You don't need to buy expensive software or install any virtual PDF printer driver to convert your Word Documents to PDF format. Google Docs & Spreadsheets can do the job and it will give you an exact copy of your source document without any changes to the text formatting, hyperlinks, tables and embedded images.

All you have to do is upload your document to the Google Docs & Spreadsheets server in one of several ways, open the file to edit and then save it as a PDF file.

Follow the steps given below to convert your first Word document or rich-text email into a PDF document using Google Docs & Spreadsheets.

Step 1: Assuming you already have a Google Account, upload your Word document to the Google Docs & Spreadsheets server here in one of the several ways provided.

Step 2: Open the uploaded document for editing. Usually this step is automated as the document automatically opens for editing immediately after upload.

Step 3: Click the Google Docs & Spreadsheets File menu and click Save as PDF.... A file download dialog box will appear. Click Save and select the folder where you want to save the document on the hard drive and give a name to your PDF file.

It would be convenient to use the "Email-In Your Documents and Files" feature if you want to convert more than one document at a time. Just attach all the documents in one email message and upload them.