PDF to Google Docs: the 2 ways that work, and which keeps your tables

Way 1: open the PDF directly in Google Docs

Google’s help page “Convert PDF and photo files to text” (checked on 11 October 2026) gives the steps:

1. Go to drive.google.com on your computer and upload the PDF (New, File upload).
2. Right-click the PDF.
3. Choose Open with, then Google Docs.

Docs creates a new document with the text Google read from the PDF. The same page sets out what to expect:

• Size: “The file should be 2 MB or smaller.”
• Kept: bold, italics, font size, font type and line breaks “are likely to be retained”.
• Lost: “Lists, tables, columns, footnotes, and endnotes are not likely to be detected.”
• Scans: it reads text from scans and photos too, if the text is at least 10 pixels high and the page is the right way up.

Note “line breaks are likely to be retained”: each line of the PDF can stay its own line, so paragraphs may arrive broken at the old line ends. For a short letter that is fine. For a report with tables, it is a lot of cleanup.

Way 2: convert to Word on your device, then open in Docs

1. Convert. Drop the PDF on the tool above and press Convert to Word, then Download file. The conversion runs in your browser; the PDF is not uploaded anywhere.
2. Upload the .docx to Google Drive: New, File upload.
3. Open it. Double-click the .docx in Drive and it opens in Google Docs. Google’s help page “Work with Office files” (checked on 11 October 2026) lists .docx among the files Docs opens and can convert to Google Docs format.
4. Make it a Google Doc if you want to share and edit it like any other Doc: use the File menu to save it as Google Docs. To have every Word upload converted automatically, tick “Convert uploads to Google Docs editor format” in Drive’s settings, on a computer, as Google’s “Upload files and folders to Google Drive” page describes.

Docs handles a .docx better than a PDF because a Word file already says what is a heading, what is a list item and what is a table cell. A PDF only says where letters sit, so Google has to guess, and by its own account it mostly does not try for lists and tables.

Side by side

We converted a 48-page test report (a title, 6 section headings, a bullet list, a ruled 3-column table, a photo, a footnote) with getPDF’s PDF to Word and checked the .docx in Word on 11 October 2026. We did not upload the test file to Google; the direct-import column is what Google’s help page states.

The trade is plain: Docs’ import keeps more of the look (fonts, sizes) and less of the structure; the Word-first route keeps the structure and gives up the look. For anything with tables or lists, structure is the part that costs time to rebuild.

Scanned PDFs

Drive’s import reads text from a scan, within the 2 MB limit, so for a short scanned letter way 1 is quick. For a bigger scan, or a scan you would rather not upload before it is text:

1. Run OCR PDF on your device. It adds a text layer; our 1-page test lease read at 95 % average confidence.
2. Convert the result with PDF to Word, with Pictures set to “left out”, so only the text goes into the .docx.
3. Upload that to Drive as in way 2.

Scanned PDF to searchable covers languages and accuracy.

The honest part

• Both routes end on Google’s servers. Opening anything in Google Docs means the document is stored in your Google Drive. Only the conversion step can stay on your device: with way 2 the PDF itself is never uploaded, and you decide what goes to Drive. For a contract, a medical letter or a client file, think about whether it needs to be in a cloud document at all. PDF privacy and protection has more.
• Neither route copies the layout. A designed brochure, a 2-column page or a form will not come out looking like the PDF either way. If the PDF must keep its look, edit it in place with the editor instead.
• Check after converting, whatever the route: a table with merged cells, a list Google did not see, a heading the converter took for a paragraph. Convert a PDF to Word you can edit shows what our converter keeps, and why the result looks different covers the fixes.