Altto
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Free · No sign-up · Runs in your browser

Convert Word to PDF.

Turn a .docx file into a PDF that looks right and opens anywhere — without a single document ever leaving your device. Handles .docx fully and old .doc files text-only; a text box’s words come out as ordinary paragraphs.

Not uploaded — nobody sees it Keeps headings & formatting No watermark, ever No subscription or account

Got a mix of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, images or PDFs? Convert to PDF turns them all into one PDF.

Your file is never uploaded — it’s processed right here in this browser tab, on your device. It never reaches a server, so we never see it, copy it or keep it.

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At a glance

Word to PDF: quick facts

Turn a Word .docx document into a PDF in your browser.

Updated

Price
Free. No sign-up, no watermark.
Input
.docx (Word 2007 and later), and the text of old .doc files.
Kept
Page setup, headers and footers, type sizes and colours, alignment, spacing, tab stops, tables, lists, pictures, links and footnotes.
Not kept
Decorative fonts: text is set in the nearest matching face — Calibri and Cambria documents in their metric twins Carlito and Caladea, other serifs as Times, monospace as Courier, the rest as Helvetica.
Exact copy
For an identical PDF, use Word’s own Save as PDF.
Privacy
Your file is processed in your browser and never uploaded.
How it works

How to convert a Word document to PDF

Altto reads your .docx — text, styles, tables, pictures, sections, frames — and rebuilds it on your document’s own page setup in the nearest matching face; a Calibri or Cambria document keeps its exact widths, so line breaks and page fill track Word’s own.

  1. 01

    Add your document

    Drop in a .docx file.

  2. 02

    Convert

    Altto rebuilds the document and lays it out as a PDF, locally.

  3. 03

    Save your PDF

    Get back a PDF version, ready to share or print.

Tips

Tips for a better PDF from Word

A few minutes in Word before you convert makes the PDF come out much closer to what you expect.

  • Style titles as headingsOnly Word’s built-in heading styles (Heading 1, Heading 2 and so on) come out as headings. Text you’ve simply made large, and Word’s Title style, come out at ordinary body size, so apply Heading 1 to your title before converting.
  • Settle tracked changes firstTracked insertions appear as ordinary text and deletions simply vanish, with no colours or crossings-out, so the PDF reads as if every change had been accepted. Comments are left out. Accept or reject each change first, so you know exactly what the PDF says.
  • Pictures keep their size and spotPictures come out at the size you set in Word, up to the width of the page, and a floating picture keeps its left, centre or right spot, with the text running beside a square-wrapped picture where there is room, or continuing below it otherwise. Normally only PNG and JPEG pictures are included; others, such as GIFs, are left out.
  • Headers, footers and page numbers carry overThe header and footer text your document sets, page numbers included, is placed on every page of the PDF, along with any logo or picture in them at its set size and spot. To stamp extra numbering on any PDF, there’s Add Page Numbers.

Like every Altto tool, this runs on your device — nothing you add is uploaded. How Altto works

1:1

page setup: the PDF uses your document’s own paper size, orientation and margins — A4, US Letter, landscape or a custom size — read from the file itself, and a section break that turns the page sideways mid-document turns it here too.

Guide

Word to PDF: other ways, and what to know

Ways to do this without Altto too, on Windows, Mac and phones, and the things that trip people up.

Save as PDF in Microsoft Word (Windows)

  1. Open the document in Word and choose File → Save As (on some versions, Save a Copy).
  2. Pick where to save it, then change Save as type to PDF.
  3. Next to Optimize for, choose Standard for a full-quality PDF you might print, or Minimum size if it’s going by email and has lots of pictures.
  4. Click Save.

The Options button in the same dialog is worth a look. It lets you save just a range of pages, create PDF bookmarks from your headings (handy for long reports), include accessibility tags for screen readers, and choose whether tracked changes and comments appear. You’ll also find the same export under File → Export → Create PDF/XPS.

Because Word uses its own layout engine to make the PDF, what you see on screen is what you get: fonts, spacing, headers and footers, text boxes and columns all come out as they look in Word.

Word on a Mac

  1. Choose File → Save As.
  2. Set File Format to PDF.
  3. Choose Best for printing, then click Export.

You’ll also see an option called Best for electronic distribution and accessibility. It produces a more accessible PDF, but as its label says, it uses a Microsoft online service — your document is sent to Microsoft to be converted. Microsoft says it doesn’t keep the file, but if the document is sensitive and you’d rather it stayed on your Mac, choose Best for printing.

Google Docs (free, no Word needed)

  1. Upload the .docx to Google Drive and open it with Google Docs.
  2. Choose File → Download → PDF Document (.pdf).

It’s free with a Google account and handles everyday documents well. The catches: the file is uploaded to Google, and because Docs re-lays out the document with its own engine, fonts it doesn’t have are swapped for similar ones and complex layouts can shift. Check page breaks before you send it. Google Docs can also open the older .doc format.

On your phone

With the Microsoft Word app: on iPhone or iPad, open the document, tap the File menu and choose Export → PDF. On Android, open the document, tap the three-dot menu, choose Print, and pick Save as PDF as the printer.

With the Google Docs app: open the document, tap the three-dot menu, then Share & export. On Android choose Save as and pick PDF; on iPhone choose Send a copy, pick PDF, and save it to Files.

With no app at all: Word to PDF runs in Safari or Chrome on your phone. Tap to choose the .docx from your Files app or downloads, convert, and save.

Which method should you use?

Word to PDF methods compared
MethodCostUploads your file?Layout accuracyBest for
Microsoft Word (Windows)Needs WordNoExactAnything, especially complex layouts
Word for MacNeeds WordOnly with the “electronic distribution” optionExactAnything; choose Best for printing to stay local
Google DocsFreeYes, to GoogleGood; fonts may be substitutedEveryday documents, no Word
Word app on a phoneFree appNoGoodConverting on the go
Altto (browser)FreeNoGood for text, headings and listsNo Word installed, private documents

Before you convert: a quick checklist

  • Tracked changes and comments. If they’re showing in Word, they can end up in the PDF. Accept or reject changes and delete comments first, or choose to publish the document without markup in Word’s PDF options.
  • Tables of contents and fields. Right-click a table of contents and update it, so the page numbers in the PDF are right.
  • Page breaks. Scroll through once. A heading stranded at the bottom of a page looks much worse in a PDF, where no one can fix it.
  • File name. “Jane-Smith-CV.pdf” beats “Document1 (final) (2).pdf” when it lands in someone’s inbox.
  • File size. If the PDF is too big to attach, see how to compress a PDF.

Need to go the other way later? Our guide on turning a PDF into a Word document covers that.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

What Word to PDF keeps and what it leaves out. New to this? Our guide on how to convert Word to PDF also covers Word’s own export, Google Docs and phones.

Will my formatting be kept?
Headings, bold/italic text, lists, tables, pictures and two-column pages carry over well, with pictures at the size your document sets and floating pictures at their anchored spot. Tracked changes may not look identical in the PDF.
Does this work with the older .doc format?
Yes. An old Word 97–2003 .doc converts text-only: its words come out in reading order, but its tables, pictures and layout don’t. Save the file as .docx in Word first when you want those kept.
Can I convert a password-protected document?
No, encrypted Word documents can't be read in the browser. Remove the password in Word first, then convert it here.
Why doesn’t the PDF look exactly like my document?
Because Altto rebuilds the document rather than copying Word’s layout engine. It keeps your page setup, headers and footers, tables, pictures, colours, spacing and section layout, and sets the text in the nearest matching face — a Calibri or Cambria document keeps Word’s own line breaks through metric-matched fonts, while other fonts come out close but not identical. When the pixel-exact look matters, use Word’s own File, Save As, PDF.
Will my fonts and colours be kept?
Mostly. Type sizes, text colour and highlights, bold, italic, underline, superscript, alignment, indents and line spacing all carry over, and text comes out in the face nearest your font: Calibri and Cambria — Word’s defaults — in their metric-matched twins Carlito and Caladea (so line breaks land where Word puts them), other serifs as Times, monospace as Courier, the rest as Helvetica. A CV set in Garamond comes out in Times at the right sizes, not Garamond itself; when the exact font matters, use Word’s own Save As PDF.
What happens to tables?
Tables come out as real tables: the column widths, borders, cell shading, merged cells and cell pictures your document sets are read from the file and drawn in the PDF, with the text wrapped inside each cell. A table nested inside another table’s cell is drawn as its own small grid, and a table whose words disagree with its own layout falls back to plain rows of text.
Will links in my document still work?
The link text is kept, but it isn’t clickable in the PDF, and the web address behind it isn’t shown. If readers need to follow a link, write the address out in full in the document before converting, or use Word’s own Save As PDF, which keeps links working.
Why can’t I select the text in my PDF?
Usually you can, as the PDF is built from real text — including Greek, Cyrillic and Eastern European letters, and common Chinese, Japanese and Korean text, set in bundled open fonts fetched only when needed. Only what’s beyond those, such as Arabic or Hebrew letters, very rare CJK characters, arrows, ticks or emoji, switches the pages to images: they read and print normally, but that text can’t be selected or searched and the file is much larger.
How do I convert Word to PDF without Microsoft Word?
Use Google Docs (File, then Download, then PDF Document), or Altto’s Word to PDF, which converts a .docx inside your browser on any device. Apple Pages and LibreOffice can also open Word files and export them as PDFs.
How do I turn a Word document into a PDF on my phone?
In the Word app on iPhone, use File, then Export, then PDF. On Android, use the three-dot menu, then Print, and choose Save as PDF. Without the Word app, the Google Docs app or a browser tool such as Altto’s Word to PDF will do it.
Can I convert an old .doc file to PDF?
Word and Google Docs can both open .doc files and save them as PDFs. Altto’s Word to PDF supports only the modern .docx format, so open an old file in Word and save it as .docx first.
Can I convert Word to PDF without uploading my document?
Yes. Altto’s Word to PDF converts your .docx in your browser, so the document is never sent to a server. The page loads the code, then your own device does the conversion. You can check this in your browser’s Network tab, as described on the About page.
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Related guides: How to turn a PDF into a Word document · PDF vs Word: what’s the difference and which should you use?