Know-How to Convert a Pdf File to a Word Document: Files with the PDF extension have a number of undeniable advantages: they are easy to read and compact. But when you need to make adjustments to the compiled instructions or the description of the rules of the game. You are faced with an insoluble problem since it is impossible to change the text.
How to Convert a Pdf File to a Word Document
There are many web services that provide PDF to Word conversion services. If you don’t have access to Acrobat or Microsoft Word, contact one of the online services listed below for help.
Working with each of them boils down to a few simple steps: uploading a file to the site, choosing the desired format, starting the conversion process.
11 Ways to Convert a Pdf File to a Word Document
Then you just have to download the file or check the Inbox folder of your email specified during registration.
PDF Pro
PDF Pro is a convenient web application that allows you to convert PDF, Word, PNG, PowerPoint, and Excel. In just a couple of clicks, you can process several documents at once. You do not need to subscribe or pay for registration.
However, with free use, you can download no more than three files. For only $4 per month, this restriction will be lifted. Although for most users, the basic version is usually sufficient.
Adobe Acrobat
The program will do the job quickly, as accurately as possible, and without prejudice to the structure of the source text. However, for this, you will need a commercial distribution of Acrobat worth $15 per month.
Adobe is currently offering a seven-day demo version of Adobe Acrobat Document Cloud, with which you can perform a one-time conversion. For regular access to this function, you need to purchase a paid version.
- Open the PDF in Adobe Acrobat. In the right pane, click on “Export PDF.”
- Click on the line “Microsoft Word,” which allows you to choose one of the formats: doc or Docx. If you prefer the second option, you can set additional options for saving text.
- When everything is ready, click the “Export” button.
At this point, Adobe will automatically start text recognition for any scanned document. This function does not always work correctly, but in most cases, especially if the text is legible enough, the result is close to ideal. Keep in mind that in the created document, you still have to make some changes – for example, change the font or break everything into paragraphs.
Microsoft Word
If Microsoft Office 2016 is installed on your computer, then you can use the WordPress editor to convert PDF files. In the end, he can save the text in PDF format. Why not try running the process backward?
- Launch Word and click “File” in the upper left corner.
- In the menu that appears, select “Open”, just like you do with a regular document. Locate the PDF you want to convert.
- You can find it by name by going to the location where it is stored.
- After selection, click the “Open” button.
- That, however, is all. Word will try to automatically reformat the contents of the PDF file and create a text document.
This method is not always effective, but sometimes it can serve as a good alternative to paid Adobe Acrobat.
Smallpdf
Smallpdf – “fast, easy and free” – the main features of this online service that works with most text and image formats.
Converted documents can be downloaded to your computer, as well as saved to Google Drive or Dropbox.
Nitro PDF
Nitro PDF to Word – this converter will send the finished Word file to your email. This feature can be useful for business or study when working together on projects. Great for a text passage, but not for fragments with a large number of images. The free version has a limit on the download file size of 5 MB. Five conversions per month are available.
A very good selection of import and export formats (Word, PowerPoint, and Excel) is provided. We also note some disadvantages. Unlike other services from the review, this program sends you a converted file by email. No more than five conversions per month are available for each address. A pretty serious limitation that affects the usefulness of the service.
In the final version, the text is recognized quite well. The spaces between paragraphs are correctly displayed, but there are problems with line breaks. However, you can eliminate them manually quite easily and quickly.
iLovePDF
iLovePDF offers a whole range of free tools for processing PDF files – converting to other formats, merging, splitting, compressing, and much more.
It allows you to convert PDF files to Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, and PowerPoint presentations. A miniature version of the document is displayed on the service almost immediately after downloading it. Which is convenient for confirming that everything was recognized correctly.
It is possible to save the received text file to Google Drive or Dropbox. If you are converting a fragment for another person, you can send him a download link by email.
But the most important thing is the quality of the transformation. And in this regard, iLovePDF is hard to beat. The entire contents of the text file are transmitted accurately, without major errors. Open the exported document in Word, and you can immediately start working with it.
The free iLovePDF tariff has some limitations. The size of the original PDF file must not exceed 10 MB. Any download link is available only for an hour and then deleted. You can use each link no more than five times.
By registering on the site, you will receive 15 MB for storing files, 2 hours of link life, and 10 downloads with one link. The $5 Premium plan provides 40 MB for file storage and up to 200 document downloads in 24 hours.
Adobe Export PDF
To date, the best conditions for processing PDF files are offered by Adobe tools. It was she who created this format. Adobe offers a paid web application Adobe Acrobat Exporter Online for US$1.99/mo. (Billed annually US$23.88/yr), as well as a program for Mac OS X, iOS, Windows, and Linux. Available conversion to DOC, RTF, or even Excel.
Adobe Converter is probably the best solution if you have a large amount of processing material. It is also recommended to use this application if you need to get the highest quality possible. True, the price may seem rather high. So you should decide for yourself whether to pay that much or not.
The biggest drawback of this solution from Adobe is the lack of a trial version. You must first pay, and only then determine how well the software works. For many users, this is not very convenient.
SimplyPDF
The SimplyPDF interface looks quite normal, but it has many useful features. Software by default converts PDF to DOCX, but you can choose a different output file format – RTF, Excel, or PowerPoint.
By clicking on the More Options button, you get even more features. For example, SimplyPDF will try to detect lists, tables, headers, and footers in the original PDF file and convert them to the same objects in a Word document.
If your material contains images with text, optical recognition technology will be used to extract it. In the event that you don’t like the final result, additional parameter settings may fix this problem.
As our tests showed, additional configuration is rarely required. In most cases, documents are converted without any noticeable problems. But if you regularly work with complex files, then customization will be very useful.
Formswift
FormSwift is a free online PDF to Word converter with interesting additions. At first glance, the site looks the same as many others that are similar in purpose. It allows you to make changes to documents and then save to PDF or Docx. By creating a free trial account, you can email the results to your friends or business partners.
After the document is loaded, FormSwift will display it in a simple editor. Add, edit, or highlight text, insert or move images, add your signature.
One of the most useful features is removing fragments you don’t need. This increases the chances of accurate conversion. It is worth trying this option if other converters did not give positive results.
Our tests show that the FormSwift conversion algorithm gives excellent results even with the most complex files. So, the text of the newspaper page was successfully processed. Precisely transmitted columns, colors, images.
Free Online OCR
Free Online OCR creates documents that look almost perfect. You just need to figure out a little setup. Using this service, it is easy to convert scanned documents with batch processing. But formatting is sometimes lost.
As the name suggests, Free Online OCR is a free web application. It uses optical character recognition to identify content in PDF files. It works with scanned documents, as well as original files. This is important if you want, for example, to convert and edit printed materials for lectures.
Free Online OCR converts only one file at a time. Its maximum volume is 5 GB. Select the desired file, configure the language and final format (Microsoft Word, Excel, txt). Then enter the captcha to start the conversion. After a few seconds, you will see a download link. You do not need to enter an email address and wait for an email with a download link.
According to the results of our tests, the service showed excellent results in converting PDF files—an important point: the image remains unchanged and remains in its original place.
True, there are several disadvantages. Text on a colored background is not always correctly recognized. Also, sometimes line breaks occur. But you do not need to use many settings to make the document look almost identical to the original.
Google Docs
Google Docs is a tool to convert PDF to text files. As tests show, it works quite well.
Go to the Google Docs website and go to your account. Click the Download button and select the material to convert. From the File menu, select Download As. In this case, the required format is Microsoft Word (DOCX).
Google Docs shows good results when processing PDF files and saving the resulting text in DOCX. Next, you can open the file in Microsoft Office or Apple Pages to make sure the conversion is correct.
