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).
Samer Kurdi
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…….
Not very good as to program does create an output .doc file BUT the contents are as images so you can’t edit them
dfasf
FREE SOFTWARE OF PDF TO WORD CONVERTER
I would like to download the free software of PDF to Word Converter called “PARVEEN” developed on June 26th, 2008.
Please email me how to download this.
Thanks,
Guy
Thanx a lot for sharing this utility
I don’t know why all these people are saying “thanks for the program” or that it’s a good program. That thing is a load of crap! You’ve got to punch in a code all the time and do a math quiz. Like my 11 year old son would say, “that’s DUMB!”
@Larry R,
I agree with you. There are better options than this; check out the following links:
http://www.freewaregenius.com/how-to-convert-pdf-to-word-doc-for-free-a-comparative-test/
http://www.freewaregenius.com/some-pdf-to-word-converter-convert-pdfs-to-doc-competently-and-in-batch/
It’s really tiresome getting the right software. Very PDF is cool, but the demo version is pretty restrictive.
I would like to use your demo version
Thanks your service
Best regard
TVLap
I lost some functions on Word through this.
Something weird went on with the Log On site
Sort it out
The pdf needed to be more flexible
I will save all on Word/ rtf first, in future
its working
when I wanted to click on the hellopdf.com link, my antivirus shield told me it contained a virus!! So better be careful.
Hanna
I want free software, convert pdf to Ms word.
Plz send PDF2Word convertor
I want free PDF converter to word, please.
please let me have free pdf to word converter.
with thanks
mike
its a POS
Hello… I’m from Ecuador… I use the program, it’s very good when you have only text, but when you have a combination of text and graph, I don’t know why the words of the document has a lot of spaces between them… I would to give the pdf document that I try to convert in excel, so if you let explain better with this document, I wll very thanksfully with you… thank you for your time…
WOuld Like to try this program
I tried this, seems to work. The math problem can be solved easily by carefully typing it into Google, if you have a Google toolbar. The answer appears in a drop-down box before you type go. Note the answer then, because it disappears as you begin to type it into the box. If you type go, you are taken to the results page, and if you use your back arrow, you get a different math problem. Opening a new tab or browser page could allow the calculation to be done there, then go back to the page with the box, insert answer.
Yes, it’s a pain, but at least Google does the math!
asdfasdfdasfasd
this is really useful, thanks for it
Good program, but I agree with the sneaky part. Since you cannot be upfront with the limitations I will look elsewhere for the time being.
Thanks Guys, this what i needed !
I need the pdf to word. thanks. please send.
This software cannot handle password protected documents. I have tried many similar software, and only one does convert password protected content into Word format.
Use spreadsheet to do the math to get the key; not recommended software!
nil
daasa
i cant download
hello all
by the way it is not for free
after about 5 times will ask you to pay $15 and this is the link which ask you to pay solve this math operation when you want to convert any file.
http://www.hellopdf.com/register.php
This is the code guys
5751-2105-8914-0901-3872-4528
AF
why not try some cheap converter?
those free converter i tried didn’t work.
i am using Tweak pdf to word 3.0 right now.
i think it is good.it allows us to convert a lot files at the same time.you can try it in http://www.tweakpdf.com/
I don’t think hellopdf is a freeware. You have to pay for $15 to avoid annoying math question. Thus i quitted.
A friend recommended anybizsoft pdf to word to me. And that one is better and cheaper. As i was a beta user.
Converted Text well, but was not so clean on graphics. The layout had to be played with as well. I t got me out of a hole though.
One of the good things about this tool is that it is free. But since it is web based application, it is totally dependent to your internet bandwidth. Unlike its desktop-based counterparts which depend on the processor speed and other hardwares. This tool is advisable for those who have high internet speed only. Because dial-up users will surely cursed this service.
its shows free.. but later it asks to enter code n other details to continue.. other thigns are good..
It did not work. Not all images were transferred, titles were deformed and copied twice or sometimes 3 times. Layout was messed up.
I can’t use it.
It worked fail. And it asks to enter a code.
Have you tried Nemo PDF To Word? It’s not bad, as I use it to convert PDF to Word frequently for my lectures with Word and PowerPoint. Since I have to do my preparation from tremendous materials in any formats, I do a lot of PDF to Word conversions with Nemo PDF To Word. It works not bad.
http://www.nemopdf.com
Convert PDF to ms word is a good way to edit or copy PDF documents. But for those password protected PDF documents, converters are helplessness. So, It is necessary to prepare a PDF password recovery tool at hand.
PDF Password Unlocker can decrypt AES-26 bit key and RC4. In other word , PDF Password Unlockr almost can recover passwords to all type of PDF documents
You can login http://snipr.com/pdfsolution to get the latest version
Convert PDF to ms word is a good way to edit or copy PDF documents. But for those password protected PDF documents, converters are helplessness. So, It is necessary to prepare a PDF password recovery tool at hand.
PDF Password Unlocker can decrypt AES-26 bit key and RC4. In other word , PDF Password Unlockr almost can recover passwords to all type of PDF documents
Hi,
I have downloaded free pdf 2 word converter, later its asking Key.
Can any one help me on this please…..
PDF is cool, but the demo version is pretty restrictive.
@Mruthyunjaya
B E W A R E
http://billmullins.wordpress.com/2010/08/13/free-pdf-to-word-converter-is-a-scam/
‘…I don’t normally make mistakes in basic math. But….
To be fair to the developer, I repeated this frustration process ten times. It turns out, the developer is an outright liar. This process is a scam – there is no way (despite inserting the correct code), to actually get free registration…. I dug into this app, and the developer, a little further. Additional investigation of the developer’s site showed that Norton DNS has now blocked this site, and with good reason. According to Norton – W32.Spybot.Worm, is imbedded in the site.’
cheers
Here is free PDF tool which I would like to share that is Free PDF cube.
This tool is much faster, better and has lot of functions. Also this free for life
You can try the same from pdfcube.com
The Direct Download link for FREE PDF is
http://pdfcube.com/download/pdf-cube-free.zip
It is 100% FREE PDF Converter and works as a virtual printer. you can convert more than 300 + formats so now you can convert all your Word, Excel, Powerpoint to PDF Free.
i need comvert pdf to word.
hi.thats not good for other languages.
please help me.
i very need it.
please! send it to my mail.
please!please!please!please!
An excellent desktop-based freeware PDF to Word converter: http://www.fm-pdf.com/pdf-to-word-free.html