Convert Word to PDF

Do you have to review some Word files and then save them as PDF but you don’t know how to do it? I assure you that it is much simpler – and also cheaper – than you imagine. Believe it or not, to convert Word to PDF  you don’t have to buy any expensive commercial software: you can do everything with free programs or even with online services that work from any browser and from any operating system (without registration and without using plugins details).

The generated PDFs will respect the layout of the original documents. This means that images, tables, captions and so on will remain intact and you will get highly professional looking documents. If you wish, in going to convert Word to PDF you can also adjust the quality parameters of the files to be generated, their resolution, and you can apply a password to protect PDFs against unauthorized views, printing and modifications.

I repeat, all without spending a penny and without resorting to advanced software that can only be used by expert users. All you have to do is choose one of the many solutions listed below and use it following the instructions I am about to give you. I bet you will be amazed by the excellent results you will be able to obtain in a short time!

LibreOffice (Windows / Mac / Linux)

The first solution that I want to present to you to be able to convert Word to PDF is  Writer , one of the tools included in the LibreOffice free productivity suite  . Haven’t you ever heard of it? Bad. We must fix it now!

LibreOffice is an open source productivity suite defined by many as the best free alternative – along with OpenOffice, from which it was born – to Microsoft Office. It is available not only for Windows, but also for macOS and Linux and is compatible with all major Office file formats.

To download LibreOffice on your computer, connect to its official website via the link I gave you a moment ago and click on the  Download version x button. If you are using a Mac, also click on the Translated User Interface button to download the Italian translation file for the suite to your computer, which is not needed in the Windows version of the suite as it is included in the main installation package.

Well, now we are. At the end of the download, start the LibreOffice installation package (eg  LibreOffice_xx_Win_x86.msi ) and click first on the Next button twice consecutively and then on  Install ,  Yes and  Finish  to complete the setup.

If you are using a Mac, open the package in .dmg format that contains LibreOffice, drag the suite icon into the  MacOS Applications folder  and install the translation package to get the program in Italian. How you do it? Nothing simpler, look.

Open the package in .dmg format that contains the Italian language pack, right-click on the LibreOffice Language Pack icon contained within it, select the Open item   from the menu that opens and press the Install button twice in a row.

Now you have nothing else to do but start LibreOffice, open the DOC / DOCX file to be transformed into PDF in the latter and click on the Acrobat Reader icon   located at the top left, in the Writer toolbar.

If you then want to have more control over the parameters of the PDF to be generated, go to the  LibreOffice File menu  and select the  Export to PDF  from the latter. A window will open in which you can choose the quality level of the images to export to the PDF, the  resolution  of the document (I advise you never to go below 300 DPI) and the range of  pages  to convert. Furthermore, by going to the Security tab and pressing the Set password button you can set a password to protect the document against unauthorized opening, printing and / or modification.

Note:  Due to Apple’s restrictions on all programs downloaded from sources other than the Mac App Store, to start LibreOffice on Mac for the first time you may need to right-click the software icon – in the  MacS Applications folder  – and select the Open item   from the menu that appears (otherwise an error message could prevent you from starting the application).

Microsoft Word (Windows / Mac)

If you need to convert Word to PDF and you have a fairly recent copy of Microsoft Office  installed on your computer, you can convert using Word itself. All you have to do is open the DOC / DOCX document to convert, click on the File button located at the top left and select the Save and Send item from the sidebar.

Then click on the Create PDF / XPS document button and select the folder in which to export the file. If you want, you can also protect the generated PDFs with a password. Just click on the Options button   located at the bottom right of the file saving window, put the check mark next to the item  Encrypt document with a password  and click on the OK button  .

If you are using Microsoft Office 2007  and cannot find the option to export documents in PDF format, install the Microsoft Office 2007 Save as PDF or XPS Add-in available on the Microsoft website. This is a free plugin that allows you to enable PDF and XPS export functions in all Office 2007 applications, including Word.

To download it on your PC, connect to the link I just provided and click first on the Download button  and then on  No, thanks. Continue . Then open the SaveAsPDFandXPS.exe file you  just downloaded and click on the Run button  . Place the check mark next to the item  Click here to accept the Microsoft software license conditions  and complete the setup by first pressing  Continue  and then  OK .

Do you use a Mac? Then know that you can transform a DOC / DOCX file into PDF simply by opening the document to be converted in Word, selecting the  Save As  item from the File menu   and setting the PDF option   in the Format drop-down menu  . Simple!

PDF printer

You can generate PDF files not only from Word documents but, potentially, from any printable file. Just install a virtual printer on your computer . Haven’t you ever heard of it?

These are software that “disguise” themselves as printers in order to easily process all printable content and export it as a PDF file. They can interact with any type of file and any application with a print function. This means you can use them to turn not only documents, but also photos, web pages, emails, and more into PDFs.

There are many virtual PDF printers available for Windows, some of which are completely free. I reported one in my post on the subject . On the Mac, however, there is no need to resort to external software as macOS already includes its own PDF printer as standard .

To use it, just call the print command from the File menu of any application and select the  Save as PDF …  item from the PDF drop-down menu   located at the bottom left of the window that opens and then click on the Save button . Very simple.

Online2PDF (Web)

If you need to convert multiple files at the same time, you can rely on  Online2PDF. It is a free online service that does not require registration and sufficiently protects users’ privacy. Its upload limit provides for the processing of a maximum number of 20 files at a time for a total weight of 100 MB.

To find out how it works, linked to its main page using the link I just indicated and drag the DOC / DOCX files to be transformed into PDF in the box at the bottom. Alternatively, click the Select files button and choose the files on your computer that you want to convert.

Then select the item  Convert files separately  from the drop-down menu that you find in correspondence with the item  Mode:  and click on the Convert button to start the upload first and then the conversion of the documents. At the end of the procedure, the output PDFs will be automatically downloaded to your computer.

If desired, you can also merge two or more Word documents into a single PDF. Just select the Merge files  item from the drop-down menu  Mode:  instead of  Convert files separately.