Will the PDF look like my Word document?

Close, but not identical. Headings, bold and italic, colours, bullet and numbered lists, tables with borders and shading, pictures, links, tabs, page breaks, headers and footers with page numbers, and your page size and margins are kept. Fonts are matched to the nearest standard PDF font (Calibri and Arial become Helvetica-style, Times New Roman and Cambria become Times-style), so lines can break in slightly different places than in Word. Text boxes, shapes, charts and multi-column layouts are not reproduced by that mode, so when a file has them the tool switches to “Exact look”, which draws every page exactly as Word lays it out (as pictures with a hidden text layer so Latin-script text can still be searched).

What about Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Hindi, Arabic and other scripts?

Latin, Greek and Cyrillic text (including accents, curly quotes, dashes and the € and ₹ signs) is drawn as real, selectable text. Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Hindi and other Indic scripts, Arabic, Hebrew, Thai and emoji are drawn as pictures by your browser so they look right, but that text cannot be selected, copied or searched in the PDF. The tool lists these characters before you convert. If your browser cannot draw them they would show as question marks; in that case use Save as PDF in Word.

It ignores the formatting and writes just the words in a plain, readable layout on A4 or US Letter. It gives the smallest file and is useful when the document's own layout does not matter.

Can I still edit the document after converting it to PDF?

Not easily. PDF is a final format. Edit the original Word file and convert again.

Is my file uploaded anywhere?

No. The conversion runs in your browser and the file never leaves your device.

How do I choose between the three modes?

Keep formatting gives real selectable text and preserves headings, lists, tables, pictures and headers. Exact look draws every page as Word lays it out, including text boxes and columns, but as pictures. Text only keeps just the body text and page breaks.

Can I select and copy text in the PDF afterwards?

In Keep formatting and Text only, yes for supported scripts. In Exact look the pages are pictures with a hidden text layer, so Latin-script text can be searched. Scripts such as Chinese or Arabic are drawn as images and cannot be selected in any mode.

Why does my PDF break lines differently from Word?

Word's fonts are replaced by the closest standard PDF fonts, which have slightly different letter widths. Lines can wrap earlier or later, and a page can end at a different place. Exact look follows Word's own layout more closely.

Which page size and margins does the PDF use?

With Keep formatting, the page size and margins stored in your document are used. The A4 or US Letter choice applies to .txt files and Text only mode, where the document has no page setup of its own to follow.

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Word to PDF

Convert Word documents to PDF format

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About Word to PDF

Convert Word documents to PDF format

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Will the PDF look like my Word document?: Close, but not identical. Headings, bold and italic, colours, bullet and numbered lists, tables with borders and shading, pictures, links, tabs, page breaks, headers and footers with page numbers, and your page size and margins are kept. Fonts are matched to the nearest standard PDF font (Calibri and Arial become Helvetica-style, Times New Roman and Cambria become Times-style), so lines can break in slightly different places than in Word. Text boxes, shapes, charts and multi-column layouts are not reproduced by that mode, so when a file has them the tool switches to “Exact look”, which draws every page exactly as Word lays it out (as pictures with a hidden text layer so Latin-script text can still be searched).
Which file types work?: Word documents saved as .docx, and plain text (.txt, in UTF-8 or UTF-16). Older .doc, .rtf and .odt files are turned away with a message: open them in Word or LibreOffice and save as .docx first.
What about Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Hindi, Arabic and other scripts?: Latin, Greek and Cyrillic text (including accents, curly quotes, dashes and the € and ₹ signs) is drawn as real, selectable text. Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Hindi and other Indic scripts, Arabic, Hebrew, Thai and emoji are drawn as pictures by your browser so they look right, but that text cannot be selected, copied or searched in the PDF. The tool lists these characters before you convert. If your browser cannot draw them they would show as question marks; in that case use Save as PDF in Word.
What is "Text only"?: It ignores the formatting and writes just the words in a plain, readable layout on A4 or US Letter. It gives the smallest file and is useful when the document's own layout does not matter.
Can I still edit the document after converting it to PDF?: Not easily. PDF is a final format. Edit the original Word file and convert again.
Is my file uploaded anywhere?: No. The conversion runs in your browser and the file never leaves your device.
How do I choose between the three modes?: Keep formatting gives real selectable text and preserves headings, lists, tables, pictures and headers. Exact look draws every page as Word lays it out, including text boxes and columns, but as pictures. Text only keeps just the body text and page breaks.
Can I select and copy text in the PDF afterwards?: In Keep formatting and Text only, yes for supported scripts. In Exact look the pages are pictures with a hidden text layer, so Latin-script text can be searched. Scripts such as Chinese or Arabic are drawn as images and cannot be selected in any mode.
Why does my PDF break lines differently from Word?: Word's fonts are replaced by the closest standard PDF fonts, which have slightly different letter widths. Lines can wrap earlier or later, and a page can end at a different place. Exact look follows Word's own layout more closely.
Which page size and margins does the PDF use?: With Keep formatting, the page size and margins stored in your document are used. The A4 or US Letter choice applies to .txt files and Text only mode, where the document has no page setup of its own to follow.

How to use Word to PDF

Drop a .docx or .txt file. Older .doc, .rtf and .odt files are turned away with a message to resave them as .docx. After the file is read, a Word document gives you three Output buttons: Keep formatting (selectable text), Exact look (pages as pictures) and Text only (smallest file). The tool starts on Exact look when it finds text boxes, charts or multi-column sections, and on Keep formatting otherwise.

A .txt file, or Text only mode, also shows Page size with A4 and US Letter; the default is Letter for US and Canadian browser languages and A4 elsewhere. Press Convert to PDF. You get the page count, file size, any warnings, a page preview and a Download button named after your document.

When to use it

Use it when a finished resume, letter, report or set of meeting notes is in Word format and you need a PDF to email or upload to a portal, but Word is not installed on the device in front of you. It also turns a plain text file into a paginated PDF at the paper size you pick, which is handy for logs and notes.

When not to use it

If the layout must match Word exactly, such as a contract with tight page breaks, a form, or a page with floating shapes, export from Word itself with Save as PDF. This tool matches fonts to standard PDF fonts, so lines can wrap in different places. It cannot open .doc, .rtf or .odt files, and it will not recover a damaged or password-protected document.

Tips for best results

Convert last, once the wording is final. Read the line under the Output buttons for the mode you picked: it states what will be missing, for example how many text boxes or charts a Keep formatting file would lose. Exact look keeps those, at the price of a larger file whose pages are pictures with a hidden text layer so Latin text can still be searched. Scan the preview for stray page breaks.

Limitations

Fonts are matched to the nearest standard PDF font, so Calibri and Arial become Helvetica-style and Times New Roman and Cambria become Times-style; spacing and line breaks may shift. In Keep formatting, text boxes, shapes, charts and multi-column sections are not carried over. Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Hebrew, Thai and emoji are drawn as images and cannot be selected. Text only drops pictures, colours, headers and footers.

Privacy

The document is opened and parsed inside your browser, and the PDF is built on your device from what was read. The file is not uploaded. In Keep formatting mode the page may request a small font file from this site's own address to draw characters outside the standard set; that request carries no part of your document. Exact look renders the pages locally.