Safe (preferably free!) PDF to Word Converter?

I've got a load of PDF fprms (they're career self-assessments) I'm supposed to complete and discuss.

Obviously, I could print them all out and fill them in by hand, but I don't have a scanner, so would then be unable to share them electronically. Also (this has annoyed me!) some of them are partially completed already, so they've obviously used examples done by someone else, but forgotten to clear all the fields. So if I print them, I can't edit out the existing "wrong" answers, that don't apply to me - without a load of crossings-out or tippex.

I can save them as .txt. This has worked out OK for some of the simpler ones, that aren't heavily format-dependant (simple one-line question and answers).

But the majority of them are tabular, which means they're rendered all but useless if I save them as .txt.

Word does have a facility to import PDF, but I see it's a subscription only service. As this is (hopefully) a one-off event, I'm not paying.

I see there are a number of free services out there, but I've no idea how safe or reliable any of them are.

Anyone use one they'd recommend? Or any other (free) way to edit PDF? Needs to end up in a common format, that would be widely readable by other folks with a computer - not something obscure.

T.

The Draw application from LibreOffice lets you edit PDF files. It doesn't save as a Word doc but can save as PDF or a common image format (jpeg, png etc..)

Thanks, I'll have a look - this is driving me nuts. Using a career consultancy service (thankfully, not paid for by me) who have provided all the self evaluation forms in non-editable format. So you can't just e-mail your consultant with your answers! In my case, without a scanner, I'd have to use snail mail, or take them to the office in person. Seems a ridiculously long-winded way to have to go about things, in this modern age.

I think there are some good reasons for sometimes creating non-editable files (if it was contractual terms or something, you don't want the recipient to be able to tinker with). But when it's forms the recipient is supposed to complete and return?

Why should they have to print it all out and scan it back in, or stick it in the post?

T.

Why no try Acrobat - version 7 - available here http://www.adobe.com/downloads/cs2_downloads/

I take it it's free for being an older version? (No idea what the current one is, but pretty sure you have to pay).

I'm managing - sort of - with the LibreOffice Sark recommended, although it's proving fiddly. I suppose it's just what you get used to. Editing something with new software you've never tried before is never going to be easy, but I suppose it's still easier than having to print the lot out, complete it by hand, and stick it in the post.

It looks a bit of a mess, but as it's only a discussion document between myself and my advisor, not an actual job application, it doesn't matter, as long as it's readable. It's just ironic that I'm going on about how important quality of products or services is to me in a job, but saying this on something that looks like a dog's dinner! My answers are probably more important than how pretty it looks, though.

T.

It's free because they screwed up the validation server so they had to do something
In my case I have a legal copy of Photoshop CS2 but then I replaced the hard drive with a larger one and cloned the drive across. But because the hard drive had changed the license was no longer valid (that did surprise me as everything else on the computer was unchanged) and I had to download a new version from that link with the appropriate license key

I've used some online services for this. PdfToWord is one I've used before with mixed results (mostly very good).

I installed Libre office on a machine for someone the other day. They already had an old version of office as well. I thought they might find it useful if they had the comparability pack for office 2007/10 so installed that. I noticed after I did this that Libre office was able to save DOCX files.

Open Office also read pdf and save as .doc as well as re-export to pdf.

In reply to a post by undecidedadrian:

Open Office also read pdf and save as .doc as well as re-export to pdf.

Thanks for that info undecidedadrian: I've tried to convert pdf's using word/notepad/wordpad on several occasions without success - will try to open and save as .doc on a machine that I have Open Office installed later...

Edited by 4M2 (Sun 14-Apr-13 13:14:38)