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PDF to Word: text flow vs. original format

Adobe PDF and Microsoft Word formats are both very popular although they are essentially different. And each of them has appropriate scope of use. PDF format is the best choice for high-quality print job with precise format layout and high resolution images. On the other hand MS Word is very powerful document editor that allows to create complex documents with ease. So, Microsoft Word format is ideal for editing purposes or any tasks requiring frequent updates of documents.

Because of that difference between Adobe PDF and Microsoft Word formats it is necessary to choose how to optimize PDF to Word conversion: either to preserve text flow or to make the resulting document look most close to the original. PDF-to-Word converter supports both of these modes in quite intelligent way.

Unlike MS Word, PDF format doesn't have paragraphs, columns and other complex format structures. Each PDF document is a set of text chunks with coordinates that allow high-quality viewing and printing. When user chooses to preserve text flow, PDF-to-Word recognizes paragraphs, columns and other format structures in the source document and converts them in MS Word format. The converter attempts to keep the original layout using line and character spacing while generating logical structure of PDF file. This trick allows to modify text position on page but it does not destroy paragraphs, columns and tables in the resulting document.

If user chooses to make the resulting document look most close to the original, PDF-to-Word defines position of text on the page directly using MS Word formatting feature known as "frames" or "boxes". It is an invisible margin that allows to specify exact position for the text enclosed. Even being focused on visual equality of source and destination documents, the converted attempts to make MS Word document easy to edit. Following this way PDF-to-Word tries to merge as much text into frames as possible unless it destroys the original layout.

Sounds complicated, doesn't it? Indeed, the conversion algorithm is not simple at all. But, as most of Intelligent Converters products, PDF-to-Word is easy-to-use yet powerful utility. You don't need to be an IT expert to use it. Try free demo version to see for yourself.

Demo version of PDF-to-Word replaces random symbols in the resulting MS Word document with asterisks.