Convert
Convert a PDF
Nine conversions, in both directions. They are not all equal: some genuinely rebuild the structure of the document, others keep only its picture. Knowing which is which saves a day spent correcting a file that could never have come out better.
All tools
- Convert a PDF to JPGEvery page becomes an image
- Convert images to PDFPhotos into a single document
- Extract the images from a PDFThe document's pictures, exactly as they sit in it
- Convert a PDF to WordA .docx you can genuinely edit
- Convert a PDF to ExcelGet the tables back
- Convert a PDF to PowerPointOne page per slide
- Convert Word, Excel or PowerPoint to PDFA faithful PDF from an office file
- Convert HTML or Markdown to PDFMarkup into a document
- Convert a PDF to PDF/AThe archival standard, verified
What gets rebuilt, and what stays a picture
PDF to Word and PDF to Excel rebuild: paragraphs, styles, tables and cells regain their nature, and the result is genuinely editable. PDF to PowerPoint does not rebuild: each page becomes the image of a slide and the text is not editable; no tool does that honestly, and we would rather say so than let you find out. PDF to JPG photographs the pages; Extract images, by contrast, goes after the original pictures at their original resolution.
Why a scanned document converts badly
Because it holds no text. A scan is a photograph of a page: there is nothing to rebuild, and “PDF to Word” says so rather than returning a .docx made of pictures. The compulsory step is OCR, which adds an invisible text layer under the image. The conversion then takes up that text, page by page, without the original layout: a text to read through, not a facsimile. This is the number one cause of disappointing results in this family.
PDF/A, when a document has to last
PDF/A is not a compression, it is a guarantee of future reading: embedded fonts, device-independent colour, no dependency on outside software. It is what public tenders and archive deposits ask for. The file produced is read back after conversion: if it does not declare the standard, it is not handed over under that name. A document announced as compliant that is not would be refused at deposit, which is the worst moment to find out.