Convert PDF To Doc or Docx

Converting from PDF to Word, Excel or any other format is one of the most complex things you can try to do with a PDF file. It works very well in some cases, in other cases the output has very little to do with the original file. The key for success is that the PDF file needs to be "tagged" - which means that it contains information about the information that is displayed in the file. The best way to make sure that a PDF file is tagged correctly is by using the PDFMaker in Acrobat to create the PDF file from Word or Excel (that's the Acrobat ribbon or toolbar).

Unfortunately there is not much you can do to improve the output without spending a lot of time (e.g. by manually tagging the file). Also, if you are using Adobe's ExportPDF service and don't have access to Acrobat, that is not even an option.

One thing that sometimes works is to save the PDF file as a series of TIFF image files, and then re-import these images into Acrobat, run OCR and try to export to Word again. If you have a severely screwed up PDF file to start with, this method will oftentimes give you much better results. You do mention that you use free online tools, so I assume you don't have access to Adobe Acrobat, what I just described works with Acrobat, but I have no idea how other tools would perform.

Don't expect too much. It is not even theoretically possible to convert exactly, but some simple files give what you want. Many PDF files use design features that WLord cannot manage. Also, there has to be a lot if guesswork eg Acrobat has no way to know which line breaks are important and which accidental.

So Word conversion is something done as a desperate last resort when the original is lost and all backups destroyed.