People turn Word files into PDFs for simple reasons: the document should look the same on every device, and the reader should not be able to change it by accident. The conversion is easy, but it is not magic. Knowing what a PDF keeps, and what can shift, saves you from sending something with a broken layout.

Why a PDF looks the same everywhere

A Word file stores your text and tells the reader's computer how to arrange it, using the fonts installed there. If the fonts are missing, Word swaps in others and the lines break in different places. A PDF stores the finished pages instead: where every line and picture sits. That is why a CV or an application form is usually sent as a PDF.

The easiest ways to convert

If you have Microsoft Word, LibreOffice or Google Docs, use their own "Save as PDF" or "Export" command. These use the real fonts and the real layout engine, so the result matches what you see on screen. This is the best route whenever it is available.

When you do not have those programs, for example on a shared computer or a phone, our Word to PDF tool can convert a .docx file inside your browser. The file is not uploaded, which matters for contracts, school work and anything private.

What the browser converter keeps

It carries over headings, paragraphs, bold, italic, underline, strike-through and colours, bullet and numbered lists, tables with their borders and shading, and pictures in JPEG, PNG, GIF and BMP format. Page size and margins follow the document, so an A4 file stays A4.

What can change

  • Fonts. The PDF uses the standard Helvetica, Times and Courier families, so your own font is replaced by the closest match. Lines may break in different places and the page count can differ slightly.
  • Other alphabets. Only Latin-alphabet text is supported. Urdu, Arabic, Hindi and Chinese cannot be written, and unsupported characters become a question mark. The tool tells you when this happens. For those languages use Word's own export.
  • Headers, footers and footnotes. These are not reproduced. Text boxes, equations and multi-column layouts are also left out or simplified.
  • Old .doc files. Only the modern .docx format is read. Open an old file in Word and save it as .docx first.

A short check before you send it

  1. Open the PDF and scroll through every page.
  2. Look at tables and pictures first; they are the parts most likely to move.
  3. Search for a few words from the start, middle and end to make sure nothing is missing.
  4. Check names, numbers and dates by eye. A question mark where a letter should be means a character was not supported.
  5. Look at the file size. If it is too large for an upload form, the pictures inside are the usual cause; shrink them in Word first.

Try it

Choose your .docx file, convert it, and check the result with the list above. Nothing is uploaded.

Need to go the other way?

Turning a PDF back into an editable file is harder, because a PDF does not store paragraphs, only positioned lines of text. The PDF to Word tool can rebuild the text of PDFs that contain real text. Read our guide to converting PDF to Word first so you know what to expect.