You get a PDF and need to edit it. The solution depends on what kind of PDF it is.

First, identify your PDF

Try selecting a word with the cursor. If it highlights, the PDF has text. If not, it's an image (a scan or a photo of a page) and you need OCR.

PDF with text: convert it to Word

  1. Open PDF to Word and select the file.
  2. Wait a few seconds.
  3. Download the .docx and open it in Word, LibreOffice or Google Docs.

The tool extracts the text and arranges it in paragraphs, with headings and bold text when it detects them. It works very well with letters, reports, contracts and class notes.

What it doesn't do: it doesn't rebuild the layout. Images, tables and complex columns aren't preserved the same way, so you'll need to adjust them. It's a text extraction, not an exact copy.

Scanned PDF: use OCR

OCR recognizes the letters in an image and turns them into text.

  1. Open OCR for images and PDFs.
  2. Choose the document's language (10 are available).
  3. Upload the image or scanned PDF and wait.
  4. Copy the text or download it as a .txt file.

The first time, the text recognizer is downloaded (about 10 MB) and then stored. For the best results, use straight photos with good light and no shadows. Handwriting is barely recognized, and you should always check the result.

Other useful conversions

  • To save each page as an image, use PDF to image.
  • To make a PDF from photos of your pages, use Images to PDF.
  • To convert a web page or HTML code to PDF, use HTML to PDF, which opens your browser's print dialog.

None of this uploads your documents to the internet: contracts and IDs stay on your computer.