Why Word → PDF needs a server
Word documents reference fonts, embed images, and rely on a layout engine that mirrors how Microsoft Word paginates the page. Producing a PDF that matches what you see in Word requires a full Word-compatible rendering engine — something far too heavy to run in the browser. So Word ↔ PDF is the exception to our usual “everything in your browser” promise: the file is uploaded to our conversion partner, converted, and deleted right after.
What gets preserved
- Paragraph and page layout, including page breaks and section breaks
- Common system fonts (Calibri, Arial, Times New Roman, Helvetica, Courier)
- Tables, lists, footnotes and embedded images
- Headers, footers and page numbers from Word
What gets substituted or dropped
- Uncommon or licensed fonts → swapped for the closest equivalent
- Tracked changes → accepted (as if you ran “Accept All”)
- Comments and macros → dropped