Computer TIP

Converting PDF to Word Documents

One of the most common ways of disseminating information is through PDF files. PDF, which stands for Portable Document Format, is the file format used by Adobe Acrobat. Many people receive information in PDF format, but then want to transfer that information to a Word document so they can work with it.

There are a several ways that you can get text from a PDF file to a Word document, including some new converters on the market. Exactly which way you approach this depends on how the PDF file is protected. If the file is not protected (as usually the case), try these steps:

Open the PDF document and display the page that contains the text you want to copy to Word.

Click the Text tool on the toolbar.

Click and drag to select the text you want to copy, or (if you want to select all the text) click once in the text area and press Ctrl+A.

Press Ctrl+C to copy the selected text to the Clipboard.

Switch to your Word document.

Press Ctrl+V to paste the contents of the Clipboard into your document.

This transfers the text to your Word document. It is only the plain, unformatted text, but you can now work with it in Word.