PDF DocOfficePDF, Word or Excel: Which Format Should You Use?
The short answer
Use PDF when a document is finished and must look exactly the same on every device. Use Word when the text is still changing. Use Excel when the numbers need to be calculated, sorted or charted. Most problems with documents come from using the wrong one for the job: a spreadsheet sent as a PDF cannot be recalculated, and a contract sent as a Word file can be changed by accident.
PDF: finished and fixed
A PDF stores exactly where every letter and image sits on the page. That is why invoices, certificates, applications and signed agreements are almost always PDFs. The recipient sees what you intended, whatever device, operating system or fonts they use.
The drawback is that editing is awkward. Changing a sentence in a PDF may need special software, and copying a table out of a PDF often produces a mess.
Word: text that still changes
A Word document stores text as paragraphs that flow and rewrap. That makes it the right format for drafts, letters, CVs and reports that several people edit. Track changes, comments and styles are all designed around this.
The risk is that the layout can change depending on the computer, the font and the version of the program. A document that looks perfect on your laptop may shift by a few lines on someone else's.
Excel: numbers that need to be worked with
Excel keeps data in cells, so it can add, sort, filter and chart it. Price lists, budgets, schedules and any list that someone will analyse belong in a spreadsheet.
Sending the same figures as a PDF looks tidy but makes the recipient retype everything. If someone needs to work with your numbers, give them the spreadsheet, and attach a PDF only for reading.
Converting between them
Conversion is possible in every direction, but the quality varies. Word to PDF is almost perfect because the layout is already known. PDF to Word and PDF to Excel have to guess the structure from positions on the page, so results depend on how cleanly the original was made. A scan needs OCR first, because it is only a picture.
Our guides explain each case step by step, and the tools are free: PDF to Word, PDF to Excel, and Image to Excel or Word.
A simple rule of thumb
Before you send a file, ask what the person will do with it. Read and print it: send a PDF. Edit it: send Word. Calculate with it: send Excel. If you are unsure, send both, the editable file and a PDF copy.
Related guides
- How to Convert a PDF to an Editable Word Document (DOCX)
- How to Convert a PDF Table into an Excel Spreadsheet (XLSX)
- How to Convert an Image (JPG or PNG) into Excel or Word with OCR