Convert PDF to Word without losing formatting

Can a PDF become Word with nothing lost?

Close, but not exact. Be careful with any site that promises "exactly the same". A PDF is like a printed page: it records where every word, line and picture sits, and nothing about how the page was built. A Word file is built from paragraphs, headings and lists that move when you type. To change one into the other, a converter has to look at the page the way you would and work out the structure.

For ordinary typed documents, PDF to Word does this well. You get real text that re-wraps as you edit, with its bold, italic and colour, plus Word headings, lists and columns, and pictures where they were. The guide has the full table of what comes across.

Some things change: tables become lined-up rows, fonts are swapped for common ones, and coloured boxes and lines are left out. The guide lists them under what doesn't come across exactly.

Then there is the big one. If your PDF is a scan, a photo of paper, there is no formatting to keep, because there is no text. Our converter has no OCR (software that reads letters in a picture), so a scanned page goes into the Word file as a picture. The part on scanned PDFs says what to do about that.

The plan that works best is short:

1. Check whether your PDF is typed or scanned.
2. Convert it with the tool.
3. Check the Word file with a two-minute list.
4. Fix the few things that changed.

Check first: is your PDF typed or scanned?

This one check decides almost everything. Open the PDF and try to select a single word. On a phone, press and hold on it. On a computer, drag across it. If the word lights up, the PDF has real text. If nothing happens, or the whole page is selected like a photo, the page is a picture. Our PDF Viewer gives a second clue: when you search and it finds no text at all, it says No text (see scans and search).

Where your PDF came from is a good clue too:

Not sure which you have? Convert it anyway. Nothing is uploaded, your PDF is not changed, and the result tells you which pages came across as scans, for example "Pages 3 and 7 are scanned".

What to expect for a CV, a form, a table or a brochure

"Formatting" means different things for different papers. Here is what the converter does with each kind, and what to do next:

Open the Word file and check seven things

Open the file in Word, Google Docs, WPS Office or any app that opens .docx files (the Word file type), and go through this list:

1. Press Enable Editing if you see it. Word on a computer often opens a file you just downloaded in a protected, read-only mode, with a bar at the top. That is Word being careful, not a fault in the file.
2. Count the pages. Each PDF page starts a new Word page. A different count usually means a page of text ran onto a second page (see extra pages).
3. Look at the headings. In Word, turn on View, Navigation Pane to list them. In Google Docs, the outline at the side does the same.
4. Look at the fonts and tables. An unusual font becomes a common one. Are the table rows lined up?
5. Read every number. Dates, amounts, phone numbers, roll numbers, reference numbers. Never skip this one. If your PDF was a scan with hidden recognised text, be extra careful, because recognition makes small mistakes, such as a 5 read as an S.
6. Check headers, footers and page numbers. Page numbers become Word's own. A line that repeated on every page, like a book's title, is taken out of the text.
7. Check the pictures. Photos and charts should sit where they were. Words inside a chart are part of its picture and can't be edited.

Keep the PDF open next to the Word file while you check.

How to fix each thing that changed

Tables that are only lined-up rows

First look for rows that spill onto a second line, because a table cell with several lines of text spreads over several lines. Move that extra text up into its row, so each row is one line. Then select the rows and, in Word, choose Insert, Table, Convert Text to Table, with Tabs as the separator. The guide has the steps under editing the Word file. Once it is a real table, add borders and shading with Word's table tools, since the PDF's lines were left out.

Fonts that look different

Fonts that come with Microsoft Office, like Calibri or Arial, are kept. Others become the closest common one, with bold and italic kept. For one font everywhere, select all the text (Ctrl+A, or Cmd+A on a Mac) and pick a font and size. Headings keep their Heading 1, 2 and 3 styles, so the navigation pane still works.

Extra pages

Common fonts can be a little wider than the PDF's, so a full page can run over, and because every PDF page starts a new Word page, the overflow can be a page with just a few lines. In our test, a 117-page maths textbook became 122 pages in LibreOffice. Make the font size a little smaller, or the margins a little narrower, and the extra pages go. To let text flow from one page to the next, show the formatting marks (the ¶ button on Word's Home tab) and delete the section break at the end of the page. A section break is the mark Word puts where a new part of the document starts.

Missing colour panels, boxes and lines

These are drawn shapes in a PDF, not part of the text, so the converter leaves them out. So are underlines, highlighting and the lines between columns. Put them back with Word's own shading, borders, underline and highlight. On a design-heavy page, rebuilding the look in Word is often quickest.

Headers and footers that vanished

A line that repeats at the top or bottom of every page, like a chapter name or "Confidential", is taken out of the text. To get it back, double-click at the top of a page in Word to open the header and type it there. Word usually repeats a header on the pages after it, but each PDF page is its own part of the Word file, so scroll through and check. Page numbers need no help: they come across as Word's own.

Formulas, footnotes and sideways text

Formulas keep their letters and symbols but lose fraction bars, root signs and tall brackets, and parts can land on lines of their own. Retype important ones with Word's equation tools. Footnotes stay as small text at the foot of their page, not as Word footnotes. A label set at an angle, like a word running up the edge of a page, goes at the end of its page as ordinary text, so move it where you want it.

Scanned PDFs: no text layer, so nothing to keep

A scan is a photo of paper. Its pages hold pictures of words, not words. There is no "text layer": no hidden copy of the words for a converter to read. And ours doesn't do OCR, so it can't read the words out of the picture.

Here is exactly what you get instead. Each scanned page goes into the Word file as one picture, on a page of the same size, sharp enough to read and print (150 ppi, which means 150 dots for every inch of paper). It looks right, but you can't edit its words. The result names the pages that were scans, or says the whole PDF is a scan. A page where one picture covers most of the page and there are only a few words, like a photo with a short caption, also goes in as a picture and is counted with the scans.

There is one good surprise. Many scanner apps and office copiers run OCR themselves and hide the recognised text behind the picture, so the PDF can be searched. When a PDF has this hidden text layer, the Word file gets that text instead of the picture, and the result tells you. Check names, numbers and amounts in it, because OCR makes mistakes.

If you need editable words from a scan, these are your honest choices:

For private papers, such as an Aadhaar or PAN card copy, a bank statement or a medical report, think before using any tool that uploads. The point of NoUploadPDF is that your PDF never leaves your device.

Three things that give you a better Word file

• Start from the best PDF you have. One saved straight from Word or Google Docs converts better than a printout that was scanned again, because it has real text.
• Don't use a squeezed copy. The pictures in your Word file can only be as sharp as the pictures in the PDF. If you made the PDF smaller to email it, go back to the full-size one.
• Convert only the pages you need. Take out a chapter with Split PDF first. A short file is faster to convert and faster to check.

When the exact look matters, keep the PDF

A PDF looks the same on every phone and computer. A Word file doesn't: its look depends on the fonts and the app that opens it. So a signed contract, an official certificate or a form with a fixed layout is best left as a PDF. Convert it only to copy the text or to prepare a new version.

Changing words inside the PDF itself, without converting, takes a full PDF editor. Our tools can't edit the text of a PDF. Desktop programs such as the paid version of Adobe Acrobat can. Most online PDF tools upload your file to their servers to do the work.

If you own Microsoft Word on a computer, newer versions can open a PDF and convert it themselves. On an important file, try both and keep whichever looks better. We can't say which will win for yours. Ours works in your browser, on a phone too, without Word, and says plainly which pages were scans.

When your edits are done and you need a PDF again, Word to PDF turns a Word document into a PDF on your device. For an extra check on a long conversion, save the Word file as a PDF with it, then put it and your original into Compare PDF. Its word comparison marks every added, removed or changed word, and text that only moved to another page is not counted as a change, so swapped fonts and a different layout don't get in the way. We haven't tested this route widely, so treat it as an extra pair of eyes, not proof.

Questions people ask next

Will the Word file have the same number of pages?

Often, not always. Our 14-page research paper in two columns still had 14 pages in LibreOffice. Our 117-page maths textbook had 122, because the swapped fonts took a little more room.

How long does it take?

In our tests on a computer in Chrome, a 14-page research paper took 2.8 seconds and a 117-page textbook took 14.3 seconds. A phone usually takes longer.

Is it safe for my CV, bank statement or ID copy?

Your PDF is not uploaded. Your own browser reads it and writes the Word file on your device. There is no sign-up and no watermark. Our privacy policy has the details.

Can I convert only some pages?

Take those pages out first with Split PDF, then convert the smaller file. The Stop button also gives you a Word file with the pages read so far, but only from the start of the PDF.

Can I do this on my phone?

Yes. Converting a PDF to editable Word on a phone has the steps for Android and iPhone.