How to convert Word to PDF
- Choose your .docx file with the box above, or drop it onto the box. The box counts words, headings, lists, tables and images.
- Set Page size (US Letter or A4), Margins (1, 0.75 or 0.5 in) and Text size (10, 11 or 12 pt).
- Select Download PDF. The PDF is built in your browser and saved right away.
- Use Print or save with your browser for documents in Chinese, Arabic, emoji or other scripts the built-in font cannot draw.
How the conversion works
A .docx file is a zip of XML files (ECMA-376). The mammoth.js library turns Word styles into plain structure: headings, lists, bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, links, tables and images are kept, while fonts, colors, alignment, headers and footers are left behind. The result is cleaned with DOMPurify so a hostile file cannot run code, shown in a sandboxed preview, and laid out page by page with pdfmake in the Roboto font. Headings are 1.75, 1.45 and 1.25 times the text size, tables get equal columns with thin borders, pictures shrink to fit, and a manual page break starts a new PDF page.
Worked example
Select Try a sample document. The box reports "sample.docx: 38 words, 1 heading, 1 list, 1 table, 0 images." With the defaults (US Letter, 1 in margins, 11 pt), Download PDF reports "PDF ready: 1 page" and saves sample.pdf. The text area is 612 - 2 x 72 = 468 points wide, so the 3 by 3 table gets three equal columns of about 156 points, and the heading is drawn at about 19 pt (11 x 1.75).
Limits and edge cases
- The layout is simplified. Text boxes, columns, tracked changes, comments and Word page numbers are not carried over. Add numbers afterward with PDF Page Numberer.
- Only .docx works. An older .doc or a password protected file must be saved as a plain .docx in Word first.
- Pictures in formats a browser cannot open, such as EMF, are left out and counted in the note under the buttons.
For the reverse, PDF to Word pulls the text out of a PDF, and PDF Merger joins finished PDFs.
Frequently asked questions
How do I convert a Word document to PDF without Word?
Choose your .docx file, check the preview, pick the page size and margins, then select Download PDF. The PDF is built in your browser and saved straight to your device, so you do not need Word or an account.
Will the PDF look exactly like my Word document?
No. The tool keeps the content and structure: headings, paragraphs, bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, links, lists, tables and images. It does not keep fonts, colors, alignment, headers, footers, page numbers, text boxes or columns. For an exact copy of the layout, use Save as PDF inside Word.
Can I convert an old .doc file to PDF?
Not directly. Open the .doc file in Word or Google Docs, save it as .docx, and choose that file here.
Why do some characters show as empty boxes?
The built-in PDF font covers Latin, Greek and Cyrillic letters. Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Hebrew, Thai and emoji need another font, and the tool warns you. Use Print or save with your browser for those documents.
Why does my PDF use a different font than Word?
The PDF is drawn with the pdfmake library and its built-in Roboto font, because a web page cannot read the fonts installed on your computer or the ones saved inside the .docx. Text size is limited to 10, 11 or 12 pt. To keep the exact fonts, use Save as PDF inside Word. Print or save with your browser draws the preview in Calibri or Arial from your own device instead of Roboto.
Sources: ECMA-376 Office Open XML File Formats, mammoth.js, pdfmake and DOMPurify documentation.