Create a Word document from scratch

Open Create Word Document

1. Choose Tools in the top menu, then Create Word Document in the Create section at the top. It is also on the home page.
2. Or go straight to the page with the button below. Nothing is uploaded and no account is needed.

Start a blank document

The page opens blank, with the name Untitled Document in the Document name box at the top and a formatting toolbar above an A4 page. Click the page and start typing. If you come back later, your last draft is restored; choose New document to start again with a clean page (your earlier draft is kept under My drafts).

Enter a title, headings and body text

1. Type a name in the Document name box. It becomes the name of the downloaded file.
2. Click the page and type. Press Enter to start a new paragraph.
3. To make a heading, click in the line and open the paragraph style list on the toolbar. Choose Title, Subtitle, Heading 1, Heading 2 or Heading 3. Choose Normal text for body text.
4. Headings are real Word headings, so they show up in Word's navigation pane after you download the file.

Select text and format it

Select the text first (drag over it, or double-click a word), then use the toolbar. The buttons keep your selection.

• Font: Arial, Times New Roman, Calibri, Georgia or Verdana.
• Font size: the group labelled Font size has a list of standard sizes (8 to 72 points, scroll for all of them), a box where you can type any size from 1 to 400, and Decrease font size and Increase font size buttons that move one standard size at a time. If your selection has several sizes the box says Mixed.
• Bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, superscript and subscript.
• Text colour and highlight colour: pick a swatch or a custom colour.
• Paragraph: the Paragraph menu sets alignment (left, centre, right, justified), line spacing (Single, 1.15, 1.5, Double and more), space before and after a paragraph in points, left and right indents and a first-line or hanging indent in inches, and has the bulleted and numbered list buttons.
• Links, a horizontal line and your signature are on the toolbar too.
• Undo and redo, and Clear text formatting.

Set the page margins and add pages

The margins and every page break are saved with your draft and written into the .docx, so Word separates the pages in the same places.

1. To change the margins, choose Margins on the toolbar (on a phone: the three dots, then Page margins). Pick Normal, Narrow, Moderate or Wide, or type your own top, bottom, left and right margins in inches (each from 0.25 to 4) and choose Apply custom margins. Invalid values are refused with a message.
2. To start a new page, click where it should begin and choose Add page (the page with a plus sign), or press Ctrl+Enter. The text after the caret moves to the new page even if the page you were on is not full, and a labelled Page break line shows where it starts.
3. To remove a page break, undo it straight away with Ctrl+Z, or click the Page break line and press Delete.

Insert pictures and your signature

1. Choose Insert image and pick a PNG, JPEG, WebP or GIF up to 10 MB. You can also paste a picture or drag it onto the page.
2. To add your signature, choose Add signature, draw it, type it or upload a picture of it, and apply it. It is placed like any other picture.
3. Click a picture to select it. Choose 25%, 50%, 75% or 100% width, drag the corner handle to resize it, or use the align buttons to put it on the left, centre or right. Add a description for screen readers, or choose Delete picture.

How saving and draft recovery work

Your draft is saved in this browser a moment after you stop typing. The message beside the document name says Saving, Saved or Save failed, and it only says Saved once the draft really is stored. Choose Save now to save straight away.

Drafts live on this device and in this browser only. They are not uploaded and are not saved to a FreePDFScanner account, so clearing the site's data removes them and they do not appear on your other devices. Choose My drafts to open or delete older drafts.

Download the finished .docx

1. Choose Download Word (.docx).
2. The file is named after your Document name and opens in Microsoft Word and other office apps, where you can keep editing it.

Writing on a phone

On a phone you see the real A4 page, drawn smaller so that the whole width fits your screen; it is never re-flowed into a narrower column. Zoom in to read and type: under the three dots (More) the Zoom buttons make the page bigger or smaller, 100% shows it at full size, and Fit to screen shows the whole width again. Scroll with your finger, sideways as well when you are zoomed in. The most-used actions are in a bar at the bottom of the screen: Paragraph, Image, Add page, Save and Download. Everything else is under the three dots (More), including Font, colours, Link, Signature, Page margins and Zoom.

There are no arrow keys on a phone, so choose More, then Show navigation keys. A row of keys appears above the bottom bar: arrows, Home and End (start and end of the line), Page up and Page down, and Top and Bottom of the document. They move the caret without closing the keyboard or typing anything. A physical keyboard's arrow keys, Home, End, Page Up and Page Down work as usual.

Zooming changes only how big the page looks. The words, the line breaks and the page breaks are the same on your phone as on a computer, because the page is always the real A4 sheet with the margins you chose: a paragraph that takes five lines on a computer takes five lines on your phone.

Limits and troubleshooting

• Word and your browser lay out pages with different engines, so line and page breaks can move slightly in Word. Pages you start with Add page, your margins, your text, formatting, pictures and links are kept.
• Tables, headers, footers and page numbers are not available yet.
• A signature added here is a picture of your handwriting or typed name, not a certified digital signature.
• If you see Save failed, your browser has no room or is blocking site data (private browsing does this). Download the .docx straight away to keep your work, then free some space.
• If a picture will not insert, check that it is a PNG, JPEG, WebP or GIF under 10 MB and is not damaged.
• Creating a document never changes any file you already have.

Create, convert or extract text?

• Create Word Document: write a new document from a blank page.
• PDF to Word: turn a PDF you already have into an editable Word file.
• OCR (Extract text): read the words from a scan or photo, in English.