Is my Word document uploaded to convert it?

No. The .docx archive is unzipped and its XML parsed by JavaScript inside your browser tab. Nothing is transmitted, which is the point: a document worth converting is often a document not worth uploading.

Why does the PDF export not look exactly like Word?

Because it is rendered from the document's structure in a browser, not by Word's own layout engine. Headings, emphasis, lists, tables and images carry across faithfully. Page headers and footers, field codes, section breaks and exact pagination are Word-specific and do not.

Will images in my document survive the conversion?

Images embedded in the document are extracted and included in the HTML, viewer and PDF outputs. Markdown and plain text conversions drop them, because those formats reference images rather than carrying them.

Can I convert a document with tracked changes?

Tracked changes are read as their accepted state: you get the text as it would look if every revision were accepted. If you need to see the revisions themselves, compare the two versions as separate documents instead.

8 tools · runs in your browser

Word & Office

Read, convert and inspect .docx documents without Microsoft Word and without uploading them.

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All Word & Office tools

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Convert Word files · Save a .docx as PDF, HTML, Markdown or plain text.

DOCX to PDF

Convert Microsoft Word DOCX files to PDF format entirely in browser

DOCX to HTML

Extract formatted HTML markup from Word DOCX documents

DOCX to Markdown

Convert Word documents to clean Markdown format

DOCX to TXT

Strip formatting and extract plain text from Word DOCX files

Create Word files · Build an editable .docx from Markdown.

Markdown to DOCX

Convert Markdown files into formatted Word DOCX documents

View, compare and clean · Read without Word, spot changes and strip formatting.

Word Viewer

View DOCX files directly in your browser without Microsoft Word

Document Compare

Compare two Word documents and highlight text differences

Remove Formatting

Strip all formatting from a Word document and produce clean plain text

Often used alongside these, from other categories.

About these Word & Office tools

A .docx file is a ZIP archive of XML, which is why it can be read in a browser at all, and why converting one is a question of mapping Word's structure onto something else rather than rendering a picture of a page. These tools read that structure directly: headings, emphasis, lists, tables and links come through, and everything that exists only as page furniture does not. The document is parsed in your tab, which is the property that matters when the file is a contract, a review or an unsigned offer.

Choosing between these Word & Office tools

Convert to the format that keeps what you need

Markdown keeps structure and throws away styling, which is right for documentation. HTML keeps structure and some styling, which is right for a CMS. Plain text keeps only the words, which is right when something downstream only accepts text. PDF keeps the appearance and gives up editability.

Only .docx, deliberately

The modern Office Open XML format is an open, documented ZIP archive. The legacy binary .doc format is a different thing entirely and cannot be read reliably in a browser. Re-saving as .docx in Word or LibreOffice takes a moment and makes every tool here work.

Check what the document says about you before you send it

Word stores the author name, the last person to edit, the company, the total editing time and the revision count inside every file. In Word, File, then Info lists them, and Check for Issues, then Inspect Document removes them, which is worth doing once before a document leaves your organisation.

Comparison is on text, not formatting

The document compare tool reports paragraphs that were added, removed or changed. A font swap or a margin change is not a difference in this sense, which is usually what you want when the question is "what actually changed in this draft".

Questions people ask

Is my Word document uploaded to convert it?: No. The .docx archive is unzipped and its XML parsed by JavaScript inside your browser tab. Nothing is transmitted, which is the point: a document worth converting is often a document not worth uploading.
Why does the PDF export not look exactly like Word?: Because it is rendered from the document's structure in a browser, not by Word's own layout engine. Headings, emphasis, lists, tables and images carry across faithfully. Page headers and footers, field codes, section breaks and exact pagination are Word-specific and do not.
Will images in my document survive the conversion?: Images embedded in the document are extracted and included in the HTML, viewer and PDF outputs. Markdown and plain text conversions drop them, because those formats reference images rather than carrying them.
Can I convert a document with tracked changes?: Tracked changes are read as their accepted state: you get the text as it would look if every revision were accepted. If you need to see the revisions themselves, compare the two versions as separate documents instead.

Guides on this topic

Word to PDF and back: what survives the round tripA PDF made from a Word file has no paragraphs, no styles and no reading order, only glyphs at coordinates. That single fact explains every frustration with converting one back.Opening a DOCX without Word, and what is hiding inside itRename a .docx to .zip and open it. Everything Word knows about your document is sitting there in plain XML, including who wrote it and how long they took.Word styles: why formatting by hand costs you laterBold 16pt text looks like a heading and is not one. Nothing downstream can tell the difference, which is where the trouble starts.Writing in Markdown and generating the Word file laterWord documents cannot be diffed, merged or reviewed line by line. Plain text can. The trick is generating the DOCX at the end rather than living in it.