Free PDF to Word Doc Converter is a small, free program that can convert PDF files into DOC files used by MS Word. It can handle all elements of a PDF document including text, shapes and images.
Note: after I first wrote this review in January of 2008, a learned a few things about it which were not initially apparent. At a certain point (or after performing a number of conversions, or this might have been added to a newer version than the one I initially looked at), the program will require that you enter a one-off code before performing a conversion. This involves visiting a web page full of ads, solving a math problem, and getting your code. Once you input the code it will perform the PDF to DOC conversion; however, the next time you need to perform a conversion, you will have to go through the whole thing. The net effect is (a) rather annoying, and (b) this prevents you from being able to use this program offline.
However, there are free PDF to DOC conversion options. See this posting entitled How to convert PDF to Word DOC for free: a comparative test
I tested this software by converting a 20-page PDF document that contained images, charts and text into DOC format. At the end of the conversion process (which took mere seconds) the DOC file was created and opened by MS Word. Here are some observations:
- Quality: the quality was generally very good. Overall the converted document looked very similar to the original.
- Program options: you can select all pages or a subset range of pages to convert; whether to retain images and shapes in the converted document; and whether or not to use “text boxes”. Choosing “text boxes” will create multiple text boxes placed all over the document rather than a single, contiguous text (see below for more on this).
- Images: Some of the images were degraded by they were all in the general vicinity of where they were supposed to be.
- Text: the text was generally handled well. In the ’create text boxes’ scenario the converted document contained dozens of text boxes placed all around the document, which more faithfully approximated the layout and structure of the original PDF (and was more manageable when loaded into Word). Converting while the ’text boxes’ option was unchecked, however, resulted in a single block of text that did not conform as well to where the text layout of the original document. (Note: if its just simple text extraction that you want, you might want to try Text Mining Tool).
- Note on filesizes: you are likely to get DOC files that are very large in size in relation to the small size of the original PDF. For the 2.5 meg PDF file I converted I got a 73 meg DOC file.
- Support: Adobe PDF 1-1.6 formats, which, the author asserts, comprises 95% of PDF files available on the internet.
- You do not need MS Word or Adobe Acrobat installed on your machine necessarily for this program to function.
The verdict: although it performs a marginally decent freeware PDF to DOC conversion, the registration key requirement, even when “free”, is rather annoying. Moreover, depending on the kind of output that you need, you might need to invest some time manually tweaking the resulting DOC file, but the output generated by this program right off the bat is surprisingly good in its own right. For more free PDF to DOC conversion options, go here.
Version Tested: 1.1
Compatibility: WinAll.
Go to the program page to download the latest version (approx 1.07 megs).
Very cool.
Any idea why the file converted to such a large DOC file?
That’s weird.
Thank you very much, it is exactly what I was searching for, in the last months, for my work as a freelancer. A free PDF to doc converter is extremely hard, if not almost impossible to find.
Happy New Year 2008.
@Chris: The file I tried – a two-column journal article – resulted in a text box for each line of text in each column. That’s much more to specify (size and location of hundreds of text boxes) in addition to the normal document properties AND the text. And without user input (identifying blocks of text), it’d be difficult to get results that look this good.
I don’t know if there’s a commercial one out there, but I would much prefer an app that allowed you to tell it what was a block of text, what was a picture and what was a table. The doc file I got did *look* much better than other free solutions I’ve tried, but it’s still not a useful document if you want searchable, cut-and-paste-able text. Tables were a mess (though figures and figure captions did turn out surprisingly well) and the abundance of text boxes would make it as big a job to get a standard document as if you just retyped the pdf.
If the pdf is in a standard paragraph form with no tables, I’m sure this converter would work quite nicely. For now, when I want to convert a complex pdf, I’ll stick to using JOCR for blocks of text and screen captures for images.
quick question .. why does it require admin access to install? … This would’ve worked great as a util running from my portable drive
One thing the site doesn’t clarify is that after a few uses the program requires you to enter a registration code to continue to work. You can get the registration code for free, but still.. it’s a little sneaky.
Great work man
http://bizimunda.blogspot.com
Lifehacker to the rescue – after they picked this up today, a couple of commenters mentioned Zamzar.com. It does a much better job of retaining the formatting and the text blocks. I tried the same pdf in Zamzar, and even the tables converted almost perfectly. It might be nice to have a freeware app to do this on your own machine, but Zamzar’s (free up to 100 MB) online conversion blows this away, IMHO.
Btw I reviewed Zamzar on Freewarergenius about a year ago (Feb 1st 2007 to be exact). Its good to know that it possibly does a better job than this one.
Not only does it require an activation code, free, but a hassle and a math test, it requires it every time you use it after the first few uses.
I tried it on a wide range of documents, with very poor results on all of them. Even a single page of large text produced an 83 KB Doc file that was completely blank.
I have uninstalled this as largely a waste of time.
sehr gutes Progaramm
Getting a key every time to use it is a pain
I tried to convert a PDF document that consisted of s set of numerical tables. The converted document simply consisted of lines of numbers. It had lost both the appearance of the tables and all the tabular structure. Not well suited for this purpose.
nagware
thanks for pdf free converter software.
so cool. i like it, it’s a useful software for my work.
Thanks man.this is very cooool…………
freewaregenius.com PLEASE REMOVE THIS SOFTWARE!
IT IS NOT A FREEWARE!!! YOU NEED TO BUY IT AFTER 6 TIMES OF USE!!!
DON’T WASTE YOUR TIME AND DOWNLOAD THIS Free PDF to Word Doc Converter…
Free PDF to Word Doc Converter is a shareware!!
1 for nagware, dishonestly presented as free.
SHARWARE!!!
This is NAGWARE. NOT Freeware. DO NOT waste your time. I considered purchasing it but was PO’d about the NAGGING in the free mode. DO NOT WASTE your TIME.
whre is the download option to dowload this software..man i need to convert a pdf file n its ergent…..
very good, really free
after a few uses the program ask you for the registration number and you can obtained it for free but is a pain in the ··”!”!·$%·$%$&%&(yo now what i mean)
but is a good shareware sofware
(i drank a wine whit good)
My whole windows freezes when the conversion is completed. I have to reboot my computer everytime i use it.
Any advice?
Lots of thanks!
where the ^%^%^%6 is the *&*@#$&^& download ???
!!!!!!!!!!
Download Webstie:
http://www.hellopdf.com/download.php
Thanks. Working fine. But images are not converted perfectly. Some features like arrow marks are missing.
i need
This application deletes the hyperlinks! Cripes, I don’t need a special application to do that — Acrobat itself does a great job of destroying links. Where do I find developers smart enough not to delete the data that’s being converted???
Something interesting can someone explain why embedded in the file pdfinfo.exe is the following text “Register type: Unregister Registered PDF to Word Converter Affiliate:http://www.verypdf.com/help.chm”
and also http://www.freepdf2word.com/
It looks like it is actually prvoviding a gui interface to the command line version of pdf2word
fantastica!! Thank you so much
It’s garbage anyway. It doesn’t do what it says. converts PDF’s to IMAGES in a word document. I need the words not the images. well, at least trying it several times it didn’t work once for me.
The program may not be doing the compression and optimizing that Word normally does. The solution is to simply open it in word and Save As another file name.
And why would anyone think a program with the word “Free” in it is actually free? This is the hook to get you to download it. Real free programs are open source etc. But having said that I did concert my file and it hasn’t bugged me (yet).
its NOOOOOOOOOOOOT FREE
Great program,
However it crashes after 8 jobs.
thanx a lot! this is wat i was searching for
thanks for the programm
great work man keep it up
http://mccbcricket.blogspot.com
thanks
Thanks for asssistance to the needy people…..!
Now create a setup for free training on all kinds of softwares to needy people.
this program is a piece of s**t.
it’s a very good software
thanks for the programm
super
the software cannot handle password protected documents.
Rubish….
superrrr
Use 99999999 to extend trial….
The tool tries to do conversion, some are ok most are not.
Forget anything with graphics
after 5 attempts tells you to get a code.
The code does not work due to the fact it wants to get onto the internet to verify itself.
Bored and going to find a decent tool…….