Word, Google Docs, WPS Office or Pages, whichever is on your phone.
6. Edit and save. Change the words, then keep the file or share it.

Your phone's own browser reads the PDF and writes the Word file. The PDF is not uploaded, and there is no sign-up and no watermark. The text comes across as real text, in paragraphs that re-wrap as you type, with its headings, lists and pictures where they were.

One honest warning: if your PDF is a scan or a photo of paper, its words can't be edited, because there is no text inside it. That has its own part below.

First, get the PDF into your phone's files

When you tap Choose PDF files, your phone opens its file picker. It shows files saved on the phone and in storage apps linked to it. A PDF that only sits inside a chat or an email isn't a saved file yet, so save it first.

On iPhone and iPad

• From WhatsApp: open the PDF in the chat, tap the Share button and choose Save to Files. Pick a folder you will remember.
• From Mail or Gmail: open the attachment, tap Share, then Save to Files.
• Downloaded in Safari: it is already in the Files app, usually in Downloads.

On Android

• From Gmail: tap the download arrow on the attachment. It goes to Downloads, like anything you download in Chrome.
• From Google Drive: the file picker usually lists Drive among its places, often in its side menu. Pickers differ from phone to phone, so look for Drive there.
• From WhatsApp: WhatsApp keeps received documents in its own folder, and the picker doesn't always show it. If you can't find the file, open it in the chat and use Share to save it to Drive or to your phone's files, then pick it from there.

Many bank statements and salary slips arrive locked with a password. That is fine: the tool asks for it on the PDF's own row.

Convert a PDF to Word on Android, step by step

1. Open PDF to Word in Chrome, Samsung Internet or another up-to-date browser.
2. Tap Choose PDF files. Your phone opens its file picker. It looks different on different phones, but it usually shows recent files and lets you open Downloads and Drive.
3. Pick your PDF. A row appears with a small picture of its first page. If the PDF asks for a password, a box opens on its row: type the password and tap Open. The password is used only on your phone.
4. Tap the yellow Convert to Word button. With a long list of PDFs, it stays in view at the bottom of the screen. Keep the page open and on screen while it works.
5. Read the result. The new row shows the PDF's size next to the Word file's size, the pages and the time. If anything needs a look, such as scanned pages, a short note says which pages and why.
6. Tap Download. The Word file goes to your Downloads folder. The button says Done for a moment, then changes to Download again, in case you need the file twice.
7. Open the file. Tap it in your Files app under Downloads and choose the Word, Google Docs or WPS Office app.

Convert a PDF to Word on iPhone and iPad

1. Open PDF to Word in Safari or Chrome.
2. Tap Choose PDF files. A picker from the Files app opens. It shows recent files, and lets you browse folders such as Downloads or iCloud Drive.
3. Pick your PDF. To convert several, pick them together if the picker lets you, or pick one and add the rest with Add more PDFs.
4. Tap Convert to Word. With several PDFs the button counts them, as in "Convert 3 PDFs to Word". Keep the screen on and the page in front until it finishes.
5. Tap Download. Downloads usually go to Downloads in the Files app. Safari may ask you to confirm the download first.
6. Open the Word file from Files, tap it, and share it to Word, Google Docs or Pages to edit it.

A note on what we tested: our tests ran in Chromium 141, the browser Chrome is built on, on a computer, with phone screen sizes simulated. We did not test on a real iPhone or in Safari. These steps describe how Safari and the Files app generally work, so your screen may look a little different.

Editing the Word file on a small screen

The Word file is a .docx, the format Word has used since 2007. Microsoft Word, Google Docs and WPS Office can all open it on a phone, and so can Apple Pages on an iPhone, so use whichever app you already have. A few things make a small screen easier:

• Turn the phone sideways for a wider page.
• Try both views. Many apps can show a document as printed pages or fitted to your screen's width. Look in the app's menu for a view or layout choice.
• Make sure it is saved. Before you close the app, check that your changes are kept, using the app's own save or share option.

Jobs that suit a phone

• Updating the phone number, address or latest job on a CV you only have as a PDF.
• Changing a date, a name or an amount in a letter or an application.
• Filling in a simple form that you only have as a PDF: typed answers come across as text, empty fields as lines to write on, and tick boxes as ☐ or ☒.

Jobs that are easier on a computer

• Rebuilding a table. Tables come across as lines with tab stops (set places along the line where each column starts), and turning them into a real Word table is easier with a keyboard and a bigger screen.
• Tidying formulas, or checking a long Hindi or other Indian-script document word by word against the PDF.

You don't have to finish on the phone. Convert there, then send the Word file to yourself by email or Drive, and carry on at a computer. If you need a PDF again when you are done, Word to PDF turns a Word document into a PDF on your phone too. For more on what to check in the converted file, see the two-minute check in our article on keeping formatting.

Papers you scanned or photographed with your phone

Many people meet this problem on a phone: they photograph a paper, save it as a PDF and then want to edit it. A photo of paper is a picture of words, not words. There is no text inside to copy into Word, and our converter doesn't do OCR (software that reads letters in a picture).

So a scanned PDF still goes through, but each page goes into the Word file as one picture, on a page of the same size and sharp enough to read and print. It looks right, but you can't edit its words. The note under the result says it plainly, for example "This PDF is a scan". If only some pages are scans, you get text for the typed pages and pictures for the scanned ones.

Quick test: press and hold on a word in your PDF. If it can't be selected, it is a scan.

What can you do?

• Look for the original. A certificate or statement often can be downloaded again as a typed PDF from the site that issued it. That converts far better than any scan.
• Check your scanner app for OCR. Some apps have a setting called OCR or text recognition. If it saves the recognised text behind the picture, our tool puts that text in the Word file and tells you. Check names, numbers and amounts, because recognition makes mistakes.
• Type a short page again. For a one-page letter, that can be the quickest way.
• Think before using an OCR service. Many of them, including Google Docs with a PDF from Google Drive, read the text on their own servers, which means uploading your document. For an Aadhaar or PAN copy or a bank statement, weigh that first.

The full story, with a table of choices, is in Scanned PDFs: no text layer, so nothing to keep.

Long PDFs, locked PDFs and many PDFs at once

Pages are read one at a time, and only the finished Word file is kept, so long PDFs work. We set no limit on pages or file size. The real limit is your phone's memory, and phones have less of it than computers.

Pages of typed text are quick. In our tests in Chrome on a computer, a 14-page research paper took 2.8 seconds and a 117-page maths textbook took 14.3 seconds. Scans are slower, because every page becomes a picture: a 42-page scan took 14.6 seconds. The guide lists every file we tried under real results.

Phones usually take longer than our test computer. Scans need the most memory: the browser on our computer used 1,301 MB at most while converting a 400-page scan, up from 527 MB before. A CV, a letter or a short report is a much smaller job than a 400-page scan.

Tips for long files on a phone

• Keep the page open with the screen on. Browsers slow down or pause pages you aren't looking at. If you switch to WhatsApp halfway, the work may stall, or the page may reload and show nothing. Nothing was sent anywhere, so just add the PDF again.
• Press Stop if you must. You still get a Word file with the pages read so far.

Several PDFs

Add as many PDFs as you like and tap Convert once. Each PDF gives its own Word file. With more than one, a Download all (ZIP) button saves them together in one ZIP file (one file that holds many files), which your phone can open to take the Word files out.

Locked PDFs

A locked PDF shows a password box on its own row. Type the password and tap Open. Until then it is left out, and your other PDFs are converted without it. If the password is wrong, the row says so and lets you try again.

Free, no sign-up and private: what that means on a phone

Most online PDF to Word websites work by uploading. Your PDF goes to their server, it is converted there, and you download the Word file back. For that time your CV, salary slip or bank statement sits on a computer you don't control.

This tool works the other way round. You need a connection to open the page. After that, your own browser reads the PDF and writes the Word file on your phone, and the page is not allowed to send data to any other website. There is no account, no watermark, and we set no limit on how many PDFs you convert.

One thing is still up to you. The Word file is saved in your phone's Downloads. On a shared or family phone, delete it from there when you have finished, especially for papers such as an Aadhaar or PAN card copy. Our privacy policy has the details.

Other ways to do it on a phone, compared fairly

If your PDF is typed, or you care about privacy, a tool that stays on your phone is a good fit. If your PDF is a scan and you must have editable words, you need text recognition, which usually means a service that reads your file on its servers. Choose with your eyes open.

Problems on phones, and quick fixes

• "Only PDF files work here." You picked a photo or a Word file. Turn photos into a PDF first with JPG to PDF, then convert that PDF.
• "Can't be opened: it may be damaged, or not a PDF." The file may be broken, cut short while downloading, or another kind of file with a .pdf name. Download it again, or open it in a PDF reader and save it as a new PDF.
• The download didn't show up. Look in your Downloads folder, or in Downloads in the Files app on an iPhone. If it isn't there, tap the Download button again. Your Word files stay ready until you change something or leave the page.
• The Word file has more pages than the PDF. Word's fonts are a little different from the PDF's, so a full page can run over. Make the font size a little smaller, or the margins a little narrower.
• A few symbols show as empty boxes. The app you opened the file in has no font with those symbols. Try another app, or a computer.
• Hindi or another Indian script looks wrong. Many of these PDFs don't store every letter in a way that can be read back, and the result warns you when that happens. Compare with the PDF and fix the words by hand.
• It is slow. Long scans take the most time. Keep the page in front, close other apps and tabs, and try a computer for a very big file.

Want the Word file to match the PDF as closely as possible? Converting PDF to Word without losing formatting covers what stays, what changes and how to fix it.