Boost Your Productivity with These PDF to Word Conversion Tools

Free programs that convert PDF to Word (DOC or DOCX)

By
Stacy Fisher
Profile photo of Stacy Fisher
Stacy Fisher
Technology Educator
  • Emporia State University
Stacy is a professional technology educator with over 25 years' experience. She has published hundreds of articles, co-authored a book, and has appeared on national and local TV.
lifewire's editorial guidelines
Published on December 30, 2024
Conversion illustration from Word document to PDF
Conversion illustration from Word document to PDF.

Midnight Studio / Getty Images

Renaming a PDF to a Word format like DOCX won't work; you have to use a program or service that can perform the conversion before you can make changes to it. Once the changes are made, you can use a PDF converter tool to turn your Word document ​back into a PDF file...if you want to. We've found several completely free programs and online services that can get the job done.

Some programs let you edit a PDF without converting it. If you're just trying to open PDF files, you don't need any of these apps—see our list of free PDF readers.

01
of 08

Adobe's Convert to PDF Tool

Adobe's Convert to PDF tool
What We Like

  • Arguably the most trustworthy converter to retain formatting.

  • No extra settings in the way; just a simple converter.

  • Works online in your browser.

  • Integrates with the free online version of Word.

What We Don't Like

  • Must sign in after the first conversion.

As the makers of the PDF format, it seems appropriate to include Adobe in this list. Their tool, Convert to PDF, is a free web-based converter that works in seconds to save your PDF to DOCX.

Just upload the file, wait a few seconds for the conversion to finish, and then select Download to save the DOCX.

After the first conversion, you'll need to sign in to enable downloads (it's still free). Logging in also lets you convert PDFs that are in your Adobe account, choose RTF or DOC instead of DOCX, and edit the converted file directly from your browser.

02
of 08

UniPDF

UniPDF Free saving PDF to DOC
What We Like

  • Intuitive, easy-to-use interface.

  • Accurately converts PDFs with lots of graphics.

  • Multi-page documents convert successfully.

What We Don't Like

  • Can't convert PDF to DOCX.

  • Loses complex text formatting in conversion.

  • Limited to three conversions per day.

UniPDF is a free PDF to Word converter, and easily the best one we've tried. It's fast and simple to use, but most importantly, it does an excellent job at keeping images and text where they belong once converted to DOC.

Another benefit to this PDF converter is that it has a straightforward user interface and isn't bogged down with advertisements or confusing settings.

It also converts PDF files to popular image formats like JPG, PNG, TIF, and others, as well as the text format RTF.

Batch PDF to Word conversions and the ability to convert more than three PDFs in a single day are supported only if you pay for an upgraded version of the program.

It works in Windows 11, 10, 8, 7, Vista, and XP.

03
of 08

PDF Candy

PDF Candy add file button
What We Like

  • Import from your computer, Dropbox, or Google Drive.

  • Unique features.

  • Works quickly; starts the conversion immediately.

What We Don't Like

  • Unregistered users are limited to one task per every hour.

  • You're given only two hours to download the file.

PDF Candy has a few unique features that sets it apart from the other PDF to Word converters in this list. However, it's also more limited in a major way:
Unregistered users can only convert one PDF per hour, and you only have two hours (compared to most other platforms' 24) to retrieve your converted file.

After uploading a PDF, it will immediately begin converting to DOCX. Shortly after, it'll provide a download link. Unlike most other conversion sites, this one also lets you share the DOCX file via a special link and import it to Dropbox or Google Drive.

04
of 08

PDFMate's PDF to Word Converter

PDFMate's PDF to Word tool
What We Like

  • Convert multiple PDFs at the same time.

  • OCR to convert scanned PDFs to editable files.

What We Don't Like

  • Prompts you to buy full version before every conversion.

  • Limits OCR conversion to three pages.

PDFMate has a tool aptly called PDF to Word Converter that will save your PDF to DOCX, the most popular MS Word document file format. The program is remarkably simple, with zero options other than to change the output folder. In our tests, it did a great job retaining nearly all of the proper formatting and color.

It supports batch converting, so you can throw in multiple PDFs to convert all of them to DOCX. A huge drawback, however, is that you can do less in the free version. For example, you can only edit text on the first three pages of the DOCX file that it creates. However, that limitation may not be a concern if you only need to convert small documents.

We tested this software in Windows 11, but it should work equally well in older versions as well, including Windows 10, 8, and 7.

05
of 08

FreeFileConvert

FreeFileConvert
What We Like

  • Online converter; doesn't require a software download.

  • Conversion process is simple.

  • Uploads files as large as 300 MB.

  • Supports lots of other useful output formats.

What We Don't Like

  • Limited to five files at a time.

  • Download links expire after 24 hours.

  • Can't upload or download in bulk.

  • Merges multi-page PDFs.

FreeFileConvert is a free online PDF to Word converter that supports file uploads (up to five at a time) as large as 300 MB combined size. You can load a local PDF, one from a URL, or a PDF stored in your Google Drive or Dropbox account.

In addition to DOCX, this PDF converter can save documents to EPUB, HTML, MOBI, TXT, and lots of other file formats, including images. In total, this service supports several thousand different conversion combinations.

Something we noticed about this converter that others don't do, is that it seems to not respect multi-page PDFs. In other words, if your original file has two pages, you might end up with just one afterward because FreeFileConvert trims the blank spaces between the pages.

Since this PDF to DOCX converter runs in a browser, it works with all operating systems.

06
of 08

PDFtoDOCX.com

PDFtoDOCX.com
What We Like

  • Runs entirely online.

  • Zero extra options to cause confusion.

  • Bulk conversions, up to 20 PDFs.

  • Bulk downloads, to ZIP.

What We Don't Like

  • Must download it within the hour, or it's deleted.

  • PDF must exist on your computer, since that's the only upload source supported.

PDFtoDOCX.com is one of several websites from the same company that helps you convert PDFs to a variety of formats. Clearly, this one will make a DOCX from a PDF, but it also supports the older DOC format in addition to several others, like text and images.

It's simple to use: upload 1-20 PDFs, wait a few moments for the conversion to finish, and then download each document individually, or use the "Download All" button to get them in bulk.

07
of 08

Zamzar

Zamzar PDF to DOCX conversion tool
What We Like

  • No sign-in necessary.

  • Converts to the newer DOCX.

  • Works online through a browser.

  • 50 MB upload size limit.

What We Don't Like

  • Doesn't always work quickly.

  • Limited to two conversions per 24-hour-period.

Zamzar lets you upload a PDF or link to it by its URL to convert it to DOCX or another document format. Zamzar also supports converting PDF to image, eBook, CAD, and web formats.

Most PDFs aren't very large, so the 50 MB limit is most likely high enough for most people. You can wait around for the conversion to complete or check the email box to be notified over email when it's finished.

More than one PDF can be uploaded at once, but the two-per-day conversion limit means that you're restricted to converting two PDFs simultaneously. Bulk downloading isn't allowed.

08
of 08

Filestar

Filestar PDF to DOCX converter
What We Like

  • Clean design that's easy to use.

  • Lots of other features.

What We Don't Like

  • Limited monthly conversions.

  • No bulk conversions.

Filestar is an amazing free file converter that supports tons of file conversions, including PDF to DOCX.

What sets this program apart from the others in this list is its "trigger folder" feature. After you set it up, any PDF you throw into the folder will automatically convert to DOCX. It'll even happen in the background, so you don't need to click anything, and you won't even see the program open. You can also convert a PDF to MS Word's format the traditional way, without using that folder.

Filestar can also extract images from a PDF, merge PDFs, set a password, and more.

Unfortunately, the free version is missing some features. Free users can convert no more than 10 files per month, and converting more than one file at once isn't supported.

The program runs on Windows and macOS.

Was this page helpful?