Insert a PDF into Word Using Mac Preview

Mac’s built-in Preview app can export a PDF page as an image, which is one way to get it into Word for Mac, but it means opening Preview, exporting each page individually, and naming files by hand. This tool does the same conversion for every page at once, directly in your browser, so Preview becomes optional rather than required.

Your file is processed entirely in your browser. It is never uploaded to any server.

How to insert a PDF into Word for Mac: step by step

  1. Fastest path: choose your PDF above, optionally set a page range, and click Convert to PNG. All pages convert at once.
  2. Alternative path via Preview: open the PDF in Preview, File → Export, set Format to PNG or JPEG, and repeat per page.
  3. In Word for Mac, place your cursor, then Insert → Pictures → Picture from File.
  4. Select the image(s) from either method and set text wrapping to In Line with Text or Top and Bottom.
  5. For multi-page PDFs, insert images in order and add page breaks between them if needed.

When Preview is still worth using

Preview is handy if you only need one specific page and want to crop or annotate it before inserting; its markup tools let you highlight or redact directly on that page. For anything with more than a couple of pages, exporting one at a time in Preview gets tedious fast, and this tool converts the whole document in a single click instead. Either way, Word for Mac's Insert → Pictures step at the end is the same.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need Preview at all if I use this tool?

No. This converts every page directly; Preview is only useful if you want to crop or annotate a single page first.

Can Preview embed the whole PDF like Windows' Insert Object does?

Not the same way. Preview can only export pages as images or a flattened PDF, not create a linked OLE object the way Windows Word does.

Does this work with the free Word for Mac app or only the paid version?

Both. The image-insert workflow (Insert → Pictures) is available in every version of Word for Mac, free or subscription-based.

My PDF pages come out sideways after exporting from Preview: why?

Preview sometimes keeps the original scan rotation. Use the Rotate PDF tool on the source file first, then convert to images here to avoid the issue entirely.

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