PDFs are standard documents because they’re readily viewed the same way by all parties. Due to their specific design, they aren’t edit-friendly.
To make life easier, you can convert your PDF to a Word document format. Luckily, you don’t need Microsoft Word to make the conversion. In this guide, we’ll walk you through a few of the ways you can convert PDFs to Word documents.
Converting with Adobe Acrobat
Using Acrobat is the best way to make sure your conversion’s formatting is as accurate as possible. However, you’ll need the paid version of Acrobat to use this method. Adobe currently offers a free, seven-day trial of Adobe Acrobat Document Cloud (DC), which you can use for one-time conversions.
If you need to make conversions on a regular basis, you’ll want to pay for the full version, which runs approximately $15 a month with an annual commitment, or as part of an Adobe Creative Cloud package.
Step 1: Open the PDF you’d like to convert in Adobe Acrobat. Depending on your preferences, PDF files may automatically open in Acrobat.
Step 2: In the right-hand pane, look for Export PDF. Click it.
Step 3: Click on Microsoft Word, which will currently present you with format choices: Word 97-2003 (.doc) and Word 2013-2016 (.docx). If you go with a .docx file, you can hit the settings cog and set additional options, such as the ability to retain flowing text or the PDF format. Choose your ideal format and settings, and click the Export button.
Step 4: Adobe will automatically run text recognition for any scanned text during this step. The text recognition doesn’t always work, but for most legible text, it’s an ideal solution. Keep in mind that you may need to do some quick reformatting in your new Word doc afterward.Step 5: Name your new Word file and save it in your desired location.
Converting with Microsoft Word
Microsoft Word is a great, free way to convert PDFs to Word documents — if you have Office already. The formatting doesn’t always line up and the text may not be exact. If you have Acrobat or don’t mind trying a web-based converter, we suggest trying another option if the formatting is unusable. After all, other solutions may be more accurate.
Step 1: To begin, launch Word and click File. This will launch a new window: Look at the menu bar on the left, where the File options are. Select Open.
Step 2: At first, the Open screen will only show you the recent Word documents that you have accessed on that computer, and will not show any PDFs. If you look below Recent, you will see options to look for documents in Personal (OneDrive files) and Other locations (your local hard drive, etc.). Select one of these, and now Word should show you both Word and PDF files found in that location. You can also just select Browse to locate your PDF.
Step 3: Select the PDF you want to convert, just like opening a Word file. Word will then bring up a notification that lets you know it’s going to convert the PDF to an editable Word document. It may take some time, and it may not look exactly like the PDF due to formatting differences, etc. If all that is all right, select OK.
Step 4: Word will then transfer the document into a Word file and open it. Take a look at the formatting and make sure you can edit the document as you want without graphics or text behaving strangely. If everything works, you’re good to go!