CozyBearDocsby 3BearLabs
What you need to know first
There is a feature that converts a PDF to a Word document. But the result is not "the original Word file comes back". A PDF has no concept of paragraphs or tables; it only records what is drawn where, so converting it to a Word document produces a document that imitates that look.
Most of the text survives. But that text often ends up in boxes placed all over the page rather than in body paragraphs. When we measured with three PDFs made by others, the share of text that ended up as body paragraphs was 0–3%. In other words, it is hard to open it in Word and keep writing.
When it is still useful
It helps when you need to pull the text out and copy it elsewhere. If your goal is to re-edit the whole document, it falls short.
If you can get the original Word file, use that. It is always better.
If you need to work on the PDF
If what you need is not changing the text but leaving marks or tidying pages, there is no need to convert to Word. With the PDF open you can add highlights, shapes and notes, and you can delete, rotate or reorder pages.