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Add a PDF to google docs

Google Docs cannot embed a PDF the way Word can. There is no object that holds the file inside the document. What you can do is link to it in Drive, or insert pictures of its pages. This guide covers both, and what each one costs the person reading your document.

Docs cannot embed a PDF

There is no insert command that puts a PDF file inside a Google Doc. People look for it, find an insert menu full of images, tables and drawings, and assume they have missed it. They have not. The feature does not exist.

Everything that looks like an answer is one of two workarounds: a link to the file somewhere else, or pictures of the pages placed in the text. Both are fine. Neither is embedding.

The Drive link route

Upload the PDF to Drive, then paste its link into the document. Docs turns it into a chip showing the file name, and the reader clicks through to the PDF in Drive. The document stays small and the PDF stays a PDF.

This is the route to prefer when the PDF is reference material: terms, a specification, a signed contract. The reader gets the real file rather than a picture of it, and it stays searchable.

Who can open the link

A link is not access. If the file's sharing is restricted, everyone you send the document to hits a request access screen, which is the single most common failure here. Set the sharing on the file to match the audience of the document.

Be deliberate about anyone with the link. It means anyone, including whoever the document gets forwarded to. For a contract or anything with personal data in it, name the people instead.

Page images in the document

If the pages have to be read inside the document, insert them as pictures. The export tool renders the pages you choose as JPG or PNG at 96, 150 or 300 dots per inch, in your browser, and gives you a zip when there is more than one page. At 150 dots per inch a page stays readable on a screen without bloating the document.

Insert them like any other image. The text inside them is no longer text, so nobody can select, search or quote it, and a screen reader finds nothing. Use it for a page or two, not for a whole report.

Opening a PDF with Google Docs

Drive offers to open a PDF with Docs, which converts it into an editable document. On a clean text PDF the words come across well. On anything with columns, tables or a designed layout, the result is a mess that takes longer to fix than to retype.

On a scanned PDF it runs recognition and produces text of variable quality. Check every number by eye. This is a conversion, not a view, so treat its output as a draft rather than as the document.

Going the other way

Docs exports to PDF directly, which is the right move when the document has to keep its layout on somebody else's machine. If several documents have to become one file, export each and join them with the merge tool.

The document merging guide covers that route, including what happens to page numbers when separately numbered files are joined.

Pick by what the reader needs

If they need to read it as part of your document, insert page images and accept losing the text. If they need the file itself, link it in Drive and set the sharing properly. If they need to edit the words, convert with Docs and expect to clean up.

The Word guide covers the same decision where embedding does exist, and it makes the trade clearer by comparison.

Questions people ask

Why does my PDF lose its layout in Google Docs?
Because opening a PDF with Google Docs converts it into an editable document. The converter rebuilds the text and infers the layout, so columns, tables and exact spacing usually move. Keep the PDF in Drive and link to it when the layout matters.
Can Google Docs embed a PDF file?
No. There is no command that puts a PDF inside a Google Doc. The two workarounds are linking to the file in Drive and inserting pictures of its pages.
How do I add a PDF to a Google Doc?
Upload it to Drive and paste the link, which becomes a chip the reader clicks. Or render the pages as images and insert those where they have to be read in place.
What happens when I open a PDF with Google Docs?
It converts the file into an editable document. Plain text comes across reasonably well; columns, tables and designed layouts usually do not. Treat the result as a draft and check it against the original.
Will people outside my organisation see the PDF link?
Only if the file's own sharing allows it. A link in a document grants nothing, so set the sharing on the file in Drive to match who the document is going to.

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