Guide
How to Convert PDF to Word (and What to Do With Scanned PDFs)
Converting a PDF to Word works well when the PDF contains real text, and not at all when it is a scan, which is only a picture of text. Here is how to tell which you have, how to convert each kind, and what to expect in the Word file.
Published
First, check which kind of PDF you have
- Text PDF: made from a document on a computer (exported from Word, saved from a website, generated by a system). You can highlight individual words in a PDF reader.
- Scanned PDF: made by a scanner or phone camera. Each page is a photo; trying to select text selects the whole page, or nothing.
Many PDFs mix both, for example a typed report with a scanned signature page. ToolSolvo’s PDF to Word tells you which pages had no selectable text, and the OCR tool tells you when a PDF already contains text, so you can use the right tool for each part.
How to convert a text PDF to Word
- Open the PDF to Word tool.
- Choose or drop your PDF. Files up to 200 MB are accepted; password-protected PDFs must be unlocked in your PDF reader first.
- Click Convert to Word and wait while each page is read.
- When you see “Your Word document is ready”, click Download to save the .docx file.
- Open it in Word, LibreOffice or Google Docs, and check the layout before you share it.
The conversion runs in your browser, so the PDF is not uploaded and no sign-up or email is needed.
What carries over, and what does not
| In the PDF | In the Word file |
|---|---|
| Body text on single-column pages | Editable paragraphs, in reading order |
| Larger-font titles | Word headings (Heading 1, Heading 2), so they appear in the navigation pane |
| Bold and italic | Kept where the PDF’s font names show them |
| Page breaks | Kept between the original pages |
| Tables | Their text, as separate lines rather than a Word table |
| Images, charts and drawings | Not included |
| Two or more columns | Text may be mixed across columns |
| Fonts, colours, links and form fields | Not kept |
| Scanned pages | A note in the Word file marks where each one was |
Microsoft Word’s own PDF conversion has similar limits: Microsoft notes that the result may not match the original page exactly, that it works best with mostly-text documents, and that tables, page borders and some formatting may not convert well1.
How to convert a scanned PDF to Word
A scanned page has no text for a converter to extract, so it first needs OCR (optical character recognition), which recognises the letters in the picture.
- Open Image to Text (OCR) and choose the scanned PDF, or photos of the pages.
- Pick the language (English, Urdu, or both) and the pages, up to 20 at a time.
- Press Extract text. The first time, your browser downloads the OCR engine from ToolSolvo.
- Proofread the result and correct mistakes, especially numbers, names and punctuation.
- Copy the text into a new Word document and format it there.
The OCR tool gives plain text, not a formatted Word file, so headings and tables need to be recreated. In our test on the same day, it read a clean, computer-made scan of 12 printed lines almost perfectly; real photos of paper, with shadows, skew or small print, produce more errors. The OCR guide explains how to get a better scan and what to check.
Tips for a better result
- Convert only what you need. Use Split PDF to take out the pages you want to edit first.
- Use the original file if you can. If you have the Word document the PDF was made from, edit that instead: it keeps the full layout.
- Fix multi-column pages by hand. Copy each column’s text into place, or retype short sections.
- Rebuild tables in Word. Select the lines, then use Insert › Table › Convert Text to Table if the values are separated consistently. If you need the figures in a spreadsheet instead, PDF to Excel puts them in rows and columns; see how to convert a PDF to Excel.
- Going back to PDF? When you have finished editing, Word to PDF turns the .docx back into a PDF.
Common questions
Can I convert PDF to Word without losing formatting?
Not exactly, with any tool. A PDF stores where each piece of text sits on the page, not how the document was built, so converters rebuild the structure and the layout changes. Text, headings, bold and italic usually survive; complex layouts need tidying.
Is PDF to Word free, and do I need to sign up?
ToolSolvo’s PDF to Word is free, needs no account or email, and adds no watermark.
Why is my Word file empty or showing notes instead of text?
The pages were scans or images, so there was no text to convert. Use Image to Text (OCR) for those pages.
Can I convert a PDF to Word on my phone?
Yes, in your phone’s browser. Large PDFs take longer on a phone, because the conversion uses your device’s own memory and processor.
Sources
- Microsoft Support: Opening PDFs in Word — Word’s conversion may not match the original page, works best for mostly-text documents, and some elements such as tables and borders may not convert well.