Converting PDF to Word: The Best Options for PC & Mac

This article was co-authored by Luigi Oppido and by wikiHow staff writer, Nicole Levine, MFA. Luigi Oppido is the Owner and Operator of Pleasure Point Computers in Santa Cruz, California. Luigi has over 25 years of experience in general computer repair, data recovery, virus removal, and upgrades. He is also the host of the Computer Man Show! broadcasted on KSQD covering central California for over two years.

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If you convert a PDF to a DOCX file, you can open and edit it in Microsoft Word. Free tools like Adobe's online PDF converter and Google Drive make it easy to convert PDFs to Word, but some PDF formatting won't be preserved. If you have Word, you can use it to open and convert a PDF in seconds. Adobe Acrobat Pro does the best job at preserving the PDF's original formatting and images, though you'll need a subscription or free trial.

Quick Steps
  1. Go to Adobe's free PDF to Word converter.
  2. Drag your PDF to the box to upload and convert.
  3. Click Download to save the converted Word document to your computer.
Method 1 of 4:

Using Adobe's Free Online Converter

Step 1 Go to https://www.adobe.com/acrobat/online/pdf-to-word.html.

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Step 2 Drag your PDF to the box.

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Step 3 Click the blue Download button.

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Using Microsoft Word

Step 1 Right-click or Ctrl + click the PDF you want to open.

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Step 2 Select Open with.

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