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Word to PDF
DOCX into PDF, with the styling intact. Free, no sign-up.
or drop it here
Word to PDF runs inside your browser — your file never reaches our servers.
How to convert Word to PDF
Converting to PDF freezes the layout so it looks the same on every device.
- Select your Word file. A .docx. A pre-2007 .doc must be re-saved as .docx first — Word does it from Save As.
- Convert. Text, headings, tables and images are laid out as a PDF.
- Download. A PDF that opens identically everywhere.
What survives the .docx, and what quietly does not
A .docx is a zip of XML, and Folia reads it that way: word/document.xml is parsed and redrawn by a layout engine, with no copy of Word involved. Each run keeps its bold, italic, underline, colour and point size. Headings keep their level and their relative size, with a hairline rule under levels one and two. Left, centred and right alignment hold — justified text comes out ranged left — and indents and paragraph spacing carry across. Tables are rebuilt as real ruled tables with a shaded, bold first row. The one thing never read is the typeface: Latin text is drawn in Helvetica whatever the document asks for, so a report set in Calibri comes back in Helvetica at the same sizes.
Dropped: images, headers and footers, footnotes, and the page setup itself — every conversion is A4 portrait with an even 56-point margin, so a US Letter file changes size and a landscape section does not stay landscape. Numbered lists are drawn as bullets. The note under the download tells you when the file contained images; the rest goes without comment. Worth checking before you send the PDF on: anything Word wraps around a run disappears with the wrapper — the words inside a hyperlink, a tracked insertion nobody has accepted, the contents of a content control. Accept all changes in Word first, then read the PDF where you know the links were. Running page numbers can go back on with Add page numbers.
When Word's own export is the better tool
This is built for the everyday case: someone sends you a .docx, the machine you are sitting at has no Word licence, and you need a PDF that opens anywhere. It is the wrong choice for a document whose appearance is the point — a designed report, a CV with a photograph, a contract whose clause numbering sits at fixed page positions. Word's own Save As, or LibreOffice's Export as PDF, runs a real layout engine over the file; nothing in a browser tab has one.
Going the other way, a PDF you need to edit as text, is PDF to Word, which rebuilds an editable .docx and recognises scanned pages automatically. Converting several documents to bind into one file? Convert each, then Merge PDF.
Questions
Will the layout match Word exactly?
Simple documents convert faithfully. Anything relying on unusual fonts, complex text boxes or tracked changes may shift slightly, because reproducing Word’s layout engine byte-for-byte requires Word itself.
Why are the images missing from my PDF?
The converter draws text, tables and their styling; pictures in the .docx are not carried over, and the note under the download says so when your document contained them. If the images are part of the point, export the PDF from Word, Google Docs or LibreOffice, and keep this for text documents.
Can I convert an .odt or an Apple Pages file?
No — the converter reads .docx, .xlsx and .pptx packages only. Both apps export to Word format: in Pages, File then Export To then Word; in LibreOffice, Save As with Word 2007-365 (.docx) selected. Convert that file.
Do my Word headings become PDF bookmarks?
No. A heading keeps its size, its weight and the rule beneath it on the page, but no outline is written into the file, so the navigation pane in a PDF reader stays empty.
Are my files uploaded to a server?
No. Every tool on this site runs inside your browser, using the same engine as the Folia desktop app. Your file is read from your disk into your browser’s memory, processed there, and handed back as a download. It never crosses the internet, so there is nothing for us to store, leak or hand over.
Is there a file size limit?
We impose none. The only ceiling is your own device’s memory, which differs from one computer to another — so we read what your browser reports about this machine and show the resulting limit on the page. Light tools like merge and rotate handle far more than heavy ones like OCR, which must render every page. For anything larger, Folia for Desktop has no limit at all.
Is it really free? Do I need an account?
Yes, and no. Every tool is free and unlimited, with no watermark and no sign-up. Ads pay for the site, and your own computer does the work, which costs us nothing. Signing in with a paid Folia plan simply removes the ads.