Word to PDF

Why send documents as PDF

Word lays a document out on the recipient's machine, so what you send is not necessarily what opens. A different version of the program, a missing font or another page setup, and suddenly the contract has one line more and the last paragraph spills onto the next sheet. A PDF has its layout fixed: it looks the same on every computer and phone, and it signs without a fuss.

That is why CVs, invoices, proposals and paperwork for public bodies travel as PDFs. Plenty of submission systems will not take anything else.

How the conversion works

Upload the document and download the finished PDF. The conversion runs on our server in LibreOffice, which reads the same formats as Word and typesets PDFs from them natively. So this is not a reconstruction of the layout but a normal export: paragraphs, tables, images and numbering stay where they belong.

Besides DOCX we take the older DOC, the open ODT format from LibreOffice, RTF and plain text. The file is deleted straight after processing, nothing is left on the server.

When the result can differ

• An unusual font that is not on the server is replaced with a similar one. For the common families (Arial, Times New Roman, Calibri) the substitute is metrically identical and you will not spot the difference.
• Tracked changes and comments do not carry into the PDF the way you see them in Word. Accept or reject them before converting.
• A password-protected document cannot be converted, LibreOffice never gets to the content. Remove the password in Word first.

Frequently asked questions

How do I convert Word to PDF for free?

Upload the file on this page and click convert. No sign-up needed; the free daily limit is five documents.

Does the PDF keep selectable text?

Yes. Text stays text, you can search and copy it, because nothing is turned into an image. Links and the heading outline work too.

What about accents and non-English characters?

They carry over untouched. Fonts are embedded into the PDF, so the document displays correctly even on a computer that does not have them installed.

And the other direction, PDF to Word?

That is PDF to Word. By its nature it is a reconstruction, so with complex layouts things shift. The Word to PDF direction is the reliable one.

Can I still work on the resulting PDF?

Yes. You can add page numbers to it, put a watermark on it or sign it.