PDF to Word converter

Turn a PDF into an editable Word document. Headings become real Word headings, bold, italic and links stay, lists become Word lists, and repeated page headers and footers are removed. The PDF is read in your browser, so it is never uploaded.

No PDF yet. You can also drop a file on this box.

What you get

A PDF has no paragraphs or headings, only pieces of text placed at x/y positions. This page reads them with pdf.js (Firefox's PDF engine) and rebuilds the document's structure, the same engine as our PDF to Markdown converter:

In the PDFIn the .docx
Larger textHeading 1, 2 and 3 styles, from the biggest size down
The navigation pane and Insert › Table of Contents work.
Bold, italic, monospaced fontsBold, italic, and Consolas code blocks
Link areasClickable hyperlinks on the words under them
•, –, 1., a) linesReal Word bullet and numbered lists
Lines of a paragraphOne reflowing paragraph, with words hyphenated at line ends rejoined
Page headers, footers, page numbersRemoved (option)

What it doesn't keep

This converter is built for getting the text back into an editable form, not for a pixel-perfect copy of the layout. Say so up front, so you can pick the right tool:

ContentResult
TablesCell text in reading order, not a Word table
For tables, use PDF to Excel or PDF to CSV.
Images, charts, logosDropped
Save them with extract images from PDF.
Fonts, colors, exact positionsReplaced by Word styles
Two-column layoutsColumn by column, in the order the PDF draws them
Scanned PDFsNo text: the pages are pictures
Run OCR PDF first, then convert its output here.

If the layout matters more than editing (a designed brochure, a form), desktop Word can open a PDF directly (File › Open) and tries to keep the look, and most online converters that upload your file do the same. For contracts, papers, reports and manuals, where you want to edit or reuse the text, clean Word styles are easier to work with.

How we checked it

We converted the "Attention Is All You Need" paper from arXiv, a Wikipedia article printed to PDF by Chrome, and the IRS Form W-9, and opened each .docx in LibreOffice Writer and python-docx: headings came back as Heading styles, list items as list paragraphs, and links as hyperlinks.

Going the other way: HTML to PDF by API

If you generate documents yourself, it is usually easier to keep the source as HTML and make the PDF from it. The Shotmint API renders HTML or any URL to a PDF in Chromium, with your CSS, web fonts, headers and footers:

curl -X POST https://shotmint.creasework.com/v1/pdf -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"html": "<h1>Invoice 1042</h1><p>Total: €120</p>"}' -o invoice.pdf

Each render is 1 credit. Free keys get 25 renders every month; €5 buys 2,000 more, and bought credits never expire. Try it without a key on HTML to PDF.

Get 25 free renders a month API docs

FAQ

Is my PDF uploaded? No. pdf.js reads it and the .docx is built in JavaScript on this page, so the file stays on your device. That matters for contracts, payslips and medical letters, which most online converters send to their servers.

Is there a page or size limit? No limit, no signup and no watermark. Very large PDFs depend on your device's memory; use a page range if your browser struggles.

Can it open password-protected PDFs? Yes, if you know the password. The page asks for it, and it stays in your browser.

Why are some headings at the wrong level? Levels come from font sizes, so a PDF that sets its title and sections at the same size can't be told apart. Set Headings to "None" and style them yourself in Word.

Related: PDF to DOCX, PDF to HTML, PDF to Markdown, PDF to text, OCR PDF, Word to PDF, Word to HTML, HTML to Word, PDF to JPG, merge PDF.

Related tools

Word to PDF · Word to HTML · Markdown to Word · HTML to Word · Word to Markdown Converter · PDF to Markdown · PDF to HTML · PDF to text · PDF to Excel · Compare PDFs (text diff) · OCR PDF · Extract images from PDF · Unlock PDF · Protect PDF · Flatten PDF · Fill PDF form · Sign PDF · Add text to PDF · BMP to PDF · DOCX to PDF Converter · Extract Pages from PDF · GIF to PDF · HEIC to PDF · PDF Metadata Editor · PDF Metadata Viewer · PDF to DOCX · PDF to TIFF · TIFF to PDF · WebP to PDF · Webpage to PDF · XLSX to PDF Converter · all free tools