PDF was a huge step toward the future at the time of its release in 1993. It aimed to solve the problems that arose with transferring files over different systems.
Using this technology, people can share files and documents without changing their look. They will look the same everywhere, no matter what system they used.
It’s a useful feature even today, but what if you want to edit it or convert it to Word? The good news is we can convert file documents to other formats easily. Check out the different ways of converting PDF to Word below.
Adobe Acrobat Pro
Your Acrobat programs can convert your PDFs for you, but it comes with a price. While you can use it to view PDF files without limit, you need to have a subscription to edit or convert them.
To be specific, you need a subscription to Adobe Acrobat Export PDF. It’s an Adobe Document Cloud service that also allows you to convert PDF files to Excel and RTF file formats.
You can use it right on your Adobe Acrobat Reader software, but you can use it anywhere. If you’re using another computer, for example, you can use your web browser to access it. You can also download the app on your mobile phone.
A subscription costs about $1.99 per month, which they bill yearly. With this plan, you can also use the Add Comments, Share, and Fill & Sign tools for free. You can also choose other plans if you need more features.
For preserving formatting, this is the best choice. The conversion will keep all fonts, images, and alignment. The subscription fee is a small price to pay for turning a lot of PDFs into Word documents.
However, it’s too much if you only need to use the feature once. In this case, you can take advantage of the seven-day free trial to Acrobat Document Cloud. This allows you to export several PDFs into Word for one week.
Adobe Website
If you don’t have an Adobe Acrobat Pro but you still want to use an Adobe product, go to their website. They have an online PDF to Word converter you can use for free.
The upside is that you can be sure you won’t lose the document formatting. As the inventor of the PDF file format, Adobe makes sure that their online tool preserves the font, images, and alignments of the document even after conversion.
To use their converter, upload your PDF by clicking the “Select a file” button. You can also drag the document from your computer to the upload area. Uploading usually takes only a few seconds, but it still depends on the size of your file.
Once it’s uploaded and converter, you can then sign in to download the file. You can sign in by entering your registered email address or via Google, Facebook, or Apple. If you don’t sign in, the file will disappear from their servers.
You can also share the converted file with anyone upon signing in. It’s in a DOCX format, which is editable once you open it with Microsoft Word.
Note that this service is only good for converting one file. You’ll need to have a subscription to convert more files or wait for a day for another chance.
Adobe has more Acrobat online tools in case you need to do more with PDFs. You can also convert Word to PDF or even PDF to JPG.
Free Online Converter
Adobe’s website isn’t the only browser-based converter, though. Through a simple search of “PDF to Word” on Google, you’ll get many options of websites that can convert PDF to Word file documents for free.
The process is pretty much the same as in above. You upload your PDF document, convert it, and wait for it to finish. You can then download it as a Word file with preserved formatting.
The PDF document should be on your local hard drive. However, some websites allow you to upload it from your Google Drive, Dropbox, and such.
Some websites have more functions, like allowing you to convert several files at once. You can also convert to PDF file formats if what you have is a Word document.
These websites don’t usually have a single function, too. Most of them can also convert other file formats into several other file formats. You can convert MOD files, for example, or convert files to SVG.
In short, you can convert images, audio files, videos, documents, and almost any type of file with the help of free online converters.
Google Docs
Google Docs is also helpful in converting PDF documents, and the best thing about it is that it’s free and limitless. You can convert as many files as you want, although it does take a few steps.
First, you have to go to Google Docs and upload the PDF file(s) you want. Click on the folder icon on the right side; this is the open file picker.
If your file is in your Google Drive, you can search for it under the My Drive option on the opened window. Otherwise, you have to upload it under the Upload tab. You can only upload one file at a time.
The file will automatically open on another window after it’s uploaded. But, you need to open it as a Google Docs file.
To do that, click the “Open with” button at the top-middle part and choose Google Docs from the dropdown menu. Once opened, click on the File menu, select Download, and choose Microsoft Word (.docx).
This will save the document as a Microsoft Word file on your computer. You’ll also notice that you can also download it in other formats, like .epub, .txt, .rtf, or .pdf again.
The downside to using Google Docs to convert file formats is that it doesn’t preserve the images. It will still be readable, and tables might still be there, but it’s not the best choice when you have other elements in your file aside from text.
Convert File Formats Today
Converting PDFs to Word or vice versa isn’t a difficult task given the numerous options available to you. Whether you need to convert file formats only once or multiple times, our list above should be helpful.
Are you looking to convert your file to another type? Our free online tools will help you with this! Check out which ones we have and what files need converting today!