Guide

How to convert PDF to EPUB: four ways, and which to pick

How to convert PDF to EPUB in one line: upload the PDF to a converter such as the one on this page, then download the EPUB. If you still have the original Word, Google Docs or Pages file, exporting from that gives an even cleaner ebook.

Convert a PDF to EPUB

  • No sign-up
  • Deleted within an hour
  • Reads scanned PDFs

Free: 10 files a day, OCR on up to 100 scanned pages a day (a pass reads up to 300 per file). Only convert files you have the right to convert. Password-protected and DRM-locked PDFs can't be converted.

The four ways, from easiest

  1. An online converter. Drop the PDF in the box above, wait a minute, download the EPUB. Nothing to install, and it works on a phone. epubwise rebuilds chapters and paragraphs, removes running heads and page numbers, and reads scanned PDFs with OCR.
  2. Calibre, on your computer. Free and offline: add the PDF, click Convert books, choose EPUB. Fine for simple text PDFs; our Calibre guide covers the settings and where it struggles.
  3. Export from the original document. A PDF is a print-out; the file it was made from still knows where every heading and paragraph is. Google Docs saves an EPUB directly (File, Download, EPUB Publication), and so does Apple Pages (File, Export To, EPUB). Word can't, but a Word file converts cleanly with our Word to EPUB tool.
  4. Adobe InDesign, for designed books. Designers export EPUB from the InDesign file (File, Export, EPUB), either reflowable or fixed-layout. That is the route for picture books and magazines whose layout has to stay exactly as designed.

Can you convert a PDF to EPUB without losing the format?

Partly, and it helps to know why. A PDF fixes every line in place for one page size. A normal EPUB does the opposite: the text flows to fit whatever screen and font size the reader picks. Converting keeps the words, the headings, italics, lists, pictures and tables, but the exact page layout gives way to reflowing text. That is the point: it is what makes a book readable on a phone.

If the look itself matters (a cookbook spread, a comic, a magazine page), keep the PDF, or have the designer export a fixed-layout EPUB from the original. For novels, reports, manuals and textbooks, a reflowable EPUB reads better on any device.

What to check in the EPUB

  1. Chapters

    Open the contents menu in your reading app: every chapter should be there, in order.

  2. Clutter

    Flip through a few pages for page numbers or running heads left in the middle of the text.

  3. Paragraphs

    Look for paragraphs that stop mid-sentence and carry on below, or words split by a stray hyphen.

We measured how seven converters do on exactly these points, on five public-domain PDFs, in our PDF to EPUB converter comparison.

Questions

Can you convert a PDF to EPUB for free?

Yes. The converter on this page is free for 10 files a day with no sign-up, and Calibre is free desktop software.

Can you convert a scanned PDF to EPUB?

Yes, with a converter that does OCR, which reads the words off the page pictures. epubwise does; Calibre doesn't, so a scan without a text layer comes out as pictures in Calibre.

Does converting make the file smaller?

Usually. An EPUB holds the text once and the pictures at screen size, so it is often a fraction of the PDF's size, especially for scanned books.

Google Docs, Apple Pages, Microsoft Word and Adobe InDesign are trademarks of their owners. epubwise is not affiliated with any of them.