Word and Google Docs files are containers, not plain text, so summarize them on iPhone by first getting the text out: copy the passage you need, or export the document as a text-based PDF and use that. Then check what the conversion dropped, because comments, tracked changes, and text inside images usually do not survive.
Creator disclosure: Heni Hazbay creates Summarise Visually and has a direct interest in the app. The file-handling method below is separate from the app’s bounded, checked capabilities.
Publication and evidence note: This guide was prepared from the cited documentation and reviewed project evidence. Its route table and checklist are editorial tools; iOS apps change their menus, so confirm the current option in the app you are using.
Why the file format is the problem
A .docx file is a compressed package of markup, styles, and embedded objects. A Google Doc is not a file on your phone at all; it is a document stored in Google’s service that gets exported into a format when you download it. Neither is a stream of text a summarizer can simply read.
That is why the reliable first move is a conversion you control, rather than hoping an app can open the container. Two conversions are worth knowing.
| Route | Do this | Best when | What it loses |
|---|---|---|---|
| Copy the text | Select the passage in the editing app and copy it | You need one section, or the document is short | Structure, tables, footnotes, anything outside the selection |
| Export a PDF | Export or download the document as PDF, then use that | You need the whole document with its headings | Comments, tracked changes, text inside images |
| Share sheet | Open the iOS share or action sheet from the document | It works for your file and app | Varies; the offered options depend on the source app |
Route one: copy the text
The fastest route for a section. Open the document in the Google Docs, Word, or Pages app, select the passage, copy, then paste it into your summarizer.
The discipline that matters here is recording what you selected. A summary of pages four to seven is not a summary of the document, and once the text is pasted there is nothing to show which part it came from. Note the section or page range beside the summary before you move on.
Route two: export a text-based PDF
For a whole document, export to PDF. Google’s Docs Editors Help documents downloading a document in other formats, including PDF, from the Docs app or web editor. Apple’s Pages user guide documents exporting a Pages document to PDF, Word, and other formats.
For Microsoft Word on iOS, the equivalent option sits in the document’s share or export menu; menu wording changes between versions, so use the current option rather than a remembered path.
One distinction decides whether the PDF is usable. A PDF exported from a text document keeps its text selectable. A PDF made by scanning or photographing pages contains images of text, and selecting text in it is not possible. If you cannot select text in the exported PDF, a summarizer that reads PDF text cannot read it either.
What conversion leaves behind
Check for these before you trust a summary of a converted document.
- Comments and suggestions. Review threads are usually excluded from an exported PDF, and they often contain the disagreement that matters.
- Tracked changes. An export typically reflects one view of the document. If it shows the final version, the summary describes the final version only.
- Text inside images. Charts, screenshots, and photographed pages carry text a PDF text layer does not include.
- Tables. Column relationships frequently flatten into sequential text, which can reorder meaning.
- Headers, footers, and footnotes. Page furniture may be interleaved into the body text, or dropped.
- Multiple tabs or sheets. Only what you exported is present.
Then summarize, and check
Once you have usable text, the summarizing work is ordinary. The standard the University of North Carolina’s writing centre sets still applies: the summary has to represent the source accurately, and a converted source is one step further from the original than usual.
Add one conversion-specific check to your normal verification: open the original document beside the summary and confirm that no claim in the summary depends on something the conversion changed — a table’s structure, a comment, a tracked edit, or text that lives inside an image.
Using Summarise Visually with document files
Current project review supports pasted text and text-based PDF material. The iOS share or action sheet may offer the app depending on the source and installed version, so treat the share route as convenient when it appears rather than as the guaranteed path.
In practice: for a section, copy and paste the text; for a whole document, export a PDF whose text you can select, then continue as in the PDF workflow for iPhone. The PDF path reads selectable text and does not run OCR on pages inside a PDF, so an image-only export will not work. If your material is genuinely a photographed page rather than a document, that is a different input path and a different set of limits — the PDF summarizer use case sets out what the document route does and does not cover.
Frequently asked questions
Can I summarize a .docx file directly on iPhone?
Get the text out first. Copy the passage you need, or export the document as a text-based PDF, then summarize that. The container format itself is not readable text.
How do I export a Google Doc to PDF on iPhone?
Use the document’s share or download option in the Google Docs app to download it in PDF format; Google’s Docs Editors Help documents the available export formats.
Will comments and tracked changes be included?
Usually not. Exported PDFs generally show one view of the document without review threads, so check the original if a comment or a rejected edit matters to your summary.
Why does my exported PDF not work?
Most often because its text is not selectable. A PDF produced from scanned or photographed pages contains images of text, which a text-based PDF route cannot read.
Is copying text better than exporting a PDF?
Copying is faster and more precise for one section; exporting keeps whole-document structure. Choose by whether you need a passage or the whole document, and record which you used.
Source and evidence note
The available Google Docs export formats come from Google Docs Editors Help. The Pages export options come from Apple’s Pages user guide. The standard that a summary must accurately represent its source comes from the University of North Carolina writing centre. All three were accessed on July 25, 2026.
The route table and the conversion checklist were created for this guide. App menus and export options change between versions and platforms, so confirm the current option in the app in front of you. Product statements reflect current project review; no file-conversion benchmark was completed here.
Limits and verification
Every conversion step is a place where content can be lost silently. The summary you end up with describes the text that survived the conversion, which is not always the document someone else is reading.
AI assistance cannot tell you what was dropped before it received the text, so this check is yours. Confirm coverage against the original document, apply the AI summary accuracy checks, and follow the confidentiality rules that apply to the material — exporting and pasting a document moves its contents to another service, and some documents may not leave their original system at all.
Publication was authorized by Heni Hazbay after review of the cited sources and current project evidence.