How to Convert a Microsoft Word Document to a PDF

Convert a Document to PDF Using Word

If you have the desktop version of Microsoft Word installed on your Windows PC or Mac, you may convert your document to PDF right in Word.

Click the “File” tab after opening the document you want to convert.

On the backstage screen, select “Save As” from the list on the left.

Next, from the Save As screen, select where you would like the PDF to be saved (OneDrive, This PC, a particular folder, or wherever).

Click the dropdown arrow on the right side of the “Save As Type” box and select “PDF (*.pdf)” from the dropdown menu.

If you want to, you can change the filename at this time. When you’re ready, click the “Save” button.

After saving the PDF, you’ll be returned to your Word document, and the new PDF will open automatically in your 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 to PDF, you do have a few options:

• Google Drive: Uploading a Word document to Google Drive, saving it as a Google Document, and then converting it to PDF is possible. This is sufficient if you have a simple, mostly text Word document with little formatting. (and if you already have a Google account).
• A Conversion Website: There are numerous websites that offer free conversion of Word documents to PDF. We suggest freepdfconvert.com. It’s a secure site that works quickly and does a decent job on Word documents with even minor formatting. And it’s completely free if you only need to convert a single Word document to PDF. A paid subscription unlocks extra capabilities such as unlimited conversions (the ability to convert several documents at once) and the ability to convert more file types.
• LibreOffice is a free, open-source office application that has many of the same capabilities as Microsoft Office. You can even open and convert Microsoft Word documents to PDF.