How to convert a PDF to Word and keep it editable

PDF to Word has two outputs. Editable text is already selected. It builds Word paragraphs you can change. Keep exact look places each page into the .docx as a picture of that page. The words sit inside the picture, so you cannot select them, search them or edit them. Use Keep exact look only when you need a visual copy and you do not need to rewrite anything.

A heading in Editable text is a short line, 140 characters or fewer, whose letters are at least 1.2 times the usual body size. That line becomes bold. A longer line stays a normal paragraph, even when the type is large. A line that starts with a bullet, or with a hyphen, dash or asterisk followed by a space, becomes a Word bullet, and the marker is removed. A line that starts with a number, such as “1.” or “a)”, stays its own paragraph. The number remains in the text. It is not turned into a Word numbered list.

The tool does not overwrite your original. The download is a new .docx.

The tool reads each page from the top down. Nearby lines of a similar size are joined into one paragraph. A word split with a hyphen at the end of a line is joined when the next line starts with a lowercase letter. Fonts, colours and italics are not copied. Word supplies its own default font. The size follows the PDF and stays between 6 and 48 points. Only headings are bold.

Two-column pages are not rebuilt. Side-by-side text can be joined into one line, or the columns can be mixed. Tables become paragraphs, not Word tables. A sidebar CV, a form, or a page of boxes will need fixing by hand.

Pictures stored as images are placed after that page's paragraphs, not in their original spot. A picture smaller than 24 by 24 pixels is skipped. A picture wider than 600 pixels is narrowed to 600 pixels wide. Drawings made of lines, and words that exist only inside a picture, may not appear as a separate image. If that step fails, the paragraphs are still written. A page break separates PDF pages.

Editable text needs selectable characters. If the PDF has fewer than three, conversion stops. The message says the file looks scanned, and it tells you to run OCR PDF first or to choose Keep exact look. Keep exact look still will not give you text you can edit.

OCR PDF runs in the browser. Pick English, French, German, Spanish, Italian or Portuguese. The first run downloads a language model of about 10 MB. Your PDF is not uploaded. Click Make searchable PDF. The download name ends in -searchable.pdf. The pages stay as they are, with an invisible text layer you can select and search. OCR does not create a Word file. Open that PDF in PDF to Word and use Editable text. Blurry pages, stamps and handwriting are unreliable, and some words are left out. The scan can also be copied in as a picture after the paragraphs. Delete that picture if you only want the text.

A PDF that still asks for a password cannot be converted here. Unlock PDF removes a password you already know and saves a copy that opens without one. It does not guess a password. A wrong password, or encryption this browser tool cannot open, produces no file. Convert the unlocked copy.

This tool does not accept a .docx. If the file is already Word, you do not need this conversion. To make a PDF from a .docx, use Word to PDF.

The report appears only after Editable text, and only when the comparison can be built. If it cannot, the .docx is still ready to download.

The heading reads Looks faithful, Minor differences, or Significant differences. Text overlap is the share of words that appear in both files. Order does not matter, so a two-column page can score highly and still read in the wrong order in Word. Open the document and check it.

You also see word and character counts. Pages may show a number for the PDF and a dash for Word, because a .docx does not store a page count this report can read. Paragraphs may show a dash for the PDF and a number for Word. If words differ, the boxes are labelled “Words present in input but not in output” and “Words added by the conversion”. Each list is a short sample. Check names, dates and numbers yourself. A high overlap does not mean a portal will accept the file.

Change the .docx in Word or Google Docs, then save it. If the form wants a PDF, open Word to PDF with that .docx and leave Selectable text on, unless you want image pages. The PDF uses standard fonts (Helvetica, Times or Courier), so letter shapes can differ. Text boxes and unusual templates can shift. Read the preview and the conversion details, which list replaced fonts, before you upload.

There is no signup step, and the .docx has no watermark. Processing stays on your device. Your school or employer may still have rules about private documents.