How to turn a Word file to PDF on Mac

Do you need to convert a Word file to PDF on your Mac but have no intention of buying paid software to do it? Well, who told you you have to do this? In fact, Apple-branded computers include everything you need to transform DOC or DOCX files into PDF quickly and easily, you just need to know where to put your hands and that’s it.

Tools already included on the Mac aside, you can convert your Word documents into PDF files also by using additional applications and special online services. Even in this case you have nothing to worry about, these are very simple resources to use – even for those who, a bit like you, do not consider themselves exactly a great expert in new technologies – and you will not have to put your hand wallets, you have my word.

Then? Do you want to start? Yes? Very well. So I would say not to waste any more precious time, to put the chatter aside and immediately start getting busy. Get comfortable in front of your trusty computer and focus on the content of my guide entirely dedicated to how to transform a Word file into PDF with Mac. I wish you a good read.

Programs to transform a Word file into PDF on Mac

Let’s start by reviewing which programs I suggest you contact to make your conversions from DOC or DOCX files to PDF. As anticipated at the beginning, these are fairly simple tools to use, free and that do not require any financial outlay. To find out more, keep reading, you will find three info you need right below.

Preview

The first tool I recommend you try to transform a Word file into PDF is Preview , the image and document viewer included in all computers of the “bitten apple”.

You ask me how to use it? Nothing simpler. First locate the Word file you want to act on, right-click on its icon, select Open with from the menu that is shown to you and click on Preview . At this point, click on the File item located in the upper left part of the menu bar and select Print… . If you prefer keyboard shortcuts, you can invoke the print function by paying cmd + P on the Mac keyboard.

In the window that opens, click on the PDF drop-down menu located at the bottom left and select the item Save as PDF …  from the menu that appears. Then choose the folder in which to save the converted document, if you want to set the properties of the file (title, author and subject) by filling in the appropriate fields and click on the Save button to complete the operation.

You can also turn a Word file to PDF on Mac by merging multiple DOC or DOCX documents into one PDF file. How? Nothing easier. Select the documents to convert with the mouse (use the combination cmd + click  to select them all at the same time) and open them with Preview as seen above.

At this point, use the thumbnails of the files found in the Preview sidebar to reorder the documents in the position where you want to “print” them in the PDF and call up the print and save function of the converted document as seen above. Convenient, don’t you think?

iWork / Pages

Another tool you can rely on to convert Word files to PDF is iWork , Apple’s productivity suite for Macs, and more precisely Pages , the word processing software included in it. It is a tool that can be downloaded, installed and used for free by all those who have bought an Apple computer over the last few years ( more info here ).

If pages is not already installed on your Mac (check the Applications folder on your computer), you can download it by connecting to this page of the Mac App Store Online, clicking on the View button in the Mac App Store and then pressing the Get / Install button located in the left part of the Mac App Store window that opened on the desktop.

Now, right-click on the file you want to convert and from the menu that opens first choose the item Open with and then Pages . Now click on the File item located at the top left of the Pages menu bar, select Export As and then choose PDF .

Then indicate the quality of the image you intend to use using the appropriate menu attached to the window that is shown to you and click on Next . Finally, indicate the location where you prefer to save the converted file on your computer and then click on the Export button .

LibreOffice / Writer

You can also use LibreOffice , the free and open source suite commonly identified as the best alternative to the Office package in circulation. LibreOffice also includes a tool called Writer that allows you to work on Word files without problems and export them in PDF format.

To download LibreOffice on your Mac, connect to its website and click first on the Download version xx button  (to download the program installation file) and then on  Translated user interface  (to download the Italian translation package for the software) .

When the download is complete, open the package in .dmg format you downloaded earlier and move the LibreOffice icon to the Applications folder of macOS / OS X. Then start LibreOffice by right clicking on its icon and selecting the Open item from the menu that appears (in this way you will go to bypass the restrictions imposed by Apple for what concerns the applications coming from non-certified developers) and close the software again using the combination of keys  cmd + q .

At this point, open the .dmg package with the Italian translation of LibreOffice, right-click on the LibreOffice Language Pack file , choose the Open item from the menu that opens, then press the Install button   twice in a row, then  click Yes, identify me  and enter the password of your user account on Mac to install the language pack.

Then start LibreOffice, click on the Document Writer button , click on the File item at the top left of the menu bar, select Open… and indicate the file saved on your computer that you want to convert. Then go back to the File menu  and click on Export to PDF format to save the final result as a PDF file.

Online services to transform a Word file to PDF on Mac

You can transform a Word file into PDF with Mac also by acting from the Web, without having to use any tools installed on your computer and without having to download new ones. Just take advantage of the appropriate online services and that’s it. You ask me which ones? Read on and you will find out.

ZamZar

If you need to transform many Word files into PDF at the same time, I suggest you use the ZamZar online service which supports files with a maximum loss of 100MB and also allows you to intervene on other types of files.

To use it, connect to its main page and select the documents to convert by clicking on the Choose files… button . You can also select the files you want to act on by dragging them directly into the browser window. If, on the other hand, the files to be converted are already online, click on the URL Converter tab  and insert the relative link in the appropriate empty field.

Next, select the PDF  format from the Step 2 drop down menu , type your email address in the Step 3 field and click the Convert button to start converting your documents.

When the operation is completed, you will receive e-mails to download your DOC / DOCX files converted to PDF by ZamZar. Click on the links in the emails received to download everything on your computer.

Go4Covert

As an alternative to the above service, you can contact  Go4Convert , which allows you to convert not only DOC and DOCX Word files to PDF but also RTF documents, simple texts in TXT and various other types of files. It does not impose any limit on the maximum size of documents and does not apply any type of watermark to the converted files.

To use it, connected first to the main page of Go4Convert, click on the Load From Disk button   on the left and select the documents in Word format to be transformed into PDF. If, on the other hand, you prefer to use drag and drop, drag  the files on your computer on which you want to work on Drop you file here and you’re done. If, on the other hand, the files to be converted are found online, press the Load From Web button and enter the URL of the document.

Then wait for the files to be processed and converted after which they will be automatically downloaded to your Mac in PDF format and saved in the Downloads folder (if you have not changed the default settings of the browser in use).