PDF or Word: which file to send, and when it matters
By the getPDF team · Published 11 October 2026
The short answer
Send a PDF when the document is finished and must look the same everywhere: invoices, signed agreements, applications, anything for the record. Send Word (.docx) when the recipient has to edit it, such as a draft for a lawyer’s changes, or when they ask for .docx by name. Before sending either, check what rides along: a .docx can carry comments and tracked changes, and a PDF keeps an author name and other properties until you remove them.
Why a PDF looks the same everywhere
A PDF is a finished set of pages. Each page says exactly where every letter and line goes, and the fonts normally travel inside the file. Open it on a phone in Vienna, an old office PC in Łódź or a Mac, and you get the same page breaks, the same line endings, the same table widths.
A .docx is a set of instructions to Word: these paragraphs, in this style, on this paper size. Each copy of Word lays it out again on the machine that opens it. If that machine lacks your font, it substitutes one with different widths, the lines break in other places, and the signature block slides to page 3. On a phone app, a 2-column lease reflows into 1 long column. Nothing is wrong with the file; it is doing what a word-processor file does.
That is the real reason portals, recruiters and accounts departments ask for PDF: they get what you saw.
What a .docx carries that you did not mean to send
A Word file is a working file. Alongside the visible text it can hold:
- Tracked changes, including text you deleted and every earlier wording of a clause, with who changed it and when. Hidden from view with “No Markup” is not the same as removed.
- Comments, including the internal ones (“can we push them to 30 days?”).
- Properties: the author and company names, the template, the date created and, in the file’s statistics, the total editing time.
The 5-second check before a .docx leaves: in Word on Windows, File, Info, Check for Issues, Inspect Document. The Document Inspector lists comments, revisions, versions and document properties and offers to remove each kind (Microsoft Support, “Remove hidden data and personal information by inspecting documents”, checked on 11 October 2026). Run it on a copy; removed revisions do not come back.
A PDF exported from Word is cleaner but not empty. The export writes the document as shown, so if Word was showing markup, Word’s export options include Publish what: Document showing markup, which prints the tracked changes into the PDF. And it keeps the document properties (author, title, the program) unless you untick Document properties in the same options.
The decision table
| Situation | Send | Why, in 1 line |
|---|---|---|
| Invoice to a client | It is a record; layout and amounts must not move | |
| Contract draft to the other side’s lawyer | Word | They will mark it up; tracked changes need a .docx |
| Final contract for signature | Everyone signs the same pages | |
| CV to an online job portal | PDF, unless the posting says .docx | Layout holds and the text stays readable to the portal’s software |
| CV to a recruitment agency | Word if they ask | Agencies often reformat CVs onto their own template |
| Thesis chapter to a supervisor for comments | Word, or PDF if they annotate PDFs | Ask; comments flow better in the format they use |
| Final thesis to the university | PDF, often PDF/A | Archives want the fixed, self-contained version |
| Form someone else must fill in | PDF with fields, or Word | A flat PDF cannot be typed into without a fill tool |
| Price list or menu shared widely | Opens on every phone without an office app | |
| Text a colleague will reuse in their own document | Word, or plain text | Copying out of a PDF loses paragraphs and styles |
The pattern behind all 10: finished goes as PDF, unfinished goes as Word, and an explicit request beats both.
When they need it editable anyway
Sometimes you sent the PDF and the reply is “can you send this in Word?”. Send the original .docx if you have it: it is the real thing.
If all you have is the PDF, a converter rebuilds a Word file from it. Be clear about what that is: PDF to Word in getPDF brings back the text with headings, paragraphs, lists, numbered clauses and tables, ready to edit, but it rebuilds the content, not a copy of the layout; columns, exact positions and fonts are not kept. It runs on your device, so a contract is not uploaded anywhere to be converted. Why the result looks different from the PDF is explained in why PDF to Word looks different.
Before sending either: clean, then protect
A .docx: run the Document Inspector as above, on a copy, and accept or reject every tracked change before it goes out as “final”.
A PDF: see what it says about you, then remove it. Remove PDF metadata takes out the document properties (author, title, dates, the program that made it), the XMP metadata packet where the same names are kept a second time, and replaces the file identifier. The Title option reads “removed too” by default; tick it to “kept” if the title should stay. It does not touch the text, comments or form values on the pages: those are content. What each field gives away is in what PDF metadata reveals.
If it carries personal data (a salary, an ID number, health details), add a password to open it with Protect PDF. It encrypts the file with AES-256 in your browser; send the password by another channel than the file. The whole topic is in PDF privacy and protection.
What a PDF does not guarantee
The honest part:
- A PDF is not tamper-proof. Anyone with an editor can change it, ours included. A digital signature is what proves a file has not changed since signing; a drawn signature does not.
- Not every PDF embeds its fonts. Word’s export does by default; some exporters do not, and then the PDF can look different elsewhere too. Inspect PDF lists each font as embedded or not embedded.
- A PDF is worse to work in. If the other side has to rewrite half of it, sending a PDF just makes them convert it back, with a worse result than your .docx.
- “Send as PDF” rules serve you, not the format. When a posting, a court or a client names .docx, send .docx.
Questions
Should I send a PDF or a Word document?
Send a PDF when the document is finished and must look the same on every screen: an invoice, a signed contract, a CV unless told otherwise. Send Word when the other side must edit it, or when they ask for .docx.
Why do people prefer PDF?
A PDF carries its fonts and fixes every page, so it opens the same on a phone, a Mac and an office PC, and nobody changes it by accident. A .docx is laid out again by each copy of Word, and can carry comments and tracked changes the sender forgot.
Can a PDF be edited?
Yes, with an editor, so a PDF is not proof against changes. It is harder to change by accident, and an edit is a deliberate act. For proof that nothing changed, the document needs a digital signature.
What hidden information is in a Word file?
Comments, tracked changes, earlier versions, the author and company names, the template, and properties such as total editing time. Word's Document Inspector finds and removes them: File, Info, Check for Issues, Inspect Document.
The recipient needs my PDF as Word. What now?
Send the .docx if you have it; that is always better. Converting a PDF back to Word rebuilds the text, headings and tables, not the exact layout. getPDF's PDF to Word does that on your device and says so up front.
The tools for this job
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- PDF privacy and protection: the complete guideWhat a PDF password really protects, how true redaction works, what metadata leaks, and how to send files safely.
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