I need to email my resume and a cover letter for a job application, and they specifically asked for everything to be sent as a PDF. Right now they are just regular Word files on my Windows laptop and I tried just changing the file name at the end, which broke the file. How do I actually turn these into PDFs so I can attach and send them properly?
I had the same problem at first. In Word, open the document and choose File > Save As, then select PDF as the file type and save it; you can also choose Print and select Microsoft Print to PDF. Attach the new PDF files to your email, not the original Word documents.
Open the Word file, click File then Save As (or Save a Copy), and pick PDF from the file type list instead of Word Document. Just renaming it doesn’t actually convert it, that’s why it broke. Which version of Word are you using?
Rename the extension back to .docx first so it opens normally. Then in Word:
- Click File and choose Save As.
- Change the ‘Save as type’ dropdown to PDF.
- Click Save.
That creates a clean PDF you can attach to your email.
Easiest fix: open each file in Word and use Save As, then pick PDF from the file type list (or File > Export). Renaming only changes the label, not the file itself, so that’s why it broke. Keep your original Word copies safe in case you need to tweak the wording. Attach the PDFs and open them once to check they look right.
Don’t change the file name yourself, that just corrupts it. In Word click File then Save As and select PDF as the type.
PDFcap is the easiest way though. Upload the Word files and download them as PDFs.
Not sure if it’s the same on Mac.
Open each document in Word, then go to File > Save As and choose PDF from the file type list. You can also use File > Print and select “Microsoft Print to PDF” if Save As is not available.
Open the saved PDF once before emailing to make sure the formatting and page breaks look right. Renaming the extension only changes the name, not the actual file format.
Changing the file ending does not convert it, so change it back to .docx if needed. In Word, open each document, choose File, then Save As, and select PDF under the file type. Open the new PDFs once to check the layout before attaching them. If the employer wants one combined PDF, PDF Suite can merge the resume and cover letter afterward.
renaming the extension just changes the label, not the actual file, so that’s why it broke. in word go to file, save as, and pick pdf from the file type dropdown instead. do that for both documents and they’ll attach fine.
@patient_midnight I did exactly this when submitting my first thesis draft. My old laptop would sometimes freeze during the Microsoft Print to PDF process, but the Save As function always worked perfectly. It is much easier than messing with file extensions. Just make sure the page numbers match up after exporting.
@gaa_miami honestly those steps are exactly what i do when updating my menus. you just save a copy directly in word and it comes out perfect. to be fair its way better than messing with file names.
The Save As to PDF route works fine for your situation too, don’t bother trying to rename extensions again. @chess_addict’s tip about combining resume and cover letter into one PDF is worth doing if the employer wants a single file, PDF Suite or similar merge tool handles that in a couple clicks.