Last updated: Aug 6th 2012. This is our third update of this article, which we believe to be the best critical overview of TRULY free PDF to Word tools on the internet. With each update, a slew of tools are added and a number of the old ones removed, either because they no longer offer a FREE service, or because they were superseded by newer tools that are simply better quality.
In any case, if you are wondering whether you can do good PDF to Word DOC or RTF conversion for free, the answer is: Absolutely. This posting will present and compare a number of different ways to do this, without any watermarks or restrictions.
There are two kinds of tools available to users: free desktop programs that can do this, and free online conversion services. Note that our focus in this article will be on those services that offer the highest quality. Eleven different tools are presented here; 5 desktop-based apps and 6 online conversion services.
Here’s quick table of contents (click any link to jump to that section):
- The list of free tools: desktop apps and online services
- Important issues and questions to address: will I be able to edit the resulting document, what is the difference between desktop and online tools, etc.
- The documents used in our test: 7 different documents described
- An overview of each individual tool/service: the pros and cons of each
- Removed/excluded services: these were removed or couldn’t make the cut.
- Comparison of results section:
1. A list of the free PDF-to-Word conversion tools discussed in this article
We tested 5 desktop apps and 6 online conversion services. The following were the best quality (and/or offered truly free PDF conversion).
| Desktop-based apps: | Online Conversion services |
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For a summary of each converter see the ‘overview section’ below.
2. Important issues and questions to address
Before I move on to the comparison section, and which I am frequently asked about.
Online vs. desktop converters: desktop based converters are programs you install on your machine and that perform the conversion locally and instantly. Online tools are web services that you can upload your file to and then download the result (or get it by email).
The advantages of using a desktop app involve NOT having to upload your file and wait. Uploading very large files can be very inconvenient if your files are large or if you have many files to convert. Desktop apps are more convenient for batch conversions and are more straightforward to use. One the other hand, some online conversion services offer a higher quality conversion, although depending on your document that may or may not be the case. Two issues that have to be considered with online conversions are reliability and security: how long will it take to get my converted document? While most online services will send your converted document within a matter of minutes, it is sometimes the case that your file will arrive hours or even days afterwards. As for the latter issue (security), virtually all of the online services mentioned here promise that your files will be transferred via a secure connection, that your document will not be looked at by a human, and that your email will not be used or shared with any other party. Still, it is up to you to decide whether you are comfortable uploading some private or business documents over the internet to a remote server for conversion.
Will the document be editable once it is converted?: typically, yes; however the real answer is it depends on your original document and how it was created. Generally speaking you will be able to edit any converted PDF that was created electronically and published using software, which comprises the overwhelming majority of forms and documents that are on the internet. The exception is if your PDF was scanned from a paper document; in this case most converters will consider this to be no different from a photograph, and when converting will produce images inside a .DOC file rather than text. What you need in this case is “Optical Character Recognition” (OCR) software, or a converter than can do OCR (the only option mentioned in this article that can do OCR is NuancePDF); otherwise what you can check out our list of free OCR software. These programs can “read” images and convert them to text, but in many cases it will be somewhat labor intensive to get a good conversion, especially if you have a large number of pages.
Will any of these convert special characters, mathematical notation, etc.: only one (#5 on our list) was able to handle non-English characters. We tested Russian (Cyrillic script) only.
Converting to images: if you are interested in converting your PDF to images then you’re in the wrong place. For this you can try the the excellent free PDF reader called PDF X-Change Viewer which has an export to images option.
3. Documents used in the PDF-to-Word conversion tests:
The objective: was to get a converted document that could be loaded into MS Word where the text/contents could be edited and subsequently saved as .DOC format, which is to say any of the following formats would be satisfactory: .DOC, .HTML, and .RTF.
We converted 7 documents, each chosen to find out something specific about the PDF converters that were tested.
Click here to see the list of PDFs used in the test (and what each document was designed to find out)
Document Description
Screenshot
1. A simple 1-page document which contains a table, images, numbered and bulleted lists, hyperlinks, background shading, and text formatting, to see how these various elements would be treated.
2. A trade brochure which contained text, images, charts, and tables, and was 21 pages long. I imagined that this would be typical of what most people would need to convert, and was interested to see how a changing number of columns across the document and non-contiguous text and image elements would be treated.
3. A scanned image that was converted to PDF, to test whether any of the services would perform OCR (optical character recognition) and render an editable document out of it.
4. A Russian language a two page PDF, created from two random Russian websites, for or the sole purpose of testing whether any of these conversion tools support special characters.
5. Excel tables and charts, on a single page, with a watermark in the background, to see how these programs dealt with Excel output.
6. A 272 page ebook: to test whether some converters will either refuse to upload or process this number of pages, will truncate the document at a certain point, or take a very long time in processing. The file size was 8.8 megs.
7. A complicated tax form (W4): downloaded from the internet, to see the kind of result that could be attained from such a complicated form, and whether any particular converter might stand out from the others when handling this sort of thing.
4. Overview of desktop programs/online services:
4.1 Desktop programs (Windows)
#1: Free PDF to Word Converter from SmartSoft: a free, fully functional desktop-based PDF to Word program that produces good (but not excellent) results. More info as follows:
- Accuracy (will my converted documents look like the original?): generally, yes, although it is not optimized for user-friendly editing, and some elements in complicated documents (such as the trade brochure we converted) might be off. Text, formatting, images and tables will be there. See strengths and weaknesses below.
- Commercial use: allowed; the issue is not addressed on their FAQ or anywhere on their site, therefore it is safe to assume that commercial use is ok.
- OCR support: none
- Strengths: good general PDF to DOC conversion desktop app. Simple, user-friendly interface. Can convert in batch.
- Weaknesses: text is handled via floating windows, without a continuous editable stream, which makes editing large documents cumbersome. Images were sometimes – though not always – sliced into little bands that made them impossible to work with, or were sometimes blacked out. Some PDF files that displayed just fine in my reader would not load in this software, without explanation.
- Download size: a mere 3.82 megs
- Overall: I give this one 7/10. It gets the job done but does not handle complicated documents very well. Good for occasional use, and use in the workplace. See the results sections below for a detailed discussion and head-to-head comparison against the other software mentioned in this article.
#2: Wondershare PDF to Word Free: This one used to be called ‘AnyBizSoft PDF to Word free’ in a previous version of this article. You can get the full version of Wondershare PDF to Word v.3.50 from CNET at the above link. This program is VERY competent and performed an excellent job. More info as follows:
- Accuracy (will my converted documents look like the original?): yes. Good treatment of the different elements all around (tables/formatting, images).
- Commercial use: NOT allowed. If you are using this software for a business/commercial use you will need to purchase a license.
- OCR support: none
- Strengths: excellent handling images, and formatting, even for complicated documents and forms. Very fast. Can convert in batch. Adds a right click “convert with Wondershare PDF to Word” context menu entry to Windows, which can be useful.
- Weaknesses: Text flow interrupted by carriage returns after each line. Restricted to non-commercial use.
- Download size: 6.3 megs
- Overall: I give this one 9/10. This is an excellent general PDF to Word converted, for both simple and complicated documents. If a desktop-based converted is what you want this is definitively the one to go for. See the results sections below for a detailed discussion and head-to-head comparison against the other software mentioned in this article.
#3: gDoc Creator: this program has been discontinued but you will find a link to version 2.1 at the bottom of our original gDoc Creator review page.
It tries extremely hard NOT to let you know that you can keep using the PDF to Word conversion engine for free beyond the 30 day trial period and without watermarks. Which is rather annoying and I almost removed this program from this list because of this. The distinction here is between gDoc Fusion (paid, trial only, leaves watermarks beyond the trial period) and gDoc creator (free, no watermarks), both of which are included in the file you download.
Once you install the program ignore the ‘gDoc Fusion’ shortcut that may be on your desktop and use the ‘gDoc Creator’ shortcut instead and you will not need to worry about trial periods or watermarks. If there are no shortcuts on the desktop then go to the Windows start menu and type in gdoc; you will see ‘gDoc Creator’, which is what you want to use. One more thing: to never see the gDoc Fusion nag screen again, launch ‘gDoc Creator’, go to the settings (the small button to the left of ‘open’) and uncheck ’automatically view documents once converted’ (see screenshot on the bottom right).
Also note that aside form gDoc Creater/gDoc fusion, the installer installs a number of things which you may or may not want, including virtual printers that can convert to PDF and XPS from any application, and optionally MS Office add-ons that allow you to export your documents to PDF or XPS from office apps (which are free, and can be quite useful). More info as follows:
- Accuracy (will my converted documents look like the original?): yes, although formatting, images, and tables are handled in a rudimentary fashion (see strengths and weaknesses). Good text handling, keeping it all in a single, continuous block.
- Commercial use: free for commercial use.
- OCR support: none
- Strengths: good handling of text, fast; drag and drop interface, virtual printers to create PDFs and XPS from any printable document.
- Weaknesses: handling of images, formatting and tables is not conducive to any kind of editing. (It lumps these elements together into a single background image for each page). Huge download size and dancing around free vs. trial versions.
- Download size: a whopping 104 megs
- Overall: I give this one 7/10. See the results sections below for a detailed discussion and head-to-head comparison against the other software mentioned in this article.
#4: OpenOffice with PDF import extension: if you use OpenOffice you can install the newly release PDF import plugin that will allow you to open PDFs directly into OpenOffice Draw (note: not Writer, which is the word processing module equivalent to MS Word). This does not amount to converting the file to DOC or RTF but allows you to edit the PDF directly, after which you can export it to PDF once more. More info as follows:
- Accuracy (will my converted documents look like the original?): yes. This is not a ‘converter’ but rather a program that allows you to make straight edits to the PDF.
- Commercial use: free for commercial use.
- OCR support: none
- Strengths: instantly open and edit PDFs, good handling of images and formatting, a good option for quick, on-the-fly edits of PDF documents.
- Weaknesses: text is handled via floating windows, not a continuous editable stream (which can make editing large documents cumbersome). Takes a long time (or flatly would not load) a couple of long, complicated documents that I threw at it.
- Download size: a mere 220K for the add-in. OpenOffice itself is about 150 megs download or so. For instructions on how to install OpenOffice extensions go here.
- Overall: I give this one 7/10 overall. See the results sections below for a detailed discussion and head-to-head comparison against the other software mentioned in this article.
#5: Boxoft PDF to Word and 3D PageFlip Free PDF to Word: these two are lumped together, because in fact they are the exact same program with different names attached to it.
The conversion quality this program provides is not very good (in terms of formatting accuracy, images, or tables). In fact I almost did not write this one up at all, except for the fact that it is the only program in this article that converted text with special characters correctly, and therefore might be useful to some readers.
- Accuracy (will my converted documents look like the original?): in most cases, no. Images, document formatting, and tables are not handled properly; however, text is extraction is adequate, and as mentioned this is the only converter that handled special characters.
| Example of the special characters in the PDF (a Russian webpage) | The converted DOC format (it isn’t a pretty conversion overall, but the text at least works). |
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- Commercial use: I would say yes. It is not specified in the license, but it does state that the program is freeware.
- OCR support: none
- Strengths: extracts text adequately, including special characters. Can convert in batch, has a ‘hot directories’ mode, where it will monitor a folder and convert any PDFs saved in it.
- Weaknesses: images, document formatting, and tables are completely off. Crashes (it crashed the very first time it was launched, but then the crashes were few and far between).
- Download size: 1.07 meg
- Overall: I give this one 3/10 in general. Only recommended if your text contains special characters, and if so I recommend you extract the text with this program and use it in conjunction with one of the other converters that can produce a ‘normal’ looking document for you where all the images/tables/document formatting are not out of whack. See the results section below for a detailed discussion and head-to-head comparison against the other software mentioned in this article.
4.2 Online conversion services:
#6: Nuance PDF: the interesting thing about this online conversion service is that it is integrated into their free NuancePDF Reader. To upload your documents for conversion you would have to install the reader, open your document, and click on the “convert” button, whereby your PDF will be uploaded to their servers and converted. It is also one of only two services in this article that offers Optical Character Recognition (OCR), where image-based text is rendered into editable text. Conversion quality is also very good. More info as follows
- Accuracy (will my converted documents look like the original?): generally very good. There were the occasional text formatting errors in some documents though.
- Reliability: very good. It will send your files by email (which is less preferable than converting and producing a link on the spot), but it is one of the most responsive services of the ones we tested, emailing files within minutes. If you have large files (> 10 megs) your conversions might fail.
- Max file upload: unspecified. We converted a 8.8 meg file without problems, but an 12.3 meg file uploaded but failed. It would not accept a 73 meg file.
- Commercial use: allowed. I scoured their website and read their legal notices without finding any specific mention of this issue.
- OCR support: Yes, and surprisingly high quality. This is the one of two conversion service mentioned in this article that offers OCR (the other is Convert.files)
- Privacy: they will not sell or share your email but might use it for their own purposes (a.k.a they might use your email to promote other own products to you. Their privacy policydoesn’t comment on files sent for conversion.
- Strengths: excellent handling of images and formatting, OCR support, integration with a desktop PDF reader, good handling of text and images, secure upload connection, can convert PDF to Excel and PowerPoint as well.
- Weaknesses: no clear terms of service statement on their site. Response variability, which afflicts most popular online services, although I will say that at the moment this service is being quite reliable. Colors and formatting can at times be slightly off in the converted document.
- Download size: despite being an online service you will need to download the free PDF READER software, approx 19 megs. You will have to register with a working email and get a download link emailed to you.
- Overall: I give this one 8/10 overall. See the results section below for more detailed discussion and comparison against the other software mentioned in this article.
#7: PDF to Word Free from NitroPDF: another excellent online conversion service, and definitely one of the best conversion engines mentioned in this article. Results are generally excellent; see my full review of this service here. More info as follows:
- Accuracy (will my converted documents look like the original?): generally good. There were the occasional glitches: images missing from documents, and text formatting errors, but these were the exception not the rule.
- Reliability: variable. You have to wait for them to send the converted file by email, and in our tests these tended to take a few hours.
- OCR support: None.
- Commercial use: is allowed. I scoured their website and read their legal notices without finding anything to the contrary.
- Privacy: they promise to not look at your documents, not share your email, and delete your files as soon as they send you the email response.
- Strengths: very good overall. Excellent handling of tables. A related service can also convert PDF to Excel format.
- Weaknesses: images may be missing, and text formatting not rendered faithfully at times; variability in response time makes it not very reliable if you want your conversion and want it now.
- The results: I give this one 7/10 overall. See the results section below for more detailed discussion and comparison against the other software mentioned in this article.
#8: Convert.Files a web service that converts not just PDF to Doc, but can convert many other document formats (esp. office documents) back and forth.
Three notable things about Conver.Files (1) it offers OCR support, (2) it will let you upload files up to 200 megs (or let you specify a URL whence it can obtain your document), which is the largest file size of the services listed here, and (3) it will provide you with an instant download link, just like PDF Online above.
- Accuracy (will my converted documents look like the original?): generally good. There were the occasional glitches: images missing from documents, and text formatting errors, but these were the exception not the rule.
- Max upload size: 200 megs. Allows batch uploads or
- Reliability: high, it will produce a download link on the spot.
- OCR support: Yes, and surprisingly high quality. This is the one of two conversion service mentioned in this article that offers OCR (the other is Nuance PDF)
- Commercial use: allowed.
- Privacy policy: note that you absolutely do not need to give them your email to actually use the service. Their privacy policy has does not address whether anyone at their end will view your content. Your files will be kept for 24hours, or you can delete them manually yourself after you download.
- Strengths: OCR support, speed and reliability, will upload large files up to 200 megs. Good results overall.
- Weaknesses: quality is very good but some of the other tools in this article are better (the occasional missing images, occasional incorrect text formatting).
- The results: I give this one 8/10 overall. See the results section below for more detailed discussion and comparison against the other software mentioned in this article.
#9: Zamzar: this is one of the most well known of the web-based file conversion services. Zamzar is not just a PDF to Word converter but offers a very wide range of possible input and output formats, including media files. More notes as follows:
- Accuracy (will my converted documents look like the original?): yes, although formatting, images, and tables are handled in a rudimentary fashion (see strengths and weaknesses). Text formatting errors were not uncommon.
- Max upload size: 100 megs. Allows batch uploads.
- Reliability: very good. Although you will have to wait for the email to arrive, your email will arrive almost instantly.
- OCR support: No.
- Commercial use: allowed.
- Max upload size: 100 megs. Allows batch uploads.
- Privacy policy: your files are deleted once the conversion happens and the converted files are deleted once the download link expires (in 24 hours). Also, to quote “files stored for download are only accessible by Zamzar”. Another quote: “Zamzar does not rent, sell, or share your personal information or email address with any other companies.”
- Strengths: good handling of text, fast and reliable.
- Weaknesses: handling of images and tables is rudimentary (lumps these elements together into a single image for each page), text formatting errors in some documents.
- Results: I give this one 6/10 overall. See the results section below for more detailed discussion and comparison against the other software mentioned in this article.
#10: PDF to Word Online: an online service that converts on the spot, no email address or waiting necessary. More info below:
- Accuracy (will my converted documents look like the original?): yes. Results are accurate and very faithful to the original. The various elements (tables, text, images) are handled very well.
- Max upload size: unspecified. However, large files (8.8 megs) would time out consistently (after a while we gave up trying).
- Reliability: excellent in theory, since it will produce a download link on the spot. However, our attempts to upload a not-really-very-large file of 8.8 megs failed consistently.
- OCR support: None.
- Commercial use: seems to be allowed, since the issue is not broached on the site.
- Privacy policy: they will not send you unsolicited email and, to quote their site , “will not monitor, edit, or disclose any personal information about you or the documents you submit for conversion, including their contents, without your prior permission”.
- Strengths: good handling of both text and images, best handling of tables. An excellent overall converter.
- Weaknesses: server times out rather quickly, preventing you from uploading more than a few megs per file.
The results: I give this one 9/10 overall. See the results section below for more detailed discussion and comparison against the other software mentioned in this article.
#11: Wondershare Free PDF to Word Online: is the online version of the desktop PDF to Word conversion program (#2 mentioned above). In terms of output and quality seems to be very similar (although the desktop version seems slightly better in my opinion). Also, the online version has an upload limit of 10 megs
- Accuracy (will my converted documents look like the original?): yes. Good treatment of the different elements all around (text/tables/formatting, images).
- Max upload size: 10 megs.
- Reliability: very good. Can email your converted document or produce a download link on the spot.
- OCR support: No.
- Commercial use: allowed.
- Privacy policy: promises that documents uploaded are not looked at, and that files are deleted within 24 hours. You do not need to give your email address if you do not want to (simply wait for the download link).
- Strengths: Good results overall. Good text and table handling.
- Weaknesses: quality is very good but some of the other tools in this article are better (the occasional missing image(s), occasional incorrect text formatting).
- The results: I give this one 8.5/10 overall. This is almost the same as the desktop version (#2 above), although I would recommend you use that one instead. See the results section below for more detailed discussion and comparison against the other software mentioned in this article.
5. Removed and/or excluded Services:
Some of these tools you may have seen featured in previous versions of this article. Please do not recommend these in the comments section, unless you know they’ve been improved or fixed.
Click this link to see these if you want, or simply skip to the next section Excluded for reasons of low quality and/or reliability The wall of shame: these were excluded for not being really ‘free’ despite touted as such, or for other similar issues.
Excluded Desktop-based apps:
Excluded Online Conversion services
Excluded Desktop-based apps:
6. Comparison of Results:
| Descr. | Bad | Passable | Good | Very Good | Excellent |
| Score | 1/5 | 2/5 | 3/5 | 4/5 | 5/5 |
6.2 Accuracy: by which we mean the extent the first impression of the converted document will be a good one, and how much manual work you will have to put it to get a decent result. The question is: does the converted document look like a faithful rendition of the PDF in general?
- Free PDF to Word Converter from SmartSoft: generally yes, but complicated documents can be iffy (3/5)
- Wondershare PDF to Word Free: almost always a faithful rendition of the original. (5/5) **Excellent**
- gDOC Creator:generally yes. It looks good, superficially, but the treatment of images and document formatting is not them best for editing purposes. (3/5)
- OpenOffice with PDF import extension: Yes, but his is a special case, because edits are made straight onto the PDF (4/5)
- Boxoft PDF to Word / 3D PageFlip Free PDF to Word: most converted documents will look like a complete mess, unless they consist mostly of unformatted text. (1/5)
- NuancePDF:generally very good. Occasional text formatting glitches in some documents (4/5)
- PDF to Word Free from NitroPDF: generally good. There were the occasional glitches: images missing from documents, and text formatting errors, but these were the exception not the rule (3/5).
- Convert.Files: generally good. There were the occasional glitches: images missing from documents, and text formatting errors, but these were the exception not the rule. Treatment exactly identical to #7 above. (3/5).
- Zamzar: generally yes. It looks good, superficially, but the treatment of images and formatting is lacking. (3/5).
- PDFOnline.com: almost always a faithful rendition of the original. (5/5) **Excellent**
- Wondershare PDF to Word Online: almost always a faithful rendition of the original. However, somehow the desktop version of this (#2 above) produces a slightly better result.(4.5/5)
6.3 Image handling: a common issue here is that many services blend all images and visual elements on the page into a single page-wide background image, as opposed to rendering distinct images and distinct formatting. This is obviously ok if you are merely interested in editing the text, but will make editing a document holistically somewhat difficult.
- Free PDF to Word Converter from SmartSoft: generally good, but it depends on the document. While it never creates a single background image that lumps all images and formatting within it, it sometimes slices each image into little bands, making it practically impossible to work with the images. But this only occurred on one out of eight documents we tested. (4/5)
- Wondershare PDF to Word Free: image handling seems to vary but is generally excellent. Generally speaking (with rare exceptions) the images are extracted individually and in the correct placement. It seems to depend on the source. (5/5) **Excellent**
- gDOC Creator:blends all images and formatting within a page into a single background image. Not good if you want to work with the images themselves, and a rather lazy solution to the problem. (2/5)
- OpenOffice with PDF import extension: images are rendered correctly where they should be, and are generally easy to work with. (4/5).
- Boxoft PDF to Word / 3D PageFlip Free PDF to Word: image handling simply does not work. Images are enlarged, misplaced, and generally off. (1/5).
- NuancePDF:generally good image handling, except that it seems to merge adjoining clusters of images together, which actually kind of works well and generally speaking is not a bad way to handle images. (4/5).
- PDF to Word Free from NitroPDF: image handling seems generally good, except that sometimes some images are omitted altogether. (3.5/5)
- Convert.Files: image handling seems generally good, except that sometimes some images are omitted altogether. (3.5/5)
- Zamzar: blends all images and formatting within a page into a single background image. Not good if you want to work with the images themselves, and a rather lazy solution to the problem.
- PDFOnline.com: image handling seems to vary but is generally excellent. Generally speaking (with rare exceptions) the images are extracted individually and in the correct placement. It seems to depends on the source. (5/5) **Excellent**
- Wondershare PDF to Word Online: image handling seems to vary but is generally excellent. Generally speaking (with rare exceptions) the images are extracted individually and in the correct placement. It seems to depend on the source. (5/5) **Excellent**
6.4 Handling of text and text boxes: this is probably the most important element, since it is safe to assume that the point of converting a PDF to Doc is to allow for editing the text.
A number of issues here:
- Does the text render accurately(e.g. “PuBlishing firMs” vs. “Publishing Firms”, is the text styling and formatting correct?)
- Is there a single text boxfor each text area? (yes=a good thing, no=each line of text is it’s own text box, making editing very difficult)
- Assuming there is single text box, is there continuous text flow, or is each line interrupted by carriage returns (the latter makes it labor intensive to edit).
- Does it support special characters?
| Text handling: | Accurate text rendering |
A single text box |
Continuous text flow |
Special characters |
Overall Score |
| 1. Free PDF to Word Converter from SmartSoft | Not always | No | – | No | 2/5 |
| 2. Wondershare PDF to Word Free | Yes | Yes | No (carriage returns) | No | 4/5 |
| 3. gDOC Creator: | Yes | Yes | No (carriage returns) | No | 4/5 |
| 4. OpenOffice with PDF import extension | Yes | No | – | 2/5 | |
| 5. Boxoft PDF to Word / 3D PageFlip Free PDF to Word | No | No | – | Yes (the only one) |
2/5 |
| 6. NuancePDF | Not always | Yes | Yes | No | 4/5 |
| 7. PDF to Word Free from NitroPDF | Not always | Yes | Yes | No | 3/5 |
| 8. Convert.Files | Not always | Yes | Yes | No | 3/5 |
| 9. Zamzar | Not always | Yes | No | No | 2/5 |
| 10. PDFOnline.com | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | 5/5 **Excellent** |
| 11. Wondershare PDF to Word Online | Yes | Yes | No (carriage returns) | No | 4/5 |
| Accurate text rendering |
A single text box |
Continuous text flow |
Special characters |
Overall Score |
6.5 Handling of Tables: most converters simply recreate tables using a combination of text boxes and formatting elements, so you’re editing rows but not columns (i.e. you cannot right-click ’delete column’ or something like in Word that because there are no columns).
If your document is table-intensive or if tables are your primary focus you would be better off with something that converts to Excel rather than to Word. Check out PDF to Excel Free, an online PDF to Excel service from the makers of PDF to Word Free, or try using”Excel” as the output format in NuancePDF.
- Free PDF to Word Converter from SmartSoft: no actual tables produced, but did a good job of “recreating” tables using text boxes, including the formatting. (3/5)
- Wondershare PDF to Word Free: will sometimes produce actual tables, while other times it will recreate tables with text boxes and formatting. Generally quite good. (4/5)
- gDOC Creator: recreated tables using text boxes and formatting, with an end result that looked quite acceptable. (3/5)
- OpenOffice with PDF import extension: no tables, of course, since the editing takes place in the drawing program (OpenOffice Draw). (n/a)
- Boxoft PDF to Word / 3D PageFlip Free PDF to Word: No tables. The content of tables was converted into floating text boxes. (1/5)
- NuancePDF: variable. Seems to produce actual tables at times, while other times it will recreate tables with text boxes and formatting. (3/5)
- PDF to Word Free from NitroPDF: handled tables quite well, actually, including formatting. (5/5) **Excellent**
- Convert.Files: handled tables quite well, actually, including formatting. (5/5) **Excellent**
- Zamzar: recreated tables using text boxes and formatting, but the two elements were not quite in sync and the end result looked somewhat messy. (2/5)
- PDFOnline.com: was able to recreate actual tables, as well as recreate the formatting. Very impressive. (5/5) **Excellent**
- Wondershare PDF to Word Online: will sometimes produce actual tables, while other times it will recreate tables with text boxes and formatting. Generally quite good. (4/5).
6.6 Reliability: this one applies to online services only. It describes the extent to which you can rely on being able to get your converted file back in a timely manner. It also takes into account max upload size, since that also reflects on ‘reliability’.
| Reliability | Will my file be emailed in a timely manner |
Can I get a download link on the spot? |
Max upload size | Overall Score |
| 6. NuancePDF | Yes | No | Unspecified. We think it is 10 MB. | 4/5 |
| 7. PDF to Word Free from NitroPDF | Large files can take 24 hours + | No | 10 MB | 2/5 |
| 8. Convert.Files | Yes | Yes | 200 MB | 5/5 **Excellent** |
| 9. Zamzar | Yes | No | 100 MB | 4/5 |
| 10. PDFOnline.com | n/a | Yes | Unspecified. It depends on ‘server load’. An 8.8 MB did NOT go through despite multiple attempts. | 3/5 dogged by upload problems for large files. |
| 11. Wondershare PDF to Word Online | Yes | Yes | 10 MB | 5/5 **Excellent** |
6.7 Working Hyperlinks: i.e. whether clickable links in the PDF were also clickable in the resulting Word document.
- Free PDF to Word Converter from SmartSoft: No
- Wondershare PDF to Word Free: Yes
- gDOC Creator: Yes
- OpenOffice with PDF import extension: no (documents re-exported to PDF did not maintain working hyperlinks).
- Boxoft PDF to Word / 3D PageFlip Free PDF to Word: Yes
- NuancePDF: No
- PDF to Word Free from NitroPDF: Yes
- Convert.Files: No
- Zamzar: Yes
- PDFOnline.com: Yes
- Wondershare PDF to Word Online: Yes
6.8 Optical Character Recognition (OCR): i.e. whether the converter is able to “read” PDF documents based on images and output an editable text.
Only two of the tools above had this on offer. Although both performed excellent OCR on small files, both of these services had problems converting very large image based PDF’s. Note, though, that Convert.Files stated max upload size is 200 megs, which is the biggest of all online services listed here.
- NuancePDF
- Convert.Files
For more OCR options check out our list of free OCR tools
6.9 Overall: The verdict/recommendation section: including overall score and summary.
- Free PDF to Word Converter from SmartSoft: 7/10. a good desktop based converter that will do if you do not have complex documents (and allows for commercial use).
- Wondershare PDF to Word Free: 9/10. Without a doubt the best option for desktop based PDF to Word conversion and one of the best options on this list in general.
- gDOC Creator: 7/10. May be a good option if you want a desktop converter that allows commercial use and has better text handling than #1 above.
- OpenOffice with PDF import extension: 7/10. This one is recommended for quick, on the fly edits. If you use OpenOffice then installing the PDF Import plugin is a must. If you are planning to do extensive editing of large documents, however, you would be better served by some of the other options presented here.
- Boxoft PDF to Word / 3D PageFlip Free PDF to Word: 3/10. Only listed here because it’s ability to deal with special characters. Otherwise I would recommend staying away from this one.
- NuancePDF: 8/10. Generally very good and reliable but most notably it is one of two services on this list that offer OCR support.
- PDF to Word Free from NitroPDF: 7/10. This one is ok, but reliability is an issue.
- Convert.Files: 8/10. Generally very good and reliable but most notably it is one of two services on this list that offer OCR support.
- Zamzar: 6/10. ok conversions, but no reason to use this one given that other online services are better in almost every way.
- PDFOnline.com: 9/10. This one provides the best quality PDF to Word conversion. If you have a large file you may have trouble uploading, but once you do it will produce a download link instantly and will not keep you waiting.
- Wondershare PDF to Word Online: 8.5/10. An excellent all around PDF to Word converter (although I do prefer the desktop version of this one #2 above).
Lastly, if you learn of new free PDF to DOC conversion tool that was not (a) on this list, and (b) in the excluded tools section (#5 above), then please let me know in the comments section!
Samer Kurdi
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