Free Word to PDF Converter

Popular programs in PDF

What is Free Word to PDF Converter

Convert Microsoft Word documents to PDF format in a flash and with great ease thanks to the Free Word to PDF Converter.

As the name suggests, Free Word to PDF Converter is a freeware program that’s completely free to use, doesn’t have ads and doesn’t lock features behind a paywall. It’s also a highly-focused program that does one job and does it well. The footprint on disk is quite small as is the footprint in memory. It does require installation, which is quite fast. It’d be nice to have a portable version to have, along with other utilities, on a flash drive.

The most important thing is how well this program converts Word documents to PDF documents, and it gets a big thumb’s up in that department. For starters, it requires very little fuss. It accepts practically any Word document. It also supports all Word features, likely because it uses the Word engine. Therefore, you don’t have to worry about preparing documents. Tables and other objects convert automatically. The conversion process is very accurate, and better yet, it’s extremely fast.

The user interface is minimalistic. There’s a list box for the batch, some buttons to add files, buttons to start and stop and that’s it. The UI does seem a little barebones and outdated, but on the plus side, you’ll be up and running with ease the very first time you use the program. You’ll also have the option to avoid the UI altogether and use the command prompt instead. The command line interface has some features that the UI doesn’t. It’s also a very useful option if you want to work the program into a script.

You can use the program to handle files one at a time or in a batch. An “Add File” button lets you add one Word document to the queue. An “Add Folder” option lets you add all Word documents in a folder, but it won’t scan the directory reclusively, unfortunately. You can remove items from the list with “Remove Selected” and “Remove All”. You can set a destination folder, and all conversions will be sent to that path. If you don’t set a path, the new files will be written into the program’s install directory.

Hit the “Start” button when you’re ready to begin. It will convert the first item in the list and then work its way through the list sequentially. If it hits a snag, it can skip that file and move ahead. Check the log file to determine what went wrong with a particular file. You can reorder the list before you begin or even once it’s started. The ordering is a bit basic. You pick up a file, drag it and drop it at the new location. There’s no convenient way to ensure a precise order for many files. The best way to achieve that is to write a script that takes advantage of the command line interface.

Perhaps the biggest knock against Free Word to PDF Converter is that modern versions of MS Word include this feature. New documents can be saved to and saved as PDF, and existing documents can be opened and converted. That makes this less convenient if you’re converting one file at a time. However, MS Office isn’t nearly as convenient if you need to batch process conversions or want the command line.

Pros

• Convert files and entire folders
• User interface or command prompt
• Fast and accurate conversion

Cons

• Feature duplicated in Word