8 Ways to Convert PDF to Word on Mac (Free or High Quality)

How to convert PDF to Word on Mac is a too often heard topic. There are so many solutions or software offered to change PDF to Word Docx for free or with high quality. To help you find the most suitable solution, we here list 8 ways to convert PDF to Word on mac.

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Quick-Start PDF to Word Mac Solution

1. Download the free trial of PDF Converter OCR, install and launch it.
2. Drag and drop PDF files into the program.
3. Specify the PDF pages you want to save as Word, and select output as Doc or Docx.
4. Click "Convert“ to change PDF to Word on Mac.

Convert Now

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Part 1. How to Convert PDF to Word on Mac Using Preview (Free)?

Preview is the PDF viewer and annotator to manage PDF files on mac, it can view, annotate, combine, sign and convert PDFs. However, it can only export PDF to image formats. And the only way to convert PDF to Word with Preview will be copying and pasting:

1. Open PDF with Mac Preview;
2. Select the PDF contents, right click to copy and paste the PDF contents into a Word file;
3. Save the Word file;

Cons:

• Take time and efforts;
• Original formatting cannot be retained;

 

Part 2. Change PDF to Word on Mac Using Automator (Free)

Automator allows users to create workflows for automating tasks, it can help save time and efforts on manually changing each file. With Automator, Mac users can extract PDF text, then open text file in Word, and finally save PDF as Word on mac.

Automator allows users to create workflows for automating tasks, it can help save time and efforts on manually changing each file. With Automator, Mac users can extract PDF text, then open text file in Word, and finally save PDF as Word on mac.

1. Open Automator in Application, select “Workflow”, then click “Choose”;
2. In the left column, choose “Files &Folders”, then drag “Ask for Finder Items” to the right column;
3. Still in the left column, choose “PDFs”, then drag “Extract PDF Text” to the right column;
4. Press Command+S, and choose the file format as “Application”;
5. Open the Automator file saved on your desktop, then click “Run” to select your PDF for conversion, a Text file will be generated from the PDF
6. Open the text file with Word, and your PDF is converted to Word on mac now.

Cons:

• Can not save PDF to Word on mac directly;
• Cannot maintain formatting;
• Take too much time and effort;

 

Part 3. PDF to Word with Adobe for Mac (High Quality)

As a PDF user, Adobe should sound quite familiar to you. If you have installed and subscribed Adobe Acrobat, you can export PDF files to Word format on your mac with Adobe. Since there are several versions of Adobe Acrobat, the steps to export PDF as Word will be a little different when using different Adobe versions. No worries, we have the answers as following.

For Users using Adobe Acrobat DC Pro:

• Step 1. Open PDF with Adobe Acrobat DC.
• Step 2. Go to Tools>Export PDF.
• Step 3. Choose Word as output, then click “Export”, the PDF will be converted as Word format on mac.

For Users using Adobe Acrobat XI Pro (The old version):

• Step 1: Open the PDF in Adobe Acrobat for conversion.
• Step 2: Click the "File" option on the top navigation bar of Adobe Acrobat.
• Step 3: Choose "Save As Other" from the menu.
• Step 4: Select output as "Microsoft Word" to convert PDF to Word on mac.
• Step 5: (Optional) Type a name for the document, then click the "Save" button.

If your PDF is scanned, try to perform Adobe OCR and save them into Word on mac.

Cons:

• The output format is limited;
• It does not support batch conversion;
• Sale a stiff price;

Extended: Can Acrobat Reader Convert PDF to Word on Mac?

No, but…

Acrobat Reader is totally free of charge for all Mac users. You can view, print, comment and share PDF file via it. But unfortunately, it only supports the basic reading features. You can’t create PDF, edit PDF, or even export PDF to Office format. 

However, same as Mac Preview---the free PDF reader to view PDF files on mac, Adobe Reader also allows users to copy and paste the PDF texts into Word or other text processors, only if the file is native, instead of image or scanned ones.

 

Part 4. Converting PDF to Word on Mac Online without Software (3 Ways)

People always return to online free PDF to Word converters for convenience and free of charge. These tools are genuinely recommended if you are working on simple and native PDFs. After uploading and testing files on dozens of online conversion tools, here we list following 3 best free PDF to Word converters for your choice. 

Option 1: SmallPDF

It allows users to upload PDF files from mac, Dropbox or Google Drive for Word conversion. It supports native PDFs only and there is file size/quantity limit.

1. Go to Smallpdf, and upload PDF files from your mac, Dropbox or Google Drive;
2. Click the download link to download converted file in Word format. 

Option 2: Google Docs

Google provides an online platform for users to manage their documents---Google Docs. In Google Docs, you can open PDFs and download the file in Word or other editable formats.

1. Go to Google account>Google Drive;
2. Click "New" to upload PDF file;
3. Right click on the file,open with Google Docs;
4. Go to File>Download as>Word. Your PDF will be converted into Word on mac.

Option 3. Online2PDF

It allows users to convert both native and scanned PDFs to Word online without 3rd party software installed. Even, you can customize your Word output a little by using this free PDF to Word converter.

1. Go to Online2pdf.
2. Click “Select files” to upload single or multiple PDFs;
3. Choose output as Word;
4. Click “Convert” to turn PDF into Word online. Also, you can use the preference tools to customize your Word output before conversion.

Things You Need to Pay Attention to Free PDF to Word Converters

1. Unstable conversion quality:  A bunch of PDF elements may not be converted just right with these free solutions ( Font effects, Special symbols, Tables, etc);
2. Risk of information leakage: Be aware of the risk to get your PDF file information leaked as you need to upload PDF to the server for conversion;
3. Limited feature: Free service is limited, in terms of page quantity, file size, conversion mode, etc;
4. Require high on Internet connection: A stable and smooth Internet connection is needed for successful uploading and converting;

 

Part 5. Open/Edit PDF in Word on Mac

Another workaround to save PDF as Word format on Mac is directly open or edit the PDF file in Word, then perform “Save as”. But how? It is lucky that Microsoft Office 2016 for Mac is built in such a feature, if you have installed MS Word 2016 on your mac, open or edit PDF in Word now.

1. Run Microsoft Office 2016 on your mac;
2. Go to File>Open, upload the PDF file and click “OK” on the prompted dialogue box;
3. Then edit or save the PDF files as Word document on your mac;

 

Part 6. The Best PDF to Word Converter for Mac (High Quality)

Yes, there are so many choices to convert PDF to Word on mac, but what is the best PDF to Word converter for mac to get high quality conversion result? 

Cisdem PDF Converter OCR (Best for 2018-2019)

According to users, Cisdem PDF Converter OCR is picked as the best PDF to Word converter for mac, because it meets all users’ needs to convert a PDF or other documents.

Why Cisdem PDF Converter OCR?

Cisdem PDF Converter OCR is the mac program designed to convert PDF files into various formats for easy editing, reading and management.

• Excellent Input Support.
  There are basically 3 types of PDF that we need to deal with very often: native, scanned or protected PDF. Unlike most of its competitors, Cisdem PDF Converter OCR is one among few programs to support all types of PDF files. That’s to say, you can not only convert normal/native PDFs to editable Word on mac, but also can save scanned, image-based even locked PDFs into other formats with equally easy steps.
• Extremely Useful Output Formats. 
  You may need to convert these PDF to more than just Word format. To make full use of the existing PDF resources, sometimes you still need to convert PDF to Excel, HTML, or Pages, etc. No worries, Cisdem PDF Converter OCR supports to export as total 16 formats, including virtually all formats you will need to deal with very often, such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, ePub, Pages, Keynote, HTML, Text, etc.
• High-Quality Conversion.
  To convert PDF to Word on mac with high quality, the PDF converter should maintain the original formatting, layout and resolution as highly as possible. Cisdem PDF Converter OCR can yield first-class conversion quality by keeping the original layout, font effects, tables with cell spacing, frame footnotes, PDF active elements, image resolution and can recognizing special symbols. 
• Accurate OCR.
  OCR can never be perfect, but Cisdem PDF Converter OCR does outstandingly. It is designed to accurately recognize texts and contents from image-based files, also, it builds in an OCR mark tool to improve the accuracy further. With this advanced tool, users can choose to OCR and export a specific area as Text, table or image.
• Allowing Save Files as PDF.
  Not only exporting PDF as Word other formats, Cisdem PDF Converter OCR also allows users to save Word, PowerPoint, Image, ePub and so on as PDF format, with original file quality highly retained.
• Batch and Fast Conversion.
  You can convert single or multiple PDFs at the same time to earn more time for your purpose. No matter how many files or how large the file is, Cisdem PDF Converter can upload and process fast to get you the output as expect.

The PDF to Word Tutorial

Since Cisdem PDF Converter OCR supports native, scanned and protected PDFs, the steps may be a little different and here we offer 3 tutorials as following to help you do the conversion fast and easily with Cisdem.

#1 How to Convert Native PDF to Word on Mac?

 

#2 How to Convert Scanned PDF to Word on Mac?

 

#3 How to Convert Protect PDF to Word on Mac?

 

PDF to DOC VS PDF to DOCX

The Difference Between Doc and Docx.

It seems that Docx is a better output format. So, for your convenience, you are recommended to convert your PDFs into Docx.

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Final Words

There must be more methods to convert PDF to Word on mac, direct or indirect, free or paid. Like any other users, you may hold more preferences to solutions that can bring high quality conversion results, also can greatly save our time and work. Why not have a try on PDF Converter OCR, the one kills all problems on PDF to Word conversion on mac.