How to Convert a PDF to Word, JPG or Text Online: Choosing the Right Method

How to Convert a PDF on Windows Without Using an Online Converter

You don't always need to upload a PDF to an online conversion website. Windows and commonly installed Microsoft applications can handle several basic PDF conversion tasks locally.

This can be particularly useful when a document contains private or sensitive information that you would rather not upload to a third-party service.

How to Convert a PDF to Word on Windows

If you have Microsoft Word installed, it can open many PDF files and convert them into editable Word documents.

1. Open Microsoft Word.
2. Select File > Open.
3. Browse to the PDF you want to convert.
4. Select the PDF and click Open.
5. Word will explain that it is going to convert the PDF into an editable document.
6. Select OK.
7. Once the document opens, check that the formatting has been converted correctly.
8. Select File > Save As.
9. Choose Word Document (.docx) and save the file.

You can also right-click a PDF in File Explorer and choose Open with > Word if Microsoft Word appears as an available application.

This method works particularly well with PDFs originally created from Word documents or other text-based applications. Complicated layouts may not convert perfectly, so check tables, images, fonts and page breaks afterwards.

How to Convert a PDF Page to JPG or PNG on Windows

If you only need an image of a page or part of a PDF, Windows' built-in Snipping Tool provides a quick solution.

1. Open the PDF in Microsoft Edge.
2. Display the page you want to capture.
3. Zoom in until the page is displayed clearly.
4. Press Windows + Shift + S.
5. Select the rectangular capture option.
6. Drag around the area of the PDF you want to capture.
7. Open the resulting screenshot in Snipping Tool.
8. Select Save As.
9. Save the image in your preferred supported image format, such as PNG or JPG/JPEG.

This is convenient for one or two pages, but it isn't a true PDF-to-image conversion. The resulting image quality also depends on how the PDF is displayed on your screen.

If you need to convert many PDF pages into separate high-resolution images, a dedicated PDF conversion tool is usually a better option.

How to Extract Text From a PDF in Microsoft Edge

If the PDF already contains selectable text, you may not need to convert it at all.

1. Right-click the PDF and choose Open with > Microsoft Edge.
2. Highlight the text you want to extract.
3. Right-click and select Copy, or press Ctrl + C.
4. Open Notepad, Microsoft Word or another application.
5. Press Ctrl + V to paste the text.

If you want plain text without most of the original document formatting, paste the content into Notepad and save it as a .txt file.

What If You Can't Select the Text?

If you can't highlight the words in a PDF, the document may contain scanned page images rather than actual computer-readable text.

In this situation, you need OCR (Optical Character Recognition).

OCR examines an image and attempts to recognise the letters, numbers and words contained within it. One option available to Windows users is Microsoft PowerToys Text Extractor.

How to Extract Text Using PowerToys

After installing Microsoft PowerToys:

1. Open the scanned PDF and display the text on your screen.
2. Activate PowerToys Text Extractor using its configured keyboard shortcut.
3. Drag a box around the text you want to recognise.
4. PowerToys will attempt to recognise the visible text and copy it to the Windows clipboard.
5. Open Notepad, Word or another text editor.
6. Press Ctrl + V to paste the recognised text.

This can be useful for extracting a paragraph, address, table entry or other small section from a scanned document.

However, it isn't the most convenient method for converting a large scanned document containing dozens of pages. For that, dedicated OCR software or an online OCR service may be more appropriate.

Online PDF Conversion vs Windows Conversion

Both approaches have advantages. The best option depends on what you're trying to achieve and whether the document contains sensitive information.

Which Method Should You Use?

For an ordinary PDF that you need to edit, Microsoft Word is one of the easiest options available on Windows.

If you simply need an image of a PDF page, Snipping Tool may be enough. If you only need to copy normal selectable text, opening the PDF in Microsoft Edge can save you from converting the document at all.

For scanned documents, you'll need OCR because the words may exist only as pixels inside an image rather than as selectable text.

Online converters become particularly useful when you need more advanced features, such as converting every page of a large PDF into separate image files or performing OCR across an entire scanned document.

Think About Privacy Before Uploading a PDF

One advantage of converting files locally on Windows is that the document doesn't necessarily need to leave your computer.

This is worth considering when working with documents containing:

• Banking information
• Personal identification
• Medical information
• Tax records
• Business documents
• Contracts
• Customer information

If you decide to use an online PDF converter, check the provider's privacy policy, how uploaded files are processed and how long files are retained.

For highly confidential documents, processing the file locally on your Windows PC can be the safer choice.