How to edit a Word document online
- Press Open a file and choose a .docx or .txt document. Its text loads into the editor below.
- Edit directly in the page. Use the toolbar for basic formatting.
- Give the file a name in the name box if you want something other than the original.
- Export as DOCX, PDF or TXT. The file is generated on your device and saved straight to your downloads folder.
About this tool
This free online document editor opens .docx and .txt files, lets you edit the text, and exports to Word, PDF or plain text — all inside your browser, with no upload and no account.
It exists for the moment when you are on a machine without Word installed and you need to change one line in a document and send it back. Signing in to a cloud office suite means handing that document to a third party and, often, creating an account first. Here, the file is read into the tab, edited, and written back out.
Be clear about the trade-off: this is a text editor, not Word. It handles paragraphs, headings and basic formatting well. Complex layouts — multi-column pages, tracked changes, footnotes, embedded objects — are not preserved, because the document is converted to editable HTML and back. For a quick text change it is ideal; for restructuring a complex report it is not the right tool. Always keep your original file.
Frequently asked questions
- Can I edit a .doc file?
- No, only the newer .docx format and plain .txt. Open an older .doc in any word processor and save it as .docx first.
- Will my formatting survive?
- Mostly. Paragraphs, headings and basic character formatting carry across. Complex layout — columns, footnotes, tracked changes, embedded objects — does not.
- Is my document uploaded?
- No. It is read, edited and exported entirely within your browser tab.
- Is my work saved automatically?
- No. Nothing is stored anywhere, including on our side, so closing or reloading the tab loses unsaved changes. Export before you leave.
- Why does the exported PDF look different from Word?
- The PDF is produced by rendering the edited page, not by Word’s layout engine, so line breaks and spacing can differ.
- Is the text in the exported PDF selectable?
- Yes. The PDF is written as real text rather than rendered as an image, so it can be selected, searched and read by software. Note that only Latin-alphabet scripts are supported by the built-in PDF fonts.