2020-03-17 21:16:39 / Posted by Connie Wisley to PDF Follow @ Connie

There are dozens of reason to use PDFs, it is indeed a great format. However, if you don’t have a PDF editor, which is always highly priced, you won’t be able to edit or utilize the PDF source as needed. And this is just the reason why so many of us need to convert PDF to Word on Mac.

There are so many solutions or software offered to change PDF to Word Docx for free or with high quality. To help you find the most suitable solution, we here list 6 ways to convert PDF to Word on mac, even for users who have upgraded to macOS Catalina.

Quick-Start PDF to Word Mac Solution

Download the free trial of PDF Converter OCR, install and launch it. Drag and drop PDF files into the program. Specify the PDF pages you want to save as Word, and select output as Doc or Docx. Click "Convert“ to change PDF to Word on Mac.

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Table of Contents

Part 1. Convert PDF to Word on Mac Offline

Indeed, there are so many online free PDF to Word converters open to users, however, to protect privacy and work offline, a great part of users choose to convert PDF to Word on mac offline. For offline solutions, there are 2 types: free or paid.

#1 How to Convert PDF to Word on Mac Offline with Formatting?

The key for PDF to Word conversion is always the formatting. It is true that there are so many choices on PDF to Word converters, but only a few of them can yield high-quality and well-formatted Word output. Then what is the best PDF to Word converter for mac to get high quality conversion result?

Use The Best PDF to Word Converter for Mac 2020

According to users, Cisdem PDF Converter OCR is picked as the best PDF to Word converter for mac, because it meets all users’ needs to convert a PDF or other documents.

Cisdem PDF Converter OCR is the mac program designed to convert PDF files into various formats for easy editing, reading and management, no matter you are working on macOS Catalina, Mojave or earlier.

Why Cisdem PDF Converter OCR? Excellent Input Support: native/scanned/protected PDF and images;

16 Output Formats: Searchable PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, ePub, Pages, Keynote, HTML, Text, etc.

High-Quality Conversion: keep the original layout, font effects, tables,image resolution, etc.

Accurate OCR;

Save Files as PDF, compress and protect PDF;

Batch and Fast Conversion;

Compatible on macOS 10.15 Catalina; Free Download

Mac PDF to Word Tutorial with Formatting

Since Cisdem PDF Converter OCR supports native, scanned and protected PDFs, the steps may be a little different and here we offer 2 tutorials as following to help you do the conversion fast and easily with Cisdem.

Tutorial 1: Convert Native PDF to Word on Mac with Formatting

Step 1 Download and Install Cisdem PDF Converter OCR on mac.

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Step 2 Import PDF for Conversion. Drag and drop the PDF file to the interface of the "Converter" or you can add by clicking the "+" icon at the bottom of the program.

Step 3 Choose Page Range and Output as Word. You can choose to convert all pages or convert specified pages by filling in the page range. Also, choose Word Doc or Docx as output from the output menu.

Step 4 Click “Convert” to save PDF as Word on mac. You will find the Word output looks exactly the same as original PDF file.

Tutorial 2. Convert Scanned PDF to Word on Mac with Formatting

Step 1 Download and Install Cisdem PDF Converter OCR on mac.

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Step 2 Upload PDF for Conversion. Drag and drop the PDF file to "Converter" or click the "+" icon at the bottom of the program.

Step 3 Prepare for OCR scanned PDF to Word on mac. Turn OCR button ON. Cisdem supports to recognize 27~200 languages, you need to choose the file language first, then select pages for conversion. Last, choose the output format as Word.

Step 4 (Optional) Use Advanced Settings to get more accurate OCR results. Click the settings icon besides the langue button, then an interface with OCR applied zone appears. You will find all the contents are auto marked as texts, images or tables in different colors. For illustration, if you want to export a specific area as text, click on “Mark Texts” in the OCR applied zone, then drag a mark box to include the contents you want to mark as texts.

Step 5 Click “Convert” to export scanned PDF as Word on mac.

To convert protected PDF to Word on mac with Cisdem, you need to unlock the PDF file first by clicking on the lock icon, if you forgot, try the Cisdem solution.

#2 How to Convert PDF to Word on Mac Offline Free?

If you haven’t decided to pay for a mac PDF to Word converter, there are options to convert PDF to Word on mac offline free, each tool may have its own limitations, but still worth a try.

PDF to Word on Mac Offline Free with Preview

Preview is the PDF viewer and annotator to manage PDF files on mac, it can view, annotate, combine, sign and convert PDFs. However, it can only export PDF to image formats. And the only way to convert PDF to Word with Preview will be copying and pasting.

Steps to Convert PDF to Word with Mac Preview

Open PDF with Mac Preview; Select the PDF contents, right click to copy and paste the PDF contents into a Word file; Save the Word file;

Cons:

Take time and efforts;

Original formatting cannot be retained;

PDF to Word on Mac Offline Free with Automator

Automator allows users to create workflows for automating tasks, it can help save time and efforts on manually changing each file. With Automator, Mac users can extract PDF text, then open text file in Word, and finally save PDF as Word on mac.

Steps to Convert PDF to Word with Mac Automator

Open Automator in Application, select “Workflow”, then click “Choose”; In the left column, choose “Files &Folders”, then drag “Ask for Finder Items” to the right column; Still in the left column, choose “PDFs”, then drag “Extract PDF Text” to the right column; Press Command+S, and choose the file format as “Application”; Open the Automator file saved on your desktop, then click “Run” to select your PDF for conversion, a Text file will be generated from the PDF Open the text file with Word, and your PDF is converted to Word on mac now.

Cons:

Can not save PDF to Word on mac directly;

Cannot maintain formatting;

Take too much time and effort;

PDF to Word Offline Free with MS Word

Another workaround to save PDF as Word format on Mac is directly open or edit the PDF file in Word, then perform “Save as”. But how? It is lucky that Microsoft Office 2016 for Mac is built in such a feature, if you have installed MS Word 2016 on your mac, open or edit PDF in Word now.

Steps to Open PDF as Word on Mac

Run Microsoft Office 2016 on your mac; Go to File>Open, upload the PDF file and click “OK” on the prompted dialogue box; Then edit or save the PDF files as Word document on your mac;

# 3 How to Convert PDF to Word on Mac Offline with PDF Editor?

A PDF editor is always the ultimate tool to work on PDF files, it combines the feature of editing, converting, sharing and managing PDF pages. While the high price tag is always the main reason put users back for a purchase, anyway, you have more options, not just Adobe Acrobat, for example Foxit PhantomPDF.

Foxit Phantom PDF is a PDF editor ($139) for PDF document generation and management, you are allowed to create and PDF document or fillable forms, sort and export PDFs, use OCR to make PDF editable, share and collaborate on the same PDF file, even you can protect the files.

Steps to Convert PDF to Word on Mac Offline with Foxit.

Download and install Foxit Phantom; Add PDF file to the program; Then go to Tools>Convert; Click “To Word” and adjust the settings as needed, then click OK to convert PDF to Word on mac with PDF editor;

How to Convert PDF to Word on Mac Online Free?

People always return to online free PDF to Word converters for convenience and free of charge. These tools are genuinely recommended if you are working on simple and native PDFs. After uploading and testing files on dozens of online conversion tools, here we list following 2 best free PDF to Word converters for your choice.

#4 Google Docs

Google provides an online platform for users to manage their documents---Google Docs. In Google Docs, you can open PDFs and download the file in Word or other editable formats. In addition, it works on scanned PDFs.

Steps to Convert PDF to Word on Mac Using Google Docs

Go to Google account>Google Drive; Click "New" to upload PDF file; Right click on the file,open with Google Docs; Go to File>Download as>Word. Your PDF will be converted into Word on mac.

Cons:

Formatting cannot be retained;

No batch conversion;

Need to register as Google user first;

#5 Online2PDF

It allows users to convert both native and scanned PDFs to Word online without 3rd party software installed. Even, you can customize your Word output a little by using this free PDF to Word converter. On this platform, you don’t need to register and convert PDF to Word on mac without submitting email address.

Steps to Convert PDF to Word on Mac Online without Email Address

Go to Online2pdf. Click “Select files” to upload single or multiple PDFs; Choose output as Word; Click “Convert” to turn PDF into Word online. Also, you can use the preference tools to customize your Word output before conversion.

Cons:

Take time to upload and process the conversion;

Need manually adjust the conversion result;

PDF to Word on Mac Offline VS Online

On the issue of mac PDF to Word conversion, many users start with an online free solution, but finally pick up a professional PDF to Word converter for mac, yes, Offline solutions won in this game.

Free solutions can never escape from the inconvenience of its limitations:

Unstable conversion quality: A bunch of PDF elements may not be converted just right with these free solutions ( Font effects, Special symbols, Tables, etc); Risk of information leakage: Be aware of the risk to get your PDF file information leaked as you need to upload PDF to the server for conversion; Limited feature: Free service is limited, in terms of page quantity, file size, conversion mode, etc; Require high on Internet connection: A stable and smooth Internet connection is needed for successful uploading and converting;

However, if you choose to convert PDF to Word on mac offline, the job can be done easily and automatically, what’s the most important is, this workaround can preserve the original file quality. It is not easy to make the Word output look exactly the same as the original PDF file, but offline tools are the ways out take you there.

Extended: If You Have Installed Adobe

As a PDF user, Adobe should sound quite familiar to you. If you have installed and subscribed Adobe Acrobat, you can export PDF files to Word format on your mac with Adobe. Since there are several versions of Adobe Acrobat, the steps to export PDF as Word will be a little different when using different Adobe versions. No worries, we have the answers as following.

#6 How to Convert PDF to Word on Mac with Adobe

For Users using Adobe Acrobat DC Pro:

Step 1. Open PDF with Adobe Acrobat DC.

Step 2. Go to Tools>Export PDF.

Step 3. Choose Word as output, then click “Export”, the PDF will be converted as Word format on mac.

For Users using Adobe Acrobat XI Pro (The old version):

Step 1: Open the PDF in Adobe Acrobat for conversion.

Step 2: Click the "File" option on the top navigation bar of Adobe Acrobat.

Step 3: Choose "Save As Other" from the menu.

Step 4: Select output as "Microsoft Word" to convert PDF to Word on mac.

Step 5: (Optional) Type a name for the document, then click the "Save" button.

If your PDF is scanned, try to perform Adobe OCR and save them into Word on mac.

Cons:

The output format is limited;

It does not support batch conversion;

Sale a stiff price;

Final Words

There must be more methods to convert PDF to Word on mac, direct or indirect, free or paid. Like any other users, you may hold more preferences to solutions that can bring high quality conversion results, also can greatly save our time and work. Why not have a try on PDF Converter OCR, the one kills all problems on PDF to Word conversion on mac.