How do you convert a PDF to Word?
To convert a PDF to Word, upload the PDF and download the DOCX the converter builds from its text. A text-based PDF converts in seconds. A scanned PDF has no text layer, so use the OCR option instead, which reads the pages in your browser and rebuilds the words.
Can you convert a scanned PDF to Word?
Yes. A scanned PDF holds no text, so an ordinary conversion finds nothing to extract. Optical character recognition reads the characters off each rendered page and writes them into the Word file as real, editable text. English is recognised, and the work runs in the browser rather than on a server.
Does converting a PDF to Word keep the formatting?
Partly. Text, paragraph breaks, bullet lists and numbered lists come across, and short all-capitals lines are set in bold as headings. Fonts, colours, spacing, columns and images are not rebuilt, because the conversion recovers the words rather than cloning the page design. Styling is applied afterwards in Word.
Processed on our server. Your input is sent to our server, processed, and discarded straight after. It is never stored or shared.
What this PDF to Word converter actually does
This is a text recovery tool, not a layout clone. It reads the words stored in your PDF and writes them into a fresh, fully editable DOCX. Paragraph breaks, bullet lists and numbered lists carry across, and short all-capitals lines are set in bold so section titles stay visible.
What it does not do is rebuild the original page design. Fonts, colours, spacing, columns and images are not copied over. You get clean, editable content, and you apply your own formatting from there.
That trade is deliberate. Converters promising a pixel-perfect Word copy of a complex PDF usually deliver a document stuffed with text boxes and frames that is harder to edit than retyping it. Plain, well-structured text is easier to work with.
How to convert PDF to Word
- 1
Upload your PDF
Drag the file into the box, or click to choose it from your device. Your original PDF is never changed.
- 2
Choose Convert or Convert with OCR
Use Convert for a PDF whose text you can select. Use Convert with OCR for a scan or a photo saved as a PDF.
- 3
Check the text came through
Confirm the words, figures and tables are all present, then reformat headings and spacing to taste.
- 4
Download the .docx file
Open it in Microsoft Word, Google Docs, LibreOffice or Pages and edit it like any other document.
You do not need an account, and there is no limit on how often you convert.
Converting a scanned PDF to Word
A scanned PDF is a picture of a page. There is no text inside it to extract, so an ordinary PDF to Word conversion has nothing to work with and will stop and tell you so.
The Convert with OCR button solves this. It renders each page, reads the characters optically and rebuilds them as real text in the Word file. Two things are worth knowing before you start. It recognises English, so other scripts will not come out correctly. And it runs on your own device rather than on a server, which keeps the file private but means a long document can take several minutes, with progress shown page by page.
OCR also handles tables better than the standard path. Where it detects rows and columns, it builds a real Word table with proper cells. For a photograph rather than a PDF, use the Image to Text tool instead.
What converts and what does not
| Element in your PDF | Result in the Word file |
|---|---|
| Selectable text | Converts in full and is editable |
| Paragraph breaks | Preserved |
| Bullet and numbered lists | Preserved as text |
| Section headings | Short all-capitals lines are set in bold |
| Scanned pages | Need the OCR option |
| Tables | Real Word tables via OCR, tab-separated text otherwise |
| Images and logos | Not carried over |
| Multi-column layouts | Flattened, and columns can interleave |
| Fonts, colours and sizes | Reset to Word defaults |
| Page headers and footers | Repeat inline at each page break |
| Hyperlinks | The text stays, the clickable link is lost |
| Form fields | Field values are not extracted |
| Password-protected PDFs | Cannot be opened, remove the password first |
Is PDF to Word conversion accurate?
Accuracy comes down to one thing: whether your PDF holds real text or a picture of text. A quick check is to try highlighting a sentence with your cursor. If it highlights, the text is real.
A PDF exported from Word, Google Docs, InDesign or a reporting system holds real text, and the words come across exactly. A scan, a phone photo saved as a PDF or a screenshot holds none, so accuracy then depends on OCR, which is strong on clean, straight, high-contrast English pages and weaker on faint print, handwriting, skewed scans and heavy background patterns.
Review the Word file before treating it as final, checking figures, names and tables in particular.
File size, limits and privacy
PDFs up to 25 MB are accepted. There is no cap on pages, no daily quota, no account, no watermark and no cost.
A standard conversion sends your PDF to our server, converts it and discards it immediately. Nothing is stored and nothing is shared. An OCR conversion never uploads anything, because the pages are rendered and read entirely inside your browser, so a confidential scan stays on your machine.
Common uses
- Updating an old resume that arrived as a PDF
- Editing contract clauses sent by another party
- Reworking an academic paper shared in a locked format
- Recovering text from a scanned letter or invoice
- Turning a marketing PDF into text you can reuse as web copy
PDF to Word is not the same as adding a PDF to a Word document
People mix these two up, so here is the difference in plain terms.
Converting PDF to Word pulls the text out of the PDF into an editable Word file. That is what this tool does.
Adding a PDF to a Word document means placing a PDF inside a Word file you are already writing, either as an attached object or as an image of a page. You do that inside Word, using Insert and then Object or Picture, and it does not turn the PDF into text.
So if you want to edit the content, convert it. If you want to embed a PDF in a report, insert it in Word.
Frequently asked questions
Read more: How to Convert a PDF to Word Without Losing Your Text, Scanned PDF to Editable Text and PDF to Word vs Inserting a PDF Into Word.
Reviewed by Raja Jahangir · Last reviewed: September 2026