How to Turn a Word Document into a PDF
By Tools Star Hub Editorial Team · Published
Word to PDF reads the words from a .docx file and places them in a plain PDF. Images, tables as grids, headers, footers, and text styling are left out. It is not a copy of the Word layout. The file stays in this browser tab.
A Word file stores pictures, table grids, and font choices separately from the words. This page keeps the words and drops that layout. Use it when you need the paragraph text in a simple PDF. Use it only after you accept that the PDF will not look like the Word document.
How to turn a Word document into a PDF
- Choose a .docx file. A .doc file is rejected. A .doc file renamed to .docx cannot be read as a Word document. The file can be up to 20 MB. An empty file is rejected. Tools Star Hub does not send that file to a server or save it in local storage.
- Set the page, then press Create PDF. A title is optional. Choose A4 or Letter. Choose a margin of none, small, or medium. Font size must be from 8 to 24. Line spacing is 1, 1.15, 1.5, or 2. Page numbers can be on or off. The words are wrapped onto pages with Helvetica.
- Read the note, then download word.pdf. The note says how many pages were created. If Helvetica cannot draw a character, that character becomes a question mark and the note says how many were replaced. A Word page break does not start a new PDF page.
- Check the PDF against the document. Heading words, list item words, and table cell words can be there. The picture, the table grid, and Word’s automatic list numbers are not.
Example
A heading, a table, a list, and a picture
The heading words, the cell words, and the list item words are kept. The picture is left out. Word’s automatic list numbers are not kept. The table is not drawn as a grid.
A .doc file renamed to .docx
The page says that file could not be read as a Word document. It does not show an internal error.
Things to watch
What is left out
Images, drawings, charts, and shapes are dropped. Bold, italic, colors, fonts, and heading sizes are dropped. A table becomes the cell text in reading order, not a grid. A list keeps the item text and does not keep Word’s automatic numbers. Headers, footers, footnotes, comments, and text boxes are not included. A .doc file is rejected. A character Helvetica cannot draw becomes “?”. More than 100,000 characters of extracted text is refused.
FAQ
- What happens to a table?
- The cell text is kept in reading order. The table is not drawn as a grid. Bold, italic, colors, fonts, and heading sizes are dropped.
- What happens to a picture in the document?
- Images, drawings, charts, and shapes are dropped. If the document is only a picture, there is no text to convert.
- Why did a character become a question mark?
- The PDF uses Helvetica. A character that font cannot draw becomes “?”. The note after Create PDF says how many characters were replaced.
- Does a Word page break start a new PDF page?
- No. The words are read as text and then wrapped onto A4 or Letter pages. A Word page break does not start a new PDF page.
To place the words from a .docx file into a plain PDF, use Word to PDF. The file stays in this tab. The PDF is not a copy of the Word layout.