How to save a Word document to PDF

You have just finished writing a document in Word format and, now, you must definitively deliver it to your colleagues or clients. Since the Word format allows for content editing, before distributing the document you would like to convert it to a PDF, in order to make editing its content more complicated, but unfortunately you don’t know how to proceed. Wait a moment! The answer to your question is simpler than you think, and I am about to reveal it to you.

In today’s guide, in fact, I will show you how to save a Word document to PDF using some word processing programs available on both Windows and macOS. In addition, I will explain how to use a virtual printer to convert your documents to PDF, regardless of the program used to open them. And if you usually travel and keep your files handy on smartphones and tablets, don’t worry, I will also show you some tools for Android and iOS that can be right for you.

How do you say? Are you eager to get started and put into practice the tips I have prepared for you in this guide of mine? So let’s not waste any more time: sit comfortably and pay close attention to the procedures that I will show you. I’m sure that, after reading, you will be able to save your documents as PDF in a very simple way. All that remains for me is to wish you a good reading and, above all, a good job!

Index

• Save a Word document as PDF on PC
  • Microsoft Word (Windows / macOS)
  • LibreOffice (Windows / macOS / Linux)
  • Virtual PDF printer
• Save a Word document as PDF on smartphones and tablets
  • Android
  • iOS

Save a Word document as PDF on PC

Working on a computer, you can save a Word document in PDF through word processing software or through a virtual PDF printer, which should already be installed in your operating system or, in any case, can be easily obtained at no cost. Here’s how to proceed in detail.

Microsoft Word (Windows / macOS)

Microsoft Word is a word processing software included in the Microsoft Office suite. It is not a free program and it is therefore necessary to purchase a license or take out a monthly subscription for its use. The cost of the single license, which includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote, is 149 euros. If, on the other hand, you want to take out a subscription, prices start from 7 euros/month or 69 euros/year and include, in addition to the programs mentioned in the previous lines, also Outlook, Publisher and Access.

If you are interested in purchasing this Microsoft-branded suite, you can reach the web pages of the official website dedicated to the Windows or macOS operating system. If, however, you want to test the features of these programs first, you can subscribe to the 30-day free trial by reaching this link and pressing the Try free for one month button.

You will need to use a Microsoft account and a valid payment system (credit card or PayPal) to activate the free trial. Don’t worry, no amount will be withdrawn until the trial expires. Now, simply follow the on-screen instructions to complete the trial account activation process. If you want more information on how to create an account and on the download and installation procedures of Microsoft Office, I suggest you read my guide dedicated to the subject.

But now let’s get to the point: after opening the document with Microsoft Word, click on the File button in the upper left corner and, in the context menu, select the item Save as. In the screen that is shown to you, press the Browse button and select the PDF option, corresponding to the Save as item.

Then choose a folder on your computer where to place the PDF file and confirm the procedure by pressing the Save button. If you want to reduce the size of the PDF file (giving up the quality of the graphic contents), before pressing the Save button, activate the Minimum size option.

LibreOffice (Windows / macOS / Linux)

Since Microsoft Word is a paid program, you might consider using a free one instead, such as Writer. This open-source program is present in a suite of productivity tools, called LibreOffice, which is available at no cost on Windows, macOS and Linux.

If you are interested in its use, go to the official website and click the Download version xx button. At this point, the automatic download of the .msi file on Windows or the .dmg file on macOS will start.

At the end of the download, on Windows, double-click on the file you just downloaded and, in the screen that is shown to you, press Next twice in a row. At this point, click on the Install button and then on Yes, in the Windows User Account Control window. Once the installation is complete, press the Finish button to close the screen.

On macOS, on the other hand, double-click the .dmg file and drag the LibreOffice icon into the Applications folder. Since LibreOffice is English on macOS, you can translate it by downloading the Italian language pack from the official website, pressing the Translated User Interface button and thus downloading a .dmg file. Once the download is complete, open LibreOffice from the macOS Applications folder, right-clicking on its icon, selecting the Open item from the context menu and answering Open the warning that appears on the screen (this operation must be performed to bypass Apple’s restrictions on applications from non-certified developers).

Now, close LibreOffice by pressing the combination cmd + w, then open the dmg package of the tradition package, double-clicking on it, and start the LibreOffice language pack executable by right-clicking on it, selecting the Open item from the context menu and answering Open the warning that appears on the screen. Then click on the Open button and then on the one called Install. If a warning appears regarding the permissions required to run the software, click on  Yes, identify me , type in the Mac administration password and click on  OK twice in a row to complete the installation of the LibreOffice translation package.

Now you just have to open the document in .doc or .docx format with LibreOffice and click on the File > Export as > Export to PDF format items. In the screen that is shown to you, you can configure some parameters for saving the document in PDF, such as the quality of the images, if any, or limit some functions of the document with a password. When you are ready, just press the Export button and then Save to complete the operation.

Virtual PDF printer

In addition to the possibility of using direct PDF saving of Word documents through word processors, you can also use the virtual printer. In the next few lines I will show you how to use this tool on both Windows and macOS.

Windows default printer

On Windows, open the Word document through a word processor, such as WordPad or Microsoft Word, and locate the menu bar at the top. Then select the File > Print items so as to view the print preview of the document in the new screen.

Now, select the one called Microsoft print to PDF from the available printers and then press the Print button to open the file saving screen. Then choose the folder where to place the PDF document and click the Save button. It was easy, wasn’t it?

doPDF

In case your computer is not equipped with the latest version of Windows, you may not have the same convenience I showed you in the previous chapter, using the operating system’s default PDF printer.

In this case, you can turn to third-party solutions, such as dopdf. This tool is free and creates a virtual printer that allows you to save Word documents in PDF format. There is also a paid version, NovaPDF, at a cost of $ 30, which adds the ability to encrypt, digitally sign or insert watermarks, just to give you some examples.

If you are interested in doPDF, go to the program’s official website and click the Download Now button twice in a row, on both pages that are shown to you. By doing so, the download of the .exe file related to the software will start. After downloading it, double-click on it and, on the installation screen, remove the checkmark in the Install add-in for Microsoft Office box. At this point, click on the Install now button and then choose the Yes item in the User Account Control window. Then wait for the installation to complete and close the screen using the Close button.

Now, all that remains is to open a Word document in. doc or .docx, via Microsoft Word or any compatible word processor ). Once this is done, in the menu bar, select the File > Print items and choose the doPDF printer, among those available in the list. Then click on the Print button and choose the folder where to save the PDF document, using the Browse button, then confirm the operation with the OK button.

MacOS default printer

On macOS, open the Word document through the Preview application or any other document viewing tool, such as Pages or Microsoft Word. At this point, click on the File > Print items at the top left of the menu bar and, in the screen that is shown to you, click on the PDF button at the bottom left.

Now, in the context menu that is shown to you, choose the item Save as PDF and indicate the name of the file in the Save as field and choose the folder where to place the PDF file, using the Located in field. Now, all that remains is to press the Save button to confirm the operation.

In macOS, there is also another feature for saving a Word document in PDF format. Opening the document with the Preview application or with Pages, you just need to select the File > Export as PDF items in the menu bar to immediately save the document in PDF. You will need to indicate the name of the file and the folder where to place it. Then confirm the operation using the Save button.

Save a Word document as PDF on smartphones and tablets

If you don’t have the ability to use a computer to save a Word document as a PDF, you can take advantage of the default features of smartphones and tablets running Android or iOS. In the next few lines, I will explain how to proceed with the operation of saving your documents in PDF on mobile devices.

Android

If you have a smartphone or tablet Android, I’d be happy to know that you can use the default PDF printer of this operating system. The first thing you need to do is locate where the Word document you need to save as PDF is located: if it is in the device memory, you can use the Microsoft Word app, while if you are viewing the file directly online through Google Docs, you can proceed directly by saving as PDF. But let’s go in order.

In case you have downloaded a Word document on the memory of your Android smartphone or tablet, install the Microsoft Word app for free from the Play Store. After reaching the link I gave you, click on the Install button and then on Open. Once this is done, open the document with this app: reaching the position of the document in the phone memory and tapping on it, you will be shown a small screen where you will have to select Word as the viewing app.

After you have opened the document, tap on the ☰ icon at the top right and, in the context menu, select the Print item. Then press the Allow button and press the word Select printer at the top. Among the options that are shown to you, press the one called Save as PDF and then tap on the button with the symbol of a disk. You will be asked where to place the file to save: then choose the folder on the Android device memory or on Google Drive and press the Save button at the bottom.

However, if you are viewing an online document that is on Google Docs, simply tap on the icon with the symbol ⋮ located at the top right. In the context menu that is shown to you, tap on the items Share and export > Print; at this point, click on the wording at the top Select printer and choose the item Save as PDF. Now, tap the button with the symbol of a disk and select the folder where to place the PDF file (you can also save it online on Google Drive ). Then confirm the operation by pressing the Save button located at the bottom.

iOS

On iPhone and iPad, you can save Word documents to PDF using a not very intuitive feature found on iOS. The procedure you need to perform consists, first of all, of opening a Word document, then tapping on the sharing icon (the one with the symbol of an arrow pointing upwards ). In the context menu that is shown to you, scroll through the items and select the one called Print. After the preview of the document is shown to you, zoom in on the preview with your fingers to enlarge it.

Once this is done, press on the sharing icon that you find in the upper right corner and select the destination where to place the PDF file. You can choose whether to share it within an app or to use the Save to File button to save it to the device memory or to iCloud.

If you want to use another way to save Word documents to PDF, I can recommend the free Commands app. It is a tool that aims to automate operations using automatisms to be imported into the app. In this specific case, you can use this command to add to the Commands app to convert any document to PDF.