Convert Word to PDF on Mac

Sometimes you may need to save or convert a Microsoft Word Doc or DOCX file to PDF file format on your Mac. For example, you received some Word document and do not have Microsoft Word or a compatible app to read or open it; you use Microsoft Office on your Mac but worry about the file incompatibility issue when you plan to share the file with other Mac or iOS users. In this quick guide, we will list several easy and quick ways you can save or convert Word to PDF on Mac using Pages and MS Word. Note that we are using Microsoft Word for Mac Version 16.18 on a MacOS Mojave machine in this demo. You may find differences in settings and/or appearances if you are using a different version of the Word or Pages.

Converting Word to PDF using Pages – method 1

Pages is a powerful word processor from Apple. Every Mac has Pages pre-installed. You can use it to create stunning documents. You can even use it to open, edit and convert Microsoft Word documents on Mac. 

Open Finder on your Mac, browse to the folder where the Word doc is saved on your computer. Right click on it and select Open with > Pages. Once the Word document is opened in Pages, go to its File menu, choose Export To, then select PDF from the submenu list. The Export Your Document screen pops up. Optionally choose image quality and/or set a password to lock your PDF files here. Press Next button. Change the PDF file name, and location to save it in the next screen. And finally click the Export button to save the Word document as PDF file from Pages app on Mac. 

export Word to PDF from Pages on Mac

Pages provides us the easiest way to convert Word to PDF on Mac. And best of all, this software comes with the Mac OS, so you don’t need to buy or download extra apps. It however has its drawbacks. Some advanced features of Word are not supported by Pages. Sometimes when you open a Word doc in Pages, you may find it looks different, certain objects may be removed, form components may be lost, etc. 

Converting Word to PDF using Microsoft Word – method 2

If you already have Microsoft Word installed on your Mac and plan to share the document with other users who might not have MS Word installed on their device, you may consider converting it to PDF format first. PDF is a universally compatible format on all kinds of computers and devices. 

Run Microsoft Word app from the Launchpad on your Mac. Open the Word document which you want to convert in the app. Click to open the File menu, choose Save As. Then give the PDF file a new name, select a folder to save it, choose PDF as the file format. Click Export to convert the Word to PDF from Microsoft Word on Mac.

save word document as PDF file from Microsoft Word app on Mac

With Microsoft Word app, you can also use its Share action to convert a Word document to PDF and send it to yourself or others via email. In previous articles, we have already showed how to do that on iPhone and Android mobile phones. Check out this tutorial to convert Word to PDF on iPhone for free using the free Word app for iOS. To do that on Mac, go to the File menu, choose Share > Send PDF. MS Word will create a PDF file from your Word document and attach it to a new email message. You can then select or type in the recipient email address to receive the PDF file.