3 Easy Ways to Copy PDF to Word

Copying content from a PDF to Word can be as simple as selecting the text and pressing Ctrl+C or Command+C. However, the best method depends on the type of PDF and the content you want to move.

A text-based PDF usually allows direct copying. If you want to move an entire document, convert the PDF to a DOCX file instead. Scanned or image-based PDFs require OCR before the text can be edited in Word. Tables, columns, images, equations, and complex layouts may also need manual formatting after copying or conversion.

This guide explains how to copy text, tables, images, and scanned content from a PDF to Word. It also covers what to do when copying is restricted and how to choose between a PDF viewer, Microsoft Word, Adobe Acrobat, and a dedicated PDF converter.

Part 1. How to Copy PDF to Word

If the PDF file is large and you want to copy a whole PDF to Word without losing formatting, you can use a dedicated PDF app - Wondershare PDFelement - PDF Editor Wondershare PDFelement Wondershare PDFelement.  Its convert option can convert PDF to Word documents directly with the original format without losing its quality so that you can copy the PDF to your Word document easily. Plus, it has the OCR (Optical Character Recognition) feature that can help you copy scanned PDF files to editable Word as well, you can copy and paste the content with no trouble.

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Step 1. Open PDF

Go to the main program window of PDFelement and click on Open PDF to browse the PDF you want to copy to Word.

Step 2. Copy PDF to Word

Click the "Convert" > "To Word" button to start the conversion process.

With your PDF converted to Word format, you can effortlessly copy and paste the entire file to the Word document.

This method is most suitable when:

• You need to convert most or all of a PDF.
• You want to edit the content in Word.
• You want to avoid copying each section manually.

For a small amount of selectable text, direct copy and paste may be faster.

Part 2. How to Copy and Paste from A PDF to Word

Maybe you just need to copy text from PDF to Word. PDFelement can make it easy to copy and paste text, images, signature from PDF to Word. Complicated elements such as table, equation can be copied without losing format. 

In the below part, you will learn some techniques that will help you to work efficiently with PDFelement.

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Copy text from PDF to Word in the Same Font

PDFelement offers "Copy Text" option for you to easily copy text from PDF files to Word. If you have a scanned PDF, you can refer to the article here about How to Copy Text from Scanned PDF to Word.

Step 1 Open a PDF file on PDFelement.

Step 2 Select the text you want to copy. Right-click the selection and choose Copy, or press Ctrl+C on Windows or Command+C on Mac. 

Step 3 Open a Word document, use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + V (Command + V on Mac) to paste the text to Word from PDF.

Copy table/diagram from PDF to Word

Tables and diagrams often contain multiple text boxes, lines, shapes, and positioned objects. Direct copy and paste may therefore change the alignment or separate the table into unrelated elements.

For a simple table, try selecting the table and pasting it into Word. If the result is difficult to edit or the layout changes, convert the PDF to Word.

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Step 1. We will consider that you have already installed PDFelement on your computer. Launch the PDFelement on your computer.Select the file you need to convert.

Step 2. On the top, below the Convert menu bar, you will see different options. I will choose "To Word" as we are converting the PDF with the table to Word in this scenario.

Step 3. After converting， you can open the converted file and copy all the tables/diagrams.

Copy equations from PDF to Word

Copying problems in PDF is such a big issue that it makes users frustrated. In a simple PDF viewer, you will get stuck and there won't be any option to copy an equation from PDF to Word in its original format. Follow the steps given below to learn how to copy equations from PDF to Word.

Step 1. Launch PDFelement on your computer and import a PDF file that contains equations you want to copy to Word.

Step 2. Click on Edit from the top menu bar and select the equation.

Step 3. Right-click on the selected area and choose Copy Text or you can simply press Ctrl + C.

Step 4. Open the Word document and paste the content from the clipboard. You have successfully copied an equation from PDF to Word in its original format.

After copying an equation, check:

• Superscripts and subscripts
• Fractions
• Greek letters
• Mathematical symbols
• Line spacing
• Equation alignment

Copy a picture from PDF to Word

PDFelement empowers its users to copy images from PDF files without much hesitation. The steps are simple as we did earlier in copying equations and text. Let's copy a picture from PDF to Word.

Step 1. Import a PDF that contains some images into PDFelement and click on Edit > Add Text from the menu bar.

Step 2. Now look for the image that you want to copy and right-click on it.

Step 3. Choose Extract Image and give it a name, choose a location where you want to save it. Hit the Save button.

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Part 3. How to Copy Text from PDF to Word with Default PDF Viewer on Windows/Mac

This is the most used and de-facto method of copying text or anything from PDFs. We use CTRL+C to copy anything from a document and we can paste it into any document by using CTRL+V. These commands are for Windows users.

But if you are using a Mac, then you have to Command-C to copy the text from a document and paste it using Command-V into any other document or app you want.

Step 1. Open a PDF file on your computer. The default PDF viewer on your computer can be a PDF reader or browsers such as Google Chrome, or Safari.

Step 2. Select the text you want to copy and by dragging your mouse, right-click on the selected area and click copy.

Step 3. Also, you can click on Edit from the menu and then select Copy after selecting the text, you can also paste it by clicking on the "Paste" option next to "Copy". The content will be pasted from the clipboard to the position where your cursor was last time.

Part 4. How to Copy PDF to Word on Adobe Acrobat

If you have Adobe Acrobat on your computer, you can easily copy PDF to Word using the program.

To copy the whole PDF to Word,

• Open a PDF file on Acrobat, and click Tools > Export PDF.
• Select Export to Word. And save the PDF as a Word document.
• Open the converted Word document and copy and paste all content to another Word file.

To copy text from PDF to Word on Acrobat,

• Run Adobe Acrobat Reader and open a PDF file.
• Select the desired text and right click Copy Text.
• Open a Word document, and paste the text you just copied.

Part 5. Why Can't I Copy Text from a PDF to Word?

If you cannot copy text from a PDF, the problem is usually related to the PDF’s content type, security settings, or text structure.

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