How to convert a Microsoft Word document to a PDF. PDFs are useful for document distribution here's how to do it for a Microsoft Word document.
How to convert a Microsoft Word document to a PDF
If you have the desktop version of Microsoft Word, the easiest way to convert your document to PDF is in Word.
Open the document you want to convert, then click the "File" tab.
Select "Save As" from the list on the left.
On the Save As screen, select the location where you want to save the PDF (OneDrive, This PC, a particular folder or wherever).
Next, click the drop-down arrow on the right side of the box "Save as" and select "PDF (*.pdf)" from the drop-down menu.
If you wish, you can change the file name at this time. When you're ready, click the button "Save".
After saving the PDF, the Word document will be returned and the new PDF will automatically open in the default PDF viewer.
If you don't have Microsoft Word
If you don't have Word, but need to convert a document someone sent you, you have a few options:
- Google Drive: you can upload a word document to google drive, convert it to a google document and convert it to PDF. This works quite well if you have a simple, mostly text, Word document without a lot of formatting (and if you already have a Google account).
- A conversion website: there are many sites that offer the ability to convert Word documents to PDF for free. We recommend. It's a secure site, works fast, and does a good job on Word documents with a modest amount of formatting. And it's really free if you just need to convert the occasional Word document to PDF. A paid subscription gives you additional features like unlimited conversions (multiple documents at once) and the ability to convert multiple file types.
- LibreOffice: is a free open source office app that offers many of the same features as Microsoft Office. You can also open Microsoft Word documents and convert them to PDF.
