Document tools that show what survives first.
28 tools in five groups. Documents, slides, spreadsheets and PDFs convert on our servers, and your files are deleted after 24 hours.
Convert to PDF
Anything that needs to arrive looking the same everywhere.9 tools- Word to PDFFreeze a Word document so it looks identical on every machine that opens it.
- PowerPoint to PDFSend the deck as something nobody can accidentally re-animate.
- Excel to PDFSend a workbook nobody can accidentally retype, every visible sheet in order.
- HTML to PDFA web page, printed to a page, without the print dialog.
- EPUB to PDFAn e-book laid out on pages, chapter by chapter, for printing or any PDF reader.
- Text to PDFPlain text laid out on a page and made presentable.
- RTF to PDFRich text made final, for anyone who cannot open your original.
- OpenDocument to PDFThe open standard, frozen for sending outside the office.
- CSV to PDFA raw CSV laid out as a readable table on numbered pages.
Convert from PDF
Getting your content back out of a page that resists editing.7 tools- PDF to WordGet an editable Word document back out of a PDF, with the layout rebuilt as closely as it can be.
- PDF to TextLift every word off the page and leave the layout behind. Fast, and completely plain.
- PDF to JPGTurn each page into a photograph-grade image. Looks right, stops being text.
- PDF to PNGEach page as a lossless image, edges crisp enough for screenshots and slides.
- PDF to PowerPointEvery page becomes a slide, ready to reorder and talk over.
- PDF to TIFFArchive- and print-grade pages for the scanner software that insists on it.
- PDF to HTMLA version that opens in a browser and can be edited in anything.
Document tools
Word, OpenDocument, rich text, plain text, HTML and CSV.7 tools- CSV to ExcelOpen a CSV as a real workbook, each value in a cell of its own.
- Word to OpenDocumentFor the council, the university, or whoever asked for an .odt.
- OpenDocument to WordBack into the format the rest of the office expects.
- DOC to DOCXDrag a Word 97 file into this century without opening Word.
- Word to TextStrip everything but the words. Useful more often than you would think.
- Word to HTMLA Word document as one web page, pictures and all, that opens complete in any browser.
- RTF to WordThe lowest common denominator, promoted to a real document.
Slide tools
Decks, and decks pretending to be documents.4 toolsOther tools
Jobs that are not one format to another, such as shrinking a PDF.1 toolWhich document tool do you need?
Start from the job rather than the format. Most of what people need from document and PDF tools is one of these:
| The job | The tool |
|---|---|
| Change the words in a PDF | PDF to Word. Tables come back as Word tables when the PDF has real text; the words in a scanned PDF are read, in English, into plain paragraphs. |
| Send a file that looks the same on every device | Word to PDF, or PowerPoint to PDF with one page per slide. Older .doc and .ppt files open as they are. |
| Turn pages into pictures | PDF to JPG or PDF to PNG, one picture per page. For a Word file, convert Word to JPG. For a web page saved as an .html file, convert HTML to JPG or convert HTML to PNG. For an OpenDocument .odt file, convert ODT to PNG. |
| Keep pages sharp at any size | Convert PDF to SVG: lines and letters become shapes, not pixels, so pages stay sharp when you zoom in, but the text can no longer be edited. |
| Keep only the words | PDF to Text or Word to Text. For a saved web page, convert HTML to text. |
| Make a PDF smaller | Compress PDF. It makes the pictures inside smaller and keeps every page, text and font. |
| Send an .odt someone asked for | Word to OpenDocument, and OpenDocument to Word for the way back. |
| Send a spreadsheet, or open a CSV | Excel to PDF prints every sheet that is not hidden, in order, from an .xlsx or an older .xls. CSV to PDF lays a CSV out as a table on numbered pages, and CSV to Excel puts each value in a cell of its own. |
Merging, splitting and signing PDFs are not offered here. Every other pair is in the full directory: All tools, at the foot of every page.
What the grade on each conversion means
Before you convert, each document conversion shows a grade: how much of your file will come through. It depends on what the new format can hold as well as on how many steps the route takes, which is why step count is the wrong way to judge a conversion.
- Exact: nothing is redrawn or interpreted on the way, as in Word to OpenDocument.
- Picture-perfect: it looks the same, but the text can no longer be selected or edited, as in PDF to PNG or PDF to SVG.
- Very good: small changes, such as a margin, font or line break moving, as in PDF to Word, where the document is rebuilt rather than copied.
- Good enough: usually a longer route of three or more steps. The file opens and reads well, but do not expect the original back.
- Words only: every word, without the layout, fonts or pictures, as in PDF to Text.
You see the grade and the route on each conversion's page before anything is uploaded, so you can pick a better target format first.
What happens to your documents
These online PDF tools and conversions run on Whatafile's servers, not in your browser. Your files are encrypted on the way to us and while they are stored (in transit and at rest), they are never used for training, and every file and result is deleted 24 hours after the conversion. You do not need an account.
Whatafile works as a free document converter, within limits: the free plan lets you convert 3 files a day, one at a time, each up to 25 MB, and a PDF you compress counts towards the same 3. Pro costs $9 a month, plus tax where applicable, for unlimited conversions, files up to 100 MB and batches of up to 100 files.
Document converter questions
Is the document converter free?
Yes: you can convert 3 files a day, one at a time, each up to 25 MB, with no account. Pro, at $9 a month plus tax where applicable, removes the daily limit and takes files up to 100 MB.
How long do you keep my files?
24 hours. Every file you upload and every result is deleted automatically 24 hours after the conversion, so download what you need before then.
Can I convert a scanned PDF to Word?
Yes. PDF to Word reads the English words on a scanned page and rebuilds them as paragraphs you can edit. The layout comes back simpler: each line of the scan becomes its own paragraph, and a table comes back as lines of text without its grid. Check names, numbers and accented letters afterwards.
How big can my file be?
Up to 25 MB per file on the free plan and 100 MB on Pro. The free plan converts one file at a time; Pro takes batches of up to 100 files.
Can I merge or split PDFs here?
No. Merging, splitting and signing are not among these free PDF tools: Compress PDF is the only document tool that is not one format to another. To change the words in a PDF, convert it with PDF to Word, edit it, then save it again with Word to PDF.
Do I need to convert my .doc or .ppt file first?
No. Older Word .doc and PowerPoint .ppt files are opened as they are: Word to PDF takes a .doc and PowerPoint to PDF takes a .ppt, so there is no need to resave them as .docx or .pptx. When someone asks you for the old format, convert DOCX to DOC.