How to open and edit a PDF in Google Docs
Try it now: PDF to Word — free, no upload.
Open PDF to WordGoogle Docs is free and works on any computer, so it's a handy way to edit the text of a PDF.
Steps
- Go to drive.google.com and upload your PDF (New → File upload).
- Right-click the PDF and choose Open with → Google Docs.
- Google creates a new Doc with the text from your PDF. Your original PDF stays unchanged.
- Edit the document, then use File → Download → PDF document (or Microsoft Word) to save it.
Why the formatting changes
Google Docs focuses on getting the text out. Columns, tables, headers and images are often simplified or moved. For a version that keeps headings, bold text and bullet points as Word formatting, convert first with PDF to Word and upload the .docx to Drive instead — Google Docs opens Word files well.
Does it work with scanned PDFs?
Often, yes — Google runs text recognition when it opens a scanned PDF, though accuracy depends on the scan quality.
Privacy
Uploading to Drive stores the file in your Google account. For documents you'd rather not upload anywhere, convert in your browser with PDF to Word, which processes the file on your device.