Category: Microsoft Word

Win2PDF 11.0.10.1 Update: Expanded PDF/A Archiving, Markdown Support, and Automation Enhancements

The Win2PDF 11.0.10.1 update introduces expanded PDF/A archiving options, native Markdown support, improved spreadsheet formatting, metadata preservation for Word and Excel files, and email conversion enhancements. Most of these new features are only available in the Win2PDF Pro version of the software, but are available at no charge to all licensed users of Win2PDF or Win2PDF Pro 7.0 or higher.

1. Expanded PDF/A Archiving and Automation

[Note: This feature is only available in the Win2PDF Pro version of the software.]

Win2PDF 11.0.10.1 expands enhanced PDF/A support for both Win2PDF Desktop and automated workflows. Users can export documents directly to PDF/A within Win2PDF Desktop using File > Export > PDF/A.

The 11.0.10.1 release supports additional PDF/A sub-types, which many customers have requested.

For automated processing, Win2PDF 11.0.10.1 includes support for:

  • pdf2pdfa command‑line utility
  • convertto formats covering PDF/A‑1a, PDF/A‑1b, PDF/A‑2a, PDF/A‑2b, PDF/A-2u, PDF/A‑3a, PDF/A‑3b, PDF/A-3u, PDF/A-4, PDF/A‑4e, and PDF/A‑4f
  • Batch Convert and Watch Folder for automated PDF/A generation

These automated features assist organizations with high-volume compliance and long-term archiving needs.

2. Native Markdown Input and Output

[Note: This feature is only available in the Win2PDF Pro version of the software.]

Markdown is a lightweight markup language that you can use to add formatting elements to plain text documents. Win2PDF 11.0.10.1 introduces native Markdown support, allowing Markdown files to be converted to PDF or PDF/A or other formats, and other formats can be converted to Markdown.

New tools include:

While Google Workspace offers native Markdown support in both Docs and Drive, it lacks batch conversion capabilities. Win2PDF fills this gap by supporting automated, batch Markdown conversions for various file formats.

3. Improved Spreadsheet-to-PDF Output

[Note: This feature is only available in the Win2PDF Pro version of the software.]

A new xlsxautofit output format is now available in convertto and Batch Convert. This option automatically adjusts column widths in XLSX source files to improve table readability in the generated PDF output.

4. Metadata Preservation and Email Processing Enhancements

[Note: This feature is only available in the Win2PDF Pro version of the software.]

Win2PDF 11.0.10.1 improves how document metadata is preserved during automated conversions. When using Batch Convert or Watch Folder, Win2PDF now transfers properties such as:

  • Creation Date
  • Modification Date
  • Author
  • Title
  • Subject
  • Keywords

from DOCX and XLSX source files to the resulting PDF. This helps maintain accurate document history and improves searchability in document management systems.

Email conversion handles multiple recipients and invalid address strings more effectively. Converted email PDFs also list attachment names in the document body.

Additional Resources

Full feature listing:

Win2PDF 11.0.10.1 download page:

Batch Converting Folders of OpenDocument Text (.odt) Files to PDF Using Win2PDF

In last week’s post, we announced details on the latest Win2PDF support of various Word Processing formats like Microsoft Word (.doc, .docx), OpenDocument Text (.odt), and Rich Text Format (.rtf).

While MS-Office files have always been an important format for documents, there is an increasing need to support OpenDocument (ODF) files as well, mostly due to its increasing adoption within government and international organizations.  The reason for this is simple:  they’re open and not dependent on changes imposed by a single company.

Microsoft Office Documents (.doc) were originally binary files used by Microsoft as a proprietary format.  Microsoft adapted the format to an standards-based format based on Open Office XML in 2007, and this became the (.docx) format.  Today, both (.doc) and (.docx) formats are maintained by Microsoft.  The OpenDocument format, on the other hand, is an open format that is documented and maintained by an independent non-profit consortium known as OASIS.  

[If you’re interested in more details, here’s Microsoft’s list of differences between (.docx) and (.odt) files].

For these reasons and more, Win2PDF now supports more conversion options with .odt files. 

You can now read .odt files in the Win2PDF Desktop App, and batch convert folders of .odt files into the following formats:

If you want to convert individual files instead of batch converting folders of documents, you can either use the “export to ODT” feature or the “convertto” command line with the source or destination set to an .odt file.

Whether you’re looking to share these documents with others by email or the web, or simply preserve their formatting in another format, Win2PDF can help you batch convert folders of .odt documents to PDF quickly and easily.  If your organization is using OpenDocument Formats and there’s something else you’d like to see in terms of conversion, let us know.  We’re always interested in making the conversion process between different file formats easier and more flexible.

Win2PDF 10.0.144 is now available

The latest release of Win2PDF (10.0.144) is now available on the Win2PDF Download site.

The biggest additions to this release are specific to the Win2PDF Pro version of the software, which now supports the ability to batch convert standard word processing documents (Microsoft Word, Open Document Text, and Rich Text Format) to PDF.

Here’s a summary of changes in this new version:

This Win2PDF 10 update is a free upgrade for all Win2PDF 7 and Win2PDF 10 users. If you have an existing Win2PDF standard edition license and wish to use any of the new Win2PDF Pro features, you can purchase a Win2PDF Pro Upgrade.

We’ll be posting more specific information on some of these features next week, with more details on changes to the interface and how these new features can be used. In the meantime, if you would like to evaluate one of the new Win2PDF Pro features (PDF watermark, PDF security, batch-convert, auto-rename, or watch folder), contact us for a free 30 day trial of Win2PDF Pro.

Converting a PDF file to a Word document using Microsoft Word

UPDATE: This post is no longer relevant since Win2PDF now supports for converting Word Files, Open Document, and Rich Text Format files to PDF.

After our last post about using Google Docs to convert a PDF file to Word, we had a couple of reader comments asking, “Why don’t you just use Microsoft Word to convert the PDF file directly?”

Great question.  We used the Google Docs method of conversion because it was completely free and did not rely on the use of a commercial program.  But, since so many users have Microsoft Word already, we should explain how it can be used to convert a PDF file much more easily.

First, open your Microsoft Word program.  (Note:  Your interface may look slightly different depending on which version of Microsoft Word you are using).  Then, select Open and choose the PDF file you wish to convert.

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Second, once you choose the PDF file, you will get a message in Word stating the file will be converted to an editable Word document.

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Lastly, once the conversion is complete, you can just edit the file directly, or save it out as a newly formatted Microsoft Word file.

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And that’s it.  If you already have a newer version of Microsoft Word, this method seems to work better than the Google docs method we described in our previous blog post.  And, it bears repeating, if you don’t want your PDF files to be modified or converted to Word, you can encrypt the files to prevent changes using our Win2PDF Pro version of the Win2PDF software.

Converting a PDF file to a Word Document (for free) using Google Docs

UPDATE: This post is no longer relevant since Win2PDF now supports for converting Word Files, Open Document, and Rich Text Format files to PDF.

This article about Paul Manafort made the headlines the other day, and it got us wondering:  How many people know how to convert a PDF file to a Microsoft Word document?  Do you?

While there are some specialized commercial programs that do this conversion, there are also free alternatives available.  One of the easiest methods is to use Google Docs to do the conversion from PDF to Word.  Here are the basic steps:

 1. Open the PDF file in Google Drive

From a Gmail account or any other Google app, click on the Google Apps icon.  This will allow you to open another Google app associated with your account, including Google Drive.

Google_drive11

Once Google Drive is open, choose Upload files… from the My Drive drop-down menu.

Google_drive22

Then, choose the PDF file on your hard drive that you wish to convert to a Microsoft Word document.

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2. Right-mouse click on the PDF file in Google Drive, and open the file in Google Docs

Google_drive44

When you open with Google Docs, the PDF file will be converted to a Google doc.  And once it is a Google Doc, it can be saved as another format, including Microsoft Word.

3. Download the file as a Microsoft Word (.docx) formatted file

Google_drive55

And that’s it.  Currently, Google’s conversion process does seem somewhat limited and some formatting may be lost, but it will give you an editable Word document from the original PDF file.

Now, what if you don’t want your PDF files converted to Word, or modified in any way?

For that, you just need to encrypt the PDF file to prevent modifications.  And there’s an easy solution for this as well.  This can be done using our Win2PDF Pro software.