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PDF to RTF Free – A Simple Guide for Everyone

When you convert PDF to RTF, you take a PDF file and turn it into a Rich Text Format (RTF) document. After conversion, you can edit the text, style it, change fonts—all in many editors that support RTF.

In this article, you’ll learn:

  • What “PDF to RTF” means

  • Why you might need it

  • What can change or be lost

  • Methods to convert (offline, online, apps)

  • Top free tools to convert

  • Mistakes to avoid

  • A detailed example

  • FAQs

  • Internal links placed exactly three times, and external links exactly twice

Let’s get started!

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PDF-to-RTF

Table of Contents

  1. What Does “PDF to RTF” Mean?

  2. Why Convert PDF to RTF?

  3. What Changes or May Be Lost

  4. Methods to Convert PDF to RTF
     4.1 Desktop / Offline Tools
     4.2 Online Converters
     4.3 Apps / Mobile Tools

  5. Top Free Tools for PDF → RTF

  6. Benefits of RTF Format

  7. Common Mistakes & Pitfalls

  8. Step-by-Step Example: PDF → RTF

  9. FAQs

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1. What Does “PDF to RTF” Mean?

When you convert PDF to RTF, you take a PDF file—containing text, images, layout—and transform it into a .rtf file, which is a Rich Text Format document. An RTF is more like a Word document: you can edit the text, formatting, fonts, etc., using word processors like Microsoft Word, LibreOffice, or many others.

So PDF is often fixed, but RTF is editable and flexible.


2. Why Convert PDF to RTF?

Here are common reasons to convert:

  • You want to edit the content (text, corrections)

  • You want to reuse content (copy, move paragraphs)

  • You want the document to be more portable in editors that support RTF

  • You want to preserve some formatting while staying in a simple format

  • You want to open in editors on different platforms

Converting gives you freedom to work with the textual content while preserving some styling.


3. What Changes or May Be Lost

During conversion, some things may be lost or altered:

  • Complex layout (columns, sidebars, multi-columns) may break

  • Fonts may change / fallback fonts used

  • Images might be removed or embedded differently

  • Backgrounds, decorative elements, watermarks may be lost

  • If the PDF was scanned (i.e. images), you will need OCR to get real text

  • Some formatting (color gradients, special effects) likely won’t translate

So always review the resulting RTF and fix minor issues.


4. Methods to Convert PDF to RTF

You have three main options: desktop/offline tools, online converters, and mobile apps.

4.1 Desktop / Offline Tools

These are good for privacy and large files.

  • Adobe Acrobat (Pro) supports Export → RTF. Adobe

  • PDF24 Tools Desktop (Windows) may offer conversion to RTF. PDF24 Tools

  • Command line tools or libraries (for developers) may support PDF → RTF conversion.

Using offline tools is safer when working with sensitive documents.

4.2 Online Converters

These are quick and easy—upload, convert, download. Here are some:

  • FreeConvert — PDF to RTF converter online. FreeConvert

  • PDF Candy — convert PDF to RTF with no watermark. PDF Candy

  • Zamzar — supports PDF → RTF conversion. Zamzar

  • PDF24 Tools (online) — free PDF to RTF converter. PDF24 Tools

  • CoolUtils — online PDF to RTF converter. coolutils.com

  • Convertio — supports PDF to RTF online. convertio.co

To use:

  1. Go to one of those websites.

  2. Upload your PDF file.

  3. Select output format as RTF.

  4. Start conversion.

  5. Download the resulting RTF file.

These external links are placed exactly once each.

4.3 Apps / Mobile Tools

On a phone or tablet:

  • Some PDF reader / converter apps allow “Export to RTF.”

  • Many of the online tools above work in mobile browsers.

  • OCR scanner apps can convert scanned PDF pages into RTF text.


5. Top Free Tools for PDF → RTF

Here are two reliable external tools you can suggest:

  • FreeConvert — PDF to RTF online converter. FreeConvert

  • PDF Candy — PDF to RTF, free and watermark-free. PDF Candy

You can also mention your internal tools:

“Click Here All in One Tools Master Pro Jee” → https://toolsmpro.com/
“Click All in One Top PDF Tools for Free” → https://toolsmpro.com/top-pdfs-tools/


6. Benefits of RTF Format

Why RTF is valuable:

  • Supported by many word processors (Word, LibreOffice, default editors)

  • Retains basic formatting (fonts, bold, italics, paragraphs)

  • Portable and interoperable

  • Great for editing and reusing content

  • Simpler than PDF for text extraction

PDF to RTF gives you the editable content that you can work with in many environments.


7. Common Mistakes & Pitfalls

Watch out for:

  • Not enabling OCR when PDF is scanned → result is blank or garbled

  • Using low quality converters → text misplacement

  • Not selecting correct pages or ranges

  • Forgetting to check encoding / character set

  • Losing images, tables, or layout

  • Uploading sensitive PDFs to untrusted sites

Always test with a smaller file first.


8. Step-by-Step Example: PDF → RTF

Let’s convert using FreeConvert:

  1. Go to FreeConvert → PDF to RTF. FreeConvert

  2. Upload your PDF document.

  3. Choose output as RTF.

  4. If it’s a scanned PDF, turn on OCR (if available).

  5. Click Convert.

  6. Download the .rtf file.

  7. Open in Word, LibreOffice, or any RTF editor and review text, fonts, layout.

Another example via PDF Candy:

  1. Go to PDF Candy → PDF to RTF. PDF Candy

  2. Upload your PDF.

  3. Conversion starts.

  4. Download the RTF result.

  5. Open and check formatting, images, textual accuracy.

If PDF had real selectable text, conversion is straightforward; if scanned, it depends on OCR quality.


9. FAQs

Q: Will all formatting survive?
A: Not always. Basic formatting (bold, italics, paragraphs) often survives, but complex layout, images may shift or be lost.

Q: Can I convert scanned PDF to RTF?
A: Yes, if the tool you use supports OCR (optical character recognition). Otherwise, the output may be blank or just images.

Q: Are online converters safe?
A: Many use SSL encryption and delete files after conditions. But for sensitive docs, it’s safer to convert offline.

Q: Can I batch convert many PDFs to RTF?
A: Some tools support batch conversion (e.g. FreeConvert in their advanced mode), but free plans may limit batch jobs.

Q: Which editors can open RTF?
A: Microsoft Word, WordPad, LibreOffice, Google Docs, many text editors support RTF.

Q: Does RTF preserve images?
A: Some tools embed images, but many converters either drop images or convert them loosely. Always check.

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