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I accidentally changed all of my files to word

Anonymous
2024-04-19T10:29:01+00:00

I wanted to convert ONE file to a word document from a PDF and accidentally pressed 'always' when it gave me the option. Now all of my PDF files have been converted to a word doc. How do I undo this?

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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  1. Jay Freedman 207.6K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2024-04-19T11:55:42+00:00

    You haven't actually changed the PDF files to Word files. The only thing that happened is that you made Word the default program for Windows to start when you open a PDF file -- it's a setting in the registry.

    There are a couple of ways to fix this.

    The easy way is to right-click any PDF file in File Explorer, click the Open With item in the menu, and select your PDF reader program such as Adobe Reader) and click the "Always use this app" option. That will make the PDF reader the default program for PDF files. You'll still be able to open a single PDF in Word if you want to -- though it's probably better to start Word and then use the Open dialog (Ctrl+O) to select the PDF.

    The longer way is to press Windows key + i to open the Control Panel and click Apps; click "Default apps" in the left column; scroll to the bottom of the page and click "Choose default apps by file type"; scroll the list down to .pdf; click the Word icon on the right; and choose your PDF reader program from the list that pops up.

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  1. Stefan Blom 339.3K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2024-10-30T08:14:20+00:00

    Jay's instructions are for Windows.

    Here is a screen shot from the Settings app in Windows 10, but Windows 11 will be similar:

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  2. Stefan Blom 339.3K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2024-04-19T11:51:59+00:00

    Which steps did you follow, exactly? I guess you are referring to the Open With command? What has happened is likely that you have set Word as the default application for opening PDFs. This does not imply that your PDFs have been permanently modified, only that Word is set to open these files. You can change the default in Windows Settings. See https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/change-default-programs-in-windows-e5d82cad-17d1-c53b-3505-f10a32e1894d.

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  3. Stefan Blom 339.3K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2024-08-07T06:30:13+00:00

    I created a document and when it asked if I always wanted to save documents as Word or just that one I said ALL, so now I can't save a document as a PDF

    What happens, exactly? If you mean that clicking the icon for a PDF file opens it in Word, change the file association as Jay explained in his reply from April.

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  4. Anonymous
    2024-04-19T11:11:44+00:00

    Hello Shanne,

    * I am a Microsoft user like you, providing solutions to community members; I am NOT a Microsoft employee.

    I'm a bit confused by your query, did you upload all your PDF's to Word or did Word automatically convert every PDF on your computer? I don't think the latter is possible. Are you sure you aren't just opening your PDFs with Word?

    • Stephen N.

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