Word to UDF Converter (DOCX to UDF)

First, know this: testing and signing

The UDF files we produce were tested with UYAP Document Editor 5.4.20: they open in the editor and the text arrives complete; numbered and bulleted lists, tab alignments and tables were compared with the editor's own rendering. Even so, as with any petition, we recommend opening the file in the editor for a last check before you submit it. For a deadline-bound filing, do not leave it to the last minute.

The second important point is that the UDF is unsigned. Converting a document does not make it ready to submit to UYAP; to submit it you must open it in the UYAP Document Editor and sign it with an e-signature or mobile signature. This is general information and not legal advice.

Which formatting is carried over?

When you copy from Word and paste into the editor, bold, italics, alignment and tables are often lost. This tool does not copy and paste: it reads the structure of the Word document and converts it.

• Paragraph alignment, left and right indents, first-line and hanging indents.
• Spacing before and after paragraphs and line spacing.
• Tab stops (left, right, centre, decimal).
• Bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, font size, font and colour.
• Numbered and bulleted lists.
• Tables and horizontally merged cells.
• Page breaks, paper size and margins.
• Images (scaled to the page width if necessary).

What cannot be carried over, and why

UDF is a much simpler format than Word, and some Word features have no equivalent in it. Vertically merged table cells, cell shading and vertical alignment inside cells do not exist in UDF. Footnotes, text boxes, shapes, tracked changes and comments cannot be carried over. Headers and footers may not be transferred at present. Line breaks made with Shift+Enter become new paragraphs in the UDF. None of these disappears silently: after the conversion the tool lists what could not be carried over.

Checklist before you submit to UYAP

Before you submit, do not skip these five steps:

• Open the UDF in the UYAP Document Editor; if it does not open, do not submit it.
• Compare the page count and the position of the signature block with the Word original.
• Review tables, lists and the Turkish characters.
• Sign it in the editor with an e-signature or mobile signature and check that the ribbon icon appears.
• Upload the signed file to the portal and keep a record of the submission result.

Google Docs, LibreOffice and older .doc files

If you wrote the petition in Google Docs, download it with File, Download, Microsoft Word (.docx) and drop it here. If you use LibreOffice you can convert an ODT file directly, and RTF files are accepted too. Older Word 97-2003 .doc files can be dropped here as well: text, formatting, lists and tables are read, and anything that cannot be carried over, such as text boxes, is listed as a warning. For the best result we still recommend saving the document as .docx in Word.

To go the other way, taking a UDF into Word for editing, use UDF to Word.

Three short tips when you draft a petition

Plain, simply laid-out documents convert most smoothly. Three habits in Word prevent most of the shifts you would otherwise see later:

• Do not align with the space bar. To push a signature block or date to the right, use a tab stop or a table without borders instead of a row of spaces.
• Avoid vertically merged cells in tables. They have no equivalent in UDF; leave the cell empty or split the table.
• Use Times New Roman or Arial. These fonts are naturally available in the UYAP Document Editor; fonts such as Calibri may be shown with another font on the other side.

Why your petition should not be uploaded

A petition often contains the client's name, national ID number, address and the details of the case. For lawyers, the duty of confidentiality and personal-data protection rules make passing such data to third parties a sensitive matter. When you use a converter that uploads files, the file sits on another company's computer for a while, even if it is deleted afterwards. In this tool your Word file is read in your browser and the UDF is produced there; the file is not sent anywhere. Please assess this against your own professional rules; nothing here is legal advice.