Word to PDF Converter

A Word document is a set of instructions, not a finished page. Each time it opens, the program rebuilds the layout from the text, the styles and the fonts it finds on that computer. Open the same file in another version of Word, in a phone app or in a different word processor, and the result can drift: a heading jumps to the next page, a table splits in two, a signature line moves under the fold.

A PDF is the finished page itself. Once the layout is fixed, every reader sees the same lines in the same places, which is why job applications, invoices, contracts and school assignments usually ask for one. It also stops casual edits: the reader can comment on or sign a PDF, but not quietly rewrite a paragraph.

Converting here takes the work off your machine. You do not need Word installed, so a document received on a borrowed laptop, a tablet or a phone can still become a PDF in a browser. The same page also takes PowerPoint, Excel and OpenDocument files; the Convert to PDF page lists every source format it reads.

A PDF made from a text-heavy document is usually small, but photos and scanned pages inside the Word file are carried over at their own size. If the converted file is too big for an attachment, lower Image quality under Advanced settings, or run the result through Compress PDF before you send it.

Gmail and Outlook count the encoded size of the whole message, which is larger than the files on disk. Leave some room below the Gmail limit shown below when you attach several PDFs to one email.

Some recipients need more than a plain PDF. A document with salaries or medical details can get an open password under Security, and a contract that will be stored for years can be saved as PDF/A instead. If you already have a PDF and only want to lock it, Protect PDF adds the password without converting again.

Word keeps more than the visible text. The file records the author's name, the company set during installation, the total editing time and sometimes the names of everyone who left a comment. On this page Remove metadata is switched on, so the PDF you send carries none of that. Untick it if your organization expects the author field to be filled in.

Comments and tracked changes are left out unless you turn on Include comments, so the reader gets a clean final copy. Do accept or reject the changes in Word first, though: the PDF shows the document as if every pending change had been accepted, which may not be what you meant.

Modern Word files use the .docx format, defined in the ECMA-376 standard as a ZIP package of XML parts. Files from Word 2003 and earlier use the older binary .doc format. This page accepts both, along with templates (.dotx, .dot) and macro-enabled documents (.docm); macros are never run.

What Word draws on the page is what you get in the PDF: text, tables, images, headers, footers, page numbers, footnotes and hyperlinks. Headings styled as Heading 1 to 3 become bookmarks, so a long report gets a clickable outline in the reader's sidebar.