Docrift

PDF to Word converter

Get the words out of a PDF and into a Word document you can edit, with paragraphs re-joined and headings recognised.

Runs on your device · no upload · no sign-up

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How to use it

  1. Choose a PDF.
  2. Decide whether each PDF page should start a new Word page.
  3. Press Convert to Word and open the .docx in Word, Google Docs, Pages or LibreOffice.

Why no PDF to Word converter is perfect

A PDF does not store paragraphs. It stores instructions like “draw these glyphs at x=72, y=640”. Converting to Word means rebuilding the structure: which fragments form a line, which lines form a paragraph, what is a heading. Docrift groups text by position, joins lines that sit close together, repairs words hyphenated across line ends, and treats noticeably larger text as headings.

What you get is a clean, editable document with the text and structure. Complex layouts (multi-column magazines, forms, text wrapped around images) will need tidying. The explainer on how conversion works shows why, with a page you can resize.

Scanned PDFs

If a PDF is a scan, there is no text in it, only a photo of text. The converter tells you when that happens; run it through OCR PDF first, which can also save straight to .docx.

Questions

Is PDF to DOCX conversion free?

Yes. No account, no watermark, no page limit.

Is my PDF uploaded?

No. It is opened with pdf.js, the same PDF engine Firefox uses, inside this tab. Nothing is sent to a server.

Are images and tables kept?

Text is extracted; images are not copied. Table text comes across as paragraphs. For tables, PDF to Excel usually gives a better result.

What is the difference between PDF and DOCX?

PDF is a fixed layout meant for viewing and printing exactly as designed. DOCX is Microsoft Word’s editable format, made of paragraphs that rewrap as you edit. Convert to DOCX when you need to change the text; keep PDF for sending final versions.

Does Microsoft Word have a PDF to Word converter?

Yes. Word 2013 and later can open a PDF directly (File → Open) and convert it, with similar limits on complex layouts. Docrift is for when you have no Word licence, are on a phone, or would rather not upload the file to a web service.

How do I convert PDF to DOCX on a phone?

Open this page in your phone’s browser, pick the PDF and tap Convert. The .docx saves to Downloads or Files and opens in the Word, Google Docs or Pages app.

Does it work with password-protected PDFs?

Not if the PDF needs a password to open. Remove the password in the app that created it first.

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