Do online PDF converters keep my files?

Most say they delete uploads after a set time, often somewhere between an hour and a day. You cannot check that from outside, and backups, logs and the services a site relies on may keep copies longer.

How can I tell if a PDF tool runs on my device?

Turn off Wi-Fi and try it. A tool that still converts the file is doing the work locally, and one that fails or spins was sending the file somewhere.

Is a password-protected PDF safe to upload?

Not really, because the site has to unlock it to convert it, so you either give it the password or remove the protection first. Either way the content arrives readable.

Can I convert a PDF to Word on a Mac without uploading it?

You can copy the text into a word processor and save it as a Word file, which keeps the words but not the layout. Better PDF converts PDF to Word on the Mac itself, as a Pro tool, with headings, paragraphs and tables rebuilt.

Is it safe to upload a PDF to an online converter?

Uploading a PDF to an online converter is safe enough when the file holds nothing private, and a real risk when it does. The file is copied to a server you do not control and kept for as long as that company decides. For contracts, medical letters, payslips or scanned IDs, convert on your own Mac instead.

We make a PDF app that does not upload anything, so take this with that in mind. We have tried to be fair. Most converter sites are run by people doing an honest job, and for plenty of files they are the quickest route.

What happens to a file on a converter site?

When you drop a PDF on a converter in your browser, the whole file is usually sent to the company’s servers. Software there opens it, reads every page, produces the Word file or the images, and stores the result for you to download.

From that point the copy is out of your hands. A typical privacy policy says uploads are deleted after a set time. That is probably true for the main copy. It tends to say less about backups, about logs that record file names, about the cloud provider the site rents its servers from, or about any outside OCR or AI service the file may be passed to. Some free sites also earn their money from advertising, which can mean trackers on the page while your file is open in it.

None of this means your lease will end up on the internet. It means you have handed a copy to parties you cannot name, under terms you probably have not read, and you have no way to check what they did with it.

When is uploading fine, and when is it not?

A rough test: would it bother you if this file were forwarded to a stranger?

Usually fine: a restaurant menu, a brochure, a public report, slides from a talk you gave, a form you have not filled in yet.

Think twice: anything with your address, signature or account numbers on it. Rental agreements, employment contracts, invoices, tax forms.

Do not upload: passport and ID scans, medical records, bank statements, anything covered by an NDA, documents about other people (clients, patients, employees), and anything your employer’s policy says stays on company devices. In many workplaces, uploading a client document to a free website breaks policy whatever the site does with it.

ID scans deserve their own line. A clear scan of a passport is exactly what someone needs to open an account in your name, so it is the last file to leave with a stranger.

How do you tell if a tool is on-device?

Pages for web tools often say “secure” and “encrypted”. That usually means the upload travels over HTTPS, which protects it on the way, not after it arrives. The questions that matter are where the conversion runs and who holds the file.

Some ways to check:

Turn off Wi-Fi and try it. A tool that still converts the file is doing the work on your machine.
Watch the progress bar. An upload bar that fills before the conversion starts is a file leaving your computer.
Read the privacy policy for the words “upload”, “retain” and “third party”. A tool that never receives your file has little to say about keeping it.
Look at what it asks for. A desktop app that needs an account and a login to convert a file is probably sending it somewhere.

Some websites do convert in the browser, so the file never leaves the tab. That is real and good, but you have to take the site’s word for it unless you check the network traffic yourself.

How to convert a PDF on a Mac without uploading

You already have more than you might think, though each route has limits.

PDF to images. Preview can export a page as an image from its File menu. It works page by page, which is fine for one or two pages and tedious for forty.

PDF to text. Select all with ⌘A, copy, and paste into TextEdit. On a scan with no text layer this gives you nothing; recognise it first (see How to make a scanned PDF searchable on a Mac).

PDF to Word. Paste the copied text into Pages and export it as a Word file. You keep the words and lose the layout, the columns and most tables. For a one-page letter that is fine. For a twenty-page contract it is an afternoon of tidying.

Images to PDF. Select the images in Finder, Control-click, and look under Quick Actions for Create PDF.

Word to PDF. Open the document in Pages, or Word if you have it, and export or print it as a PDF.

Converting in Better PDF

The conversions people most often upload a file for are in Better PDF, and they all run on the Mac:

PDF to Word (.docx), with headings, paragraphs and tables rebuilt from the page layout. This one is part of Pro.
PDF to images, every page or a range.
PDF to text, Markdown and CSV (for tables).
Grayscale copies and images to PDF.

Open them from Window › Tools… (⇧⌘T), or choose File › Export As… (⇧⌘E) with a document open. The Convert sheet shows a preview of the result, a page range and an estimate of the file size before you save. Scanned pages can be recognised on the way, with the same on-device OCR the app uses everywhere else. No step needs a network connection, so the Wi-Fi test above works on it too. Word, PowerPoint and Excel to PDF are not in the app yet; they are next.

Two other jobs people often hand to a website are here as well. Redaction removes text and images from the file itself, rather than drawing a black box over them that can be lifted off. Protect with Password encrypts a copy with AES-256. Both are part of Pro.

The free app also covers the other reasons people upload a file: filling a form and signing it with a certificate. Its only network calls are listed in Help: Updates, diagnostics and privacy. They are the update check, which you can turn off, time-stamps if you turn them on, and licence activation when you press Activate. If you want to try the Wi-Fi test yourself, download Better PDF and convert something with Wi-Fi off.

Questions people ask

Do online PDF converters keep my files?: Most say they delete uploads after a set time, often somewhere between an hour and a day. You cannot check that from outside, and backups, logs and the services a site relies on may keep copies longer.
How can I tell if a PDF tool runs on my device?: Turn off Wi-Fi and try it. A tool that still converts the file is doing the work locally, and one that fails or spins was sending the file somewhere.
Is a password-protected PDF safe to upload?: Not really, because the site has to unlock it to convert it, so you either give it the password or remove the protection first. Either way the content arrives readable.
Can I convert a PDF to Word on a Mac without uploading it?: You can copy the text into a word processor and save it as a Word file, which keeps the words but not the layout. Better PDF converts PDF to Word on the Mac itself, as a Pro tool, with headings, paragraphs and tables rebuilt.