Guide

How to turn a PDF into a Word document you can edit

Open PDF to Word, add your PDF and press Convert to Word. You get a .docx file with the text ready to edit, with headings, bold and italic, lists, simple tables and pictures in place. The conversion runs in your browser, so nothing is uploaded.

By Akash Gupta ·

Open PDF to Word

Step by step

  1. Open PDF to Word. Go to the PDF to Word page. No sign-up and nothing to install.
  2. Add your PDF. Tap Select PDF files, drop the file on the box or paste it. You can add up to 50 PDFs at once.
  3. Tick OCR for a scan. If the PDF is a scan, tick "Recognise text in scanned pages (OCR)" and choose the language.
  4. Convert and download. Press Convert to Word and download the .docx. Several files can be saved together as a zip.

What carries over from the PDF?

PlumPDF reads the text with its fonts, sizes, weight and colour, then rebuilds the document:

  • Paragraphs, headings, bold, italic, sizes and colours.
  • Bullet and numbered lists.
  • Simple tables, where lines line up in columns with clear gaps.
  • Pictures, copied at 150 DPI and placed where they appeared.
  • The page size, with every PDF page starting a new page.

Will the Word file look exactly like the PDF?

For letters, reports and contracts it comes close. Multi-column pages, magazine layouts, text boxes and charts come out simplified, because a PDF only stores where each piece of text was drawn, not how the document was built.

How do I convert a scanned PDF to Word?

Tick "Recognise text in scanned pages (OCR)" and pick the language. Pages with no text layer are read in your browser and come out as editable text. Pages that already have text are converted directly. Without OCR, a scanned page is placed in the document as a picture so nothing is lost. OCR is available in 15 languages.

Why does the font look different?

Most PDFs carry only the parts of their fonts they need, and those cannot be reused for editing. The Word file names the original font. Your word processor shows it if it is installed, or the closest one it has, so line breaks can move a little.

Honest limits

Drawings made from lines, such as charts and borders, are not carried over, and rotated text is left out. Forms come out as plain text. If only a few words need changing, Edit PDF is quicker than converting the whole file.

Questions

How do I convert a PDF to Word for free?

Add the PDF to PDF to Word and press Convert to Word. You get a .docx file with editable text. There is no account, no watermark and no limit on how often you use it.

Can I convert a PDF to Word without losing formatting?

Text-based documents keep most of their formatting. Complex layouts, charts and text boxes are simplified.

Can I convert several PDFs to Word at once?

Yes, up to 50. Each becomes its own .docx with the same name, and "Download all (.zip)" saves them together.

Can I convert a password-protected PDF?

Remove the password first with Unlock PDF, which needs the password, then convert the result.

Is it safe to convert a PDF to Word online?

With PlumPDF the conversion happens inside your browser tab, so the PDF is never uploaded. That matters for contracts and payslips. Closing the tab discards everything.

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