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AbiWord to PDF converter

ABW → PDF prints an AbiWord document to fixed pages, so a manual or essay from a Linux desktop can be read on any device.

  • Converted with Office engine · input deleted within 24 h
  • Free: 5 conversions a day · 5 MB each
  • Higher limits →

From real runs

What you get — and what changes

  • Page size Kept

    A4 documents stayed A4 and Letter documents stayed Letter, as set in AbiWord's page setup.

  • Pictures and text wrap Kept

    In the Alice chapter the rabbit illustration sat at the top right of page 1 with the opening paragraph wrapped beside it.

  • Footnotes Kept

    The test footnote printed at the bottom of its page under a short rule, with the superscript marker in the body.

  • Tables Kept

    Bordered tables printed with their cell text; a two-column résumé layout built from four tables kept its ruled sections.

  • Fonts Changed

    Fonts that are not on our servers fall back to Noto Sans or Liberation; the Alice file printed in Noto Sans.

  • Monospaced examples Kept

    Code samples in AbiWord's file-format document printed in Liberation Mono, a fixed-width face.

Sample conversions

Illustrated novel chapter

Input
353,507-byte .abw: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, chapter one, with one illustration.
Output
288,589-byte PDF, 5 Letter pages, in 4.2 s; picture in place.

Technical document

Input
54,923-byte .abw: AbiWord's own description of its file format, with lists and code examples.
Output
72,920-byte PDF, 7 Letter pages, 1,593 words, in 2.8 s.

A real AbiWord → PDF run

We converted our AbiWord sample (345 KB) with Office engine on 2026-10-20. It took 3.8 s and produced a 282 KB PDF file, 18% smaller than the input. The engine raised 1 warning, listed below.

Input · sample.abw · 345 KB

353,507 bytes

Output · sample.pdf · 282 KB

PDF 1.6, 5 pages, selectable text (NotoSans-Bold, NotoSans-Regular), 1 image object

Version
1.6
Pages
5
Fonts
NotoSans-Bold, NotoSans-Regular
Images
1
Text layer
yes
  • Fonts that are not installed on our servers are replaced with substitutes, so lines can wrap differently.

Options and when to change them

filter
Not required; the PDF export is set automatically. Use it only if a script must request a particular PDF export filter.

Do it yourself

AbiWord

bash
abiword --to=pdf manual.abw

Uses AbiWord's own layout, so it matches the screen exactly; needs AbiWord installed, which is easiest on Linux.

AbiWord to PDF by API or MCP

The HTTP API and the MCP server run the exact engine this page uses (Office engine); the response carries the same warnings the web converter shows. Check support first with GET /api/v1/pairs?from=abw&to=pdf.

curl
curl -X POST https://filetypeconverters.com/api/v1/convert \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $FTC_API_KEY" \
  -F "file=@input.abw" -F "from=abw" -F "to=pdf" \
  --output output.pdf
API reference

When this is the wrong conversion

  • If the document still needs editing, convert ABW → DOCX instead.
  • If you have AbiWord on a Linux machine, its built-in PDF export is the closest match to what you saw while writing.

AbiWord to PDF questions

Why does the PDF use a different font from AbiWord?

AbiWord stores font names, not the fonts themselves. When the named font is not installed on our servers, a similar open font is used, which can move line breaks.

Do footnotes stay with their page?

Yes. Each footnote prints at the bottom of the page where its marker falls, as in our field-notes test, rather than collecting at the end of the document.

Is the text in the PDF searchable?

Yes. The PDF is written from the document, not from a picture of it, so every word can be searched, selected and read aloud.

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