In this article, we'll cover how you can convert a PDF to another format. If you are a new Soda PDF user we recommend you check out the first section, which contains, the basic steps for quick conversions.
You can also jump ahead and check out the advanced settings for each output format. Here are the links to each topic.
Quick Convert
This section will cover the basic steps for converting your PDF to any format available in Soda PDF.
Step 1 - Open Convert tool
- Open the Create & Convert tab.
- Click on the button with the format you want to convert to.
When you select one of these options you'll be brought to the convert setup section for that format.
Step 2 - Choose which pages in your PDF to convert
You can tell Soda PDF to convert your entire document or only a few pages.
- Choose one of the options under Pages to Export.
- All - Every page of your PDF will be converted to the new format.
- Current - Only the page you are currently viewing will be converted to the new format.
- First/Last - Selecting one of these will convert only the first or last page of your document.
- Range – You can tell Soda PDF to convert only specific pages in your document:
- Using a dash (-) tells Soda PDF to convert all pages between those page numbers, inclusively. If you want to print pages № 2, 3, 4 & 5, you need to type 2-5.
- Using a comma (,) you can add multiple groups of pages. As an example, to convert all pages from 2 to 5, then page 8, followed by pages 10 and 11, you would type it out as follows “2-5,8,10-11".
Step 3 - Convert your PDF file
- Click on Export. By default, the converted file will be saved to the same folder where the original file is located.
Congratulations your PDF is now converted to its new format :)
Advanced Settings
In this section, we'll explain the different convert options available in Soda PDF. We'll start with the common settings shared by each format and then explain format-specific settings.
Click on one of the links below to jump ahead to the info you need. Please note we grouped any formats that come with no additional settings into the common settings section.
Common Settings
Click on the three dots in the corner to open more settings:
Save Resultant Document to:
Click on the folder icon to change the path.
Use OCR:
You can use the OCR tool to make any text found in images editable.
- Check the box next to the option.
Detect and Convert Table:
This feature will retain any tables found in your document.
- Check the box next to this option.
Open the document after conversion:
If you want to open the converted document right away, you can:
- Check the box next to this option.
Excel Settings
These features are exclusive for when you convert PDF to Excel.
Pages to sheet settings:
You can choose to convert each page of your PDF onto a single excel sheet or you can convert each page into its own separate sheet.
- Toggle this switch to decide which option you want to use.
Information transfer:
Depending on your need, you can choose between one of the following:
- Choose Tables Only to convert to Excel without any text.
- Choose Text and Tables to transfer both text and tables.
PDF to Image
You can choose between PNG, JPEG, GIF, BMP, TIFF.
- Choose one of the options below Select Image Format.
- Select the resolution dpi.
Advanced conversion
- Open the Create & Convert tab - Advanced.
- Click on the button with the format you want to convert to.
PDF to PDF/A
The PDF/A conversion feature is an archiving tool that allows you to preserve your electronic documents. For more information on archiving PDFs, check out this blog article.
- Choose which PDF/A format you want to use.
PDF to TXT
These options are available when converting PDF to TXT.
Convert cropped text:
You can convert any cropped text during your conversion.
- Check the box next to Convert cropped text.
Add page dividers:
Since a TXT file is one continuous page, you can choose to have Soda PDF add visible page dividers during conversion. You can choose between any preset option or customize your own.
- Check the box next to Use Page Divider.
- Pick an option from the dropdown.
- Click into the box to add a custom page divider.
- Type into the box.
- When you click away your custom page divider will be set.
Batch Conversion
Soda PDF offers batch functionality that lets you convert several PDF files at the same time.
Click here to learn more about the batch tool.