PDF-to-Word Converter Saves Time

Oct 25th, 2009 | By Tyson Mutrux | Category: Attorney Gadgets, Featured, Law Office Software, Lead Article

pdfword Social Media Law Student has stumbled upon a resource that can be very useful; a free PDF-to-Word Converter. Nitro PDF, Inc. created a remarkable tool that converts PDF files to .DOC or .RTF files. As someone that constantly cuts and pastes from other outlines, I can’t stress to you how much formatting time this saves me.

Here’s a quick review of this handy little tool (1-10 scale).

Ease of Use: 10

This is incredibly easy to use. Once you’re at the website, there are only 3 steps between getting from that pesky PDF to that Word document you can’t wait to edit. In fact, the website even has the process broken down by steps. Step 1: Click browse and select the PDF you want to convert. Step 2: Decide whether you want to convert the PDF to a .DOC or .RTF file. Step 3: Type in your email address and click “convert.” Viola, finished!

Speed: 5

If you need the document in a hurry, forget about it. I tried it out several times, and each time it took more than three hours to get to my email inbox. However, this is certainly better than spending hours re-formatting a document I copied from a PDF.

It’s certainly worth the wait, but don’t try to convert something when time is of the essence.

Quality: 8

At first glance, the formatting looked like it was a perfect match. The font sizes and themes seemed to be spot on (it’s almost impossible to tell if they matched exactly). However, one thing I found to be somewhat frustrating was the fact that the bullets/outlining were not formatted into the document. Instead, only the letters and symbols were there. Thus, this may be a problem if you have a large file with many bullets. But if you use the document like I do (outlining classes), this should not be too much of an obstacle. Besides, you wouldn’t even be able to edit the document if it weren’t for this great new tool.

Despite the bullets not transferring, I can’t find much else that is lost in the transfer between the files. Imagine finding that perfect brief online that has everything you need for the partner you’re working for. Wouldn’t it be nice to use much of that information without all the hassle of formatting? Plagiarism, you say? A guest speaker in one of my classes, who shall remain anonymous, once told us, “If you plagiarize during law school, then you will fail. But, if you don’t plagiarize in practice, then you will also fail.” The point: don’t try to reinvent the wheel. The PDF-to-Word Converter prevents you from having to do just that.

Usefulness: 7

Obviously, this can be used for multiple things. However, I encountered one big problem, which really didn’t surprise me much; scannable PDFs cannot be converted (well, they can, but they are just turned into an image that can’t be edited like text). Despite not being surprised, I was still disappointed. I would love to scan a document and have the chance to edit it within hours. Oh well, one can only hope that technology comes along soon.

Average Score: 7.5