How to open and return a Word document
- Save the file. Download the attachment from your email to your computer.
- Open it in Draftly. Click Open a Word document and choose the file. It opens in the editor in a few seconds. PDFs work too, though their layout comes across more roughly.
- Make your changes. Edit text, formatting, lists and tables as you would in any word processor.
- Send it back. Choose Export → Microsoft Word (.docx) to save a new Word file and attach it to your reply. Or choose Share Draft to send a link the other person can open in their browser. If they only need to read it, Export → PDF document (.pdf) downloads a PDF instead.
What comes across, and what doesn't
Most everyday documents open cleanly.
- Kept: text, headings, bold, italic, underline, colours and highlighting, fonts and sizes (if your device doesn't have a font, a similar one is shown), alignment and line spacing, bullet and numbered lists, tables (including merged cells), pictures, links, page breaks, page size and margins, and header and footer text.
- Changed when the file opens: tracked changes are accepted (insertions kept, deletions applied), and text in text boxes is moved into the document, after the paragraph it was in. List items indented under other items move to one level, and special styles like "Title" appear as regular text.
- Not kept: comments, footnotes and endnotes, table cell background colours, and page-number fields.
Draftly tells you when a file had tracked changes, comments, footnotes or text boxes, and what happened to them. If you need the comments or the tracked changes to stay as they are, don't edit the file here: the file you download will have the changes accepted and no comments.
Your file stays on your device
- Opening a file doesn't upload it. It's read and converted in your browser.
- On a computer, the document is kept only in this browser tab by default: close the tab and it's gone from this device. On phones and tablets, documents are remembered on the device by default. You can change this with Remember my documents on this device on the Workspace page.
- A copy is uploaded only if you choose Share Draft. Anyone with the link can view and download it, and it's deleted automatically after 30 days.
- We use Google Analytics to count visits and which features are used, never your document's content. See the privacy policy.
Questions
How do I open a Word document without Microsoft Word?
Open it in your browser with Draftly. Click Open a Word document and choose the .docx file. You don't need Word, an app or an account.
Is my document uploaded anywhere?
Not when you open it: the file is read in your browser. It's only uploaded if you create a share link, and shared copies are deleted after 30 days.
Can I edit it and send it back?
Yes. Make your changes, then choose Export → Microsoft Word (.docx). You'll get a normal .docx file to attach to your reply.
Will it look the same as in Word?
Everyday documents come across well: text, formatting, lists, tables, pictures, page setup, and header and footer text. Tracked changes are accepted when the file opens, text boxes become normal text, and comments and footnotes are removed. Draftly tells you when that happens.
Can I open an older .doc file?
No. Draftly opens .docx files (the format Word has used since 2007) and PDFs. If you've been sent a .doc, ask the sender for a .docx or PDF.
Is it free?
Yes, with no sign-up.