How to convert RTF to PDF on iPhone
RTF is a document that still argues with you: every app that opens it renders it slightly differently. A PDF ends the argument — the layout is settled at the moment you convert.
What RTF is, and what it is not
Rich Text Format is a document format Microsoft published in the 1980s and effectively everything can still read: Word, Pages, TextEdit, LibreOffice, WordPad, Google Docs. Unlike a plain text file it carries formatting — fonts, sizes, bold and italic, colours, alignment, lists. Unlike a Word document it is a documented, text-based format that no single vendor controls, which is exactly why it survived as the lowest common denominator for exchanging formatted documents.
What RTF is not is a fixed page. It describes a document, and the app opening it decides how to lay that document out — its own default font substitutions, its own page setup, its own margins. Open the same RTF on a Mac and on a Windows machine and it will not be identical. That is the problem a PDF solves.
What survives the conversion
The formatting held in the RTF is drawn into the PDF as it was written: fonts and font sizes, bold, italic, text colour, alignment, and paragraph structure. This is not a plain-text dump — an RTF that looks like a formatted letter becomes a PDF that looks like a formatted letter.
Two useful properties of the output:
- The text remains real text. It can be selected, copied and searched in the PDF. Nothing is flattened into an image.
- Nothing is invented. The converter does not restyle your document or apply a template. What was in the RTF is what lands on the page.
If instead you want the opposite — the words with all the formatting thrown away — an RTF can also convert straight to TXT, which strips every font, colour and style and leaves you the plain characters.
The output is a single page. Convexy renders one page at the size you choose; content that runs past the bottom of it is not carried onto a second page. For a letter, a form, a résumé page or a note this is fine. For a long report it is a genuine limit — split the source into page-sized documents, convert each, and combine the results with the PDF Merge tool, which is free forever and never asks for a purchase.
Page size is the one setting you should not ignore
Choose Letter, A4 or Legal in Options. The RTF itself may carry a page setup, but the PDF is being produced fresh, and the size you pick is the size it becomes. A4 for most of the world, Letter for the US and Canada. If a PDF you send is printed with unexpected white bands or a shrunken layout, this setting is almost always why.
If your file is really a Word document
Say it plainly: Convexy cannot open .doc or .docx files. Not to PDF, not to anything. Word's format is a different beast, and pretending otherwise would waste your money.
The workable path, if what you have is a Word document, is to export it once from an app that does speak Word — Word itself, Pages, or Google Docs — as either an RTF or a PDF, and take it from there. Pages on iOS will happily open a .docx and export it as a PDF or an RTF; at that point Convexy can do anything you like with the RTF. This is a real limitation of this app, not a step we recommend for fun.
Documents in RTF tend to be letters, contracts, statements and drafts — the things you least want passing through a stranger's server. Convexy converts them using the frameworks already on your iPhone. There is no upload, no account, and no network call at any point; the app works identically in Airplane Mode.
How to do it
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Bring the RTF in
Tap Browse files in Convexy and pick the .rtf, or share it into Convexy from Files, Mail or Pages.
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Choose PDF
The app offers only what an RTF can become: PDF, TXT, HTML and Markdown. Tap PDF.
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Set the page size
In Options, choose Letter, A4 or Legal to match whoever receives or prints the file.
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Convert
Tap Convert, then open the preview and check the document fits on the page, since content past the bottom of the first page is not carried over.
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Save or share
Save the PDF to Files or send it on from the share sheet. Use the free PDF Merge tool if you are assembling several pages into one document.
Common questions
Can Convexy convert a DOCX or DOC file to PDF?
No. The app does not read Word documents at all — RTF is a different format that merely happens to be one Word can also open. If you have a .docx, export it to RTF or PDF from Pages, Word or Google Docs first. We would rather tell you this before you install anything.
Does the PDF keep my fonts, bold and colours?
Yes. The document's formatting — fonts, sizes, bold, italic, colour, alignment and paragraph structure — is drawn into the PDF as written. It is not converted to plain text. If you specifically want the formatting removed, convert the RTF to TXT instead, which drops every style and leaves the raw characters.
Will a long RTF become a multi-page PDF?
No. The output is a single page at the size you picked, and anything past the bottom of it is not carried onto a second page. Break long documents into page-sized pieces, convert each one, and stitch them together with the free PDF Merge tool.
Is RTF the same thing as a Word document?
No, though the confusion is understandable — Word opens both. RTF is an open, text-based interchange format from the 1980s that any word processor can read. DOC and DOCX are Microsoft's own formats. RTF is the safer choice when you do not know what software is on the other end, which is precisely why it is still around.
Can the text in the PDF still be selected and searched?
Yes. The characters are written into the PDF as text, not rasterised into a picture, so any PDF reader can select, copy and search them.
Does the file get uploaded to convert it?
No. There is no server behind Convexy — the conversion is done by your device. It works with the network off, costs a one-time $4.99 after the 14-day trial, and the PDF tools stay free forever regardless.