I have a PDF and want to convert it to Word so I can modify some text and adjust parts of the layout. I thought I could export the PDF to Word in Preview but it can't. Are there any other options I can try? Thanks!
MacBook Pro (M3, 2023)
Try to open the PDF in Word or upload it to Google Docs. Word can directly open PDFs and automatically convert them into Word files upon opening. Google Drive offers a similar feature. You can upload the PDF to your Drive and open it with Google Docs.
Try to open the PDF in Word or upload it to Google Docs. Word can directly open PDFs and automatically convert them into Word files upon opening. Google Drive offers a similar feature. You can upload the PDF to your Drive and open it with Google Docs.
A professional PDF editor is a better choice for these heavy tasks. Editing and converting are all easier in a PDF editor.
If you're okay with paying, Adobe Acrobat has powerful features.
If you are looking for a free one, PDFgear is good for editing or converting PDFs.
Either way, keep in mind that converting from PDF to Word will never be perfect. It depends on the complexity of your PDF's formatting.
Adobe has a $23.99/yr add-on for Acrobat Reader that allows one unlimited conversion of PDFs to Word or Excel. That also includes the ability to OCR scanned text in PDFs. No mentioned PDF size limitation.
Yes, MS Word has a maximum PDF conversion size. Google Drive and Docs are likely the only free alternatives, and owing to the complexity of the PDF internals, the result may require considerable formatting work. The PDF Editors that do permit conversion of the opened PDF to Word generally only permit this in their paid versions, and it is disabled in trial versions.
Bear that in mind with PDF Gear which now may make that an in-app purchase. I would forego the installation of the Adobe Acrobat Pro trial because complete removal afterward instead of the $230+ annual subscription fee would be onerous.
VikingOSX wrote:
Bear that in mind with PDF Gear which now may make that an in-app purchase.
FWIW, PDFgear converts PDF to Word for free.
PDF was never meant to be an editing format – only a final output one. Encoding something as PDF "bakes in" a lot of layout decisions in ways that are hard to reverse.
This is why, despite an increase in the number and sophistication of programs that can extract text from PDFs – or edit PDFs – PDF still is not an ideal starting point for adjusting layout. The very attributes that make it so good for recording layout decisions in a way that any printer can follow are what make it poor for editing layout later.
How big is the pdf? If it exceeds Word size limitation, maybe you can split the pdf in chunks small enough to fit under the limit.
Preview can easily create these: select some pages in the sidebar, command-C to Copy, Command-N to "new from clipboard".
FWIW, I just tried this on a fairly math rich pdf, and was surprised that the result was pretty decent (not LaTeX good, of course, but quite acceptable).
EDIT: I have to qualify my previous comment. It looked ok, but then I realized that many of the formulas were just taken as images, not editable anymore. Not that I'd use this myself but I can see how it can be useful to some.
I got an error message from Word saying "A file of this type that is larger than 40MB is too big to open." I didn’t expect it to have such a file size limit.
Google Docs converted the PDF to Word, but the layout of the texts and images was changed.
Do I have to adjust the layout on my own or is there a better tool that can convert PDF to Word without changing its layout? Putting them back in place is a tedious process.
I’ll give both Acrobat and PDF gear a try. Thanks for your suggestion!
So I see now. Limitation is up to 50 MB PDF.
FWIW, the conversion varies from great to not so great.
How to convert PDF to Word for editing?
