How to Convert Apple Word Document to PDF

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Learning how to Convert Apple Word Document to PDF can help you save time and money. Imagine for a moment that you are using the latest version of Microsoft Word (2010). You have spent countless hours designing an important letter or report, and it is almost finished! Now the crucial part – you need to send this document as a PDF file to someone electronically. But there’s one problem…

There may come a time when you need to save or convert a Microsoft Word Doc or DOCX file to PDF format from a Mac. The advantages to saving a Word DOC as PDF are notable in that the PDF file becomes universally readable by any operating system with a PDF reader, even without the Microsoft Office suite, and preserved in it’s original formatting.

There are several different methods of saving a Word doc as a PDF, and for converting an existing Word DOC/DOCX file to PDF, both of which use the Microsoft Office Word app on the Mac to get the job done. Let’s review how to perform this action.

How to Save a Word Doc as PDF in Word for Mac

This will save any Word doc as a PDF:

  1. Open the Word DOC to you want to save as a PDF into Word
  2. Pull down the “File” menu and choose “Save As” (or click the little disk icon in the title bar)
  3. Look for ‘File Format’ and choose “PDF”
  4. Give the document an obvious name (and be sure to include the .pdf file extension) and then choose “Save”

This method is quick and easy and will save a new Word doc as a PDF, and it can also exchange any existing Word doc into a PDF file by using the Save As feature.

You can also quickly share a Word DOC as a PDF by going to the “Share” menu and choosing to “Send PDF”, which will allow you to email the Word DOC as a PDF file.

The freshly saved PDF from the DOC origin is now ready to use in any PDF friendly environment, whether it’s sending it along and preserving the original formatting or posting it online, or whatever else. Another significant bonus to saving or converting Word DOC files to PDF is that you can sign documents in Preview using a Mac Trackpad or apply a digital signature to the PDF with Preview, allowing yourself or a recipient to sign a Word document. This is really helpful for letters and contracts, or any of the other scenarios where you’d like to apply a digital signature to a Word DOC file.

How to Convert Word DOC to PDF in Office for Mac

Another option is to convert an existing Word DOC to PDF using the Export feature:

  1. Have the Word doc you want to convert to PDF open in Word for Mac
  2. Go to the ‘File’ menu and choose “Export”
  3. Select “PDF” in the file format selection
  4. Choose to Export the Word doc as a PDF

Using Export to convert Doc to PDF gives you a few more PDF saving options but is otherwise not too different from using the “Save As” ability. They both work in most situations, but Export is the preferred choice for converting Office files to PDF. This trick actually works in just about every Office app on the Mac too, including Powerpoint, and not just Word.

How Do I Convert Word to PDF Without Office?

If you don’t have a Mac with Microsoft Office handy but you need to convert a DOC or DOCX file into a PDF format, you’ll have to use a roundabout method to accomplish the task instead. This isn’t too difficult however, it’s just a matter of combining two tips:

You can use the PDF saving trick to with just about any document on the Mac, which is part of what makes it such a powerful feature. If you find yourself doing this often, you’d likely want to setup the Save as PDF keyboard shortcut for the Mac, which makes quick work of this task.

Convert Pages documents to PDF, Microsoft Word, and more

To open Pages documents in other apps, convert them with the Pages app first. You can also open Microsoft Word documents and other file types in Pages.

You can convert and open documents in Pages on iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Mac. If you don’t have an Apple device, you can use Pages online at iCloud.com.

Convert and open documents in Pages on iPhone or iPad

You can work with a variety of file formats in Pages on your iPhone or iPad. Check which formats are compatible with Pages on iPhone and iPad.

Convert a Pages document in Pages on iPhone or iPad

If you want to open a Pages document in another app like Microsoft Word, use Pages to convert the document to an appropriate format.

  1. Open the document that you want to convert, then tap the More button .
  2. Tap Export.
  3. Choose a format for your document.
  4. If you chose EPUB, set any additional options.
  5. Choose how you want to send your document, like with Mail or Messages.

Open a file in Pages on iPhone or iPad

To open a file like a Microsoft Word document in Pages on iPhone or iPad, tap the file in the document manager. If you don’t see the document manager, tap Documents (on iPad) or the back button  (on iPhone), then tap the file that you want to open. If a file is dimmed, it’s not in a compatible format.

You can also open a file in Pages from a different app like the Files app, or from an email:

  1. Open the other app, then select the document or attachment.
  2. Tap the Share button 
  3. Tap Copy to Pages. The original file remains intact.

When the file opens, you might get a message that the document will look different. For example, Pages notifies you when fonts are missing. Tap Done to open the document in Pages.

Convert and open documents in Pages for Mac

You can work with a variety of file formats in Pages for Mac. Check which formats are compatible.

Convert a Pages document in Pages for Mac

If you want to open a Pages document in another app like Microsoft Word, use Pages to convert the document to an appropriate format.

  1. Open the Pages document that you want to convert.
  2. Choose File > Export To, then select the format.
  3. In the window that appears, you can choose a different format or set up any additional options. For example, you can require a password to open an exported PDF, choose to use the table of contents in an exported EPUB book, or choose the format for the exported Word document.
  4. Click Next. 
  5. Enter a name for your file, then choose a location for the file.
  6. Click Export.

To send a file in a specific format through Mail, Messages, AirDrop, or Notes, choose Share > Send a Copy, choose how you want to send the document, then choose a format.

Open a file in Pages for Mac

You can open a file from the Finder or from the Pages app:

  • From the Finder, Control-click the file, then choose Open With > Pages. If Pages is the only word processor on your Mac, you can just double-click the file.
  • From the Pages for Mac app, choose File > Open, select the file, then click Open. If a file is dimmed, it’s not a compatible format.

When the file opens, you might get a message that the document will look different. For example, Pages notifies you when fonts are missing. You might see also see warnings when you open documents created in older versions of Pages.

Open and convert documents in Pages for iCloud

Pages for iCloud lets you open, edit, and share your files from a supported browser on a Mac or PC. Check which file formats are compatible with Pages for iCloud. If you don’t have an Apple device, learn how to create an Apple ID.

Convert a Pages document in Pages for iCloud

  1. Sign in to iCloud.com with your Apple ID.
  2. Click Pages.
  3. In the document manager, click the More button  on the file you want to convert, then choose Download a Copy. If you have the document open, click the Tools button  in the toolbar, then choose Download a Copy.*
  4. Choose a format for the document. The file starts begins to download to your browser’s download location.

* To convert your document to an EPUB book, open the document, click the Tools button  in the toolbar, then choose Download a Copy.

Open a file in Pages for iCloud

  1. Sign in to iCloud.com with your Apple ID.
  2. Click Pages.
  3. Drag the file you want to upload into the Pages document manager in your browser. Or click the Upload button, select the file, then click Choose.
  4. Double-click the file in the document manager.

Check file format compatibility

Formats you can open in Pages

You can open these file formats in Pages on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and online at iCloud.com:

  • All Pages versions
  • Microsoft Word: Office Open XML (.docx) and Office 97 or later (.doc)
  • Rich Text Format (.rtf/.rtfd)
  • Plain Text files (.txt)

Formats you can convert Pages documents into

Pages on iPhone or iPad:

  • Microsoft Word: Office Open XML (.docx) 
  • Rich Text Format (.rtf/.rtfd)
  • PDF
  • EPUB

Pages for Mac:

  • Microsoft Word: Office Open XML (.docx) and Office 97 or later (.doc)
  • Rich Text Format (.rtf/.rtfd)
  • Plain Text files (.txt)
  • PDF
  • EPUB
  • Pages ‘09

Pages for iCloud:

  • Microsoft Word: Office Open XML (.docx) 
  • PDF
  • EPUB

f you want your document to be read but not edited, you can save it as a PDF file. When you do, the PDF will retain your formatting and often be a smaller file than the original document. Tagged PDF files make it easier for screen readers and other assistive technologies to determine a logical reading order and navigation for the file, as well as allowing for content reflow when using large type displays, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and mobile phones. This tagging can be done automatically when you save a file as PDF format.

Save your document as a tagged PDF

  1. On the File menu, click Save As. Or, you can also save a file by clicking the Save icon in the ribbon.The Save icon is highlighted on the ribbon in Word 2016 for Mac.
  2. In the Save As box, type a name for the file.Important: 
    • Give the PDF a different name than the original document. That way, you’ll have two files: a Word document you can continue to edit and a PDF file you can share.
    • If you don’t change the name, your document will be converted to a PDF and you won’t be able to change it back without using specialized software or a third-party add-in.
  3. In the File Format box, click PDF.
  4. Click Export.

Email a PDF copy of your document from Word

You can send a PDF copy of your document directly from Word.

  • On the File menu, click Share > Send PDF. Word will create a PDF file and attach it to a new email message.

How to convert a file to a PDF on iPad:

  1. and launch the app.
  2. Tap Create PDF on the sidebar.
  3. For converting documents, select the Word to PDF option.
  4. Pick the desired file and tap Create.
  5. Your PDF file is ready!

Once you’ve converted your document to PDF, you can in many different ways. PDF Expert lets you annotate PDFs, , manage PDF pages, and more.

Conclusion

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, then you will be familiar with our previous article on the topic of how to create pdf file on the Mac. This guide was written to help Windows device users and those who don’t have access to convert pdf files to word on their Macs. Today we’re going to talk about whether it’s possible to convert Apple Word to PDF format. You may have noticed that Apple’s Mail app also supports emailing PDF files, but not Word documents. Bear in mind that there is no Word processing application for iPhones or iPads like on the Android platform. Why is that so?

There are a number of ways to convert your Word documents to PDF but the most effective way is to use a program like Adobe Acrobat, which has PDF conversion functionality built in. There are also several great third-party applications for OS X and Windows that offer more high-end features, such as OCR capabilities.

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