OneDrive for Business's Convert file action is how most flows should actually convert Word to PDF in Power Automate, and it sits on the Standard connector tier, according to Microsoft's own connector reference. That's the same tier as the everyday file and folder actions most flows already use without a second thought on licensing.
The other route into a PDF, and the one people usually try first, runs through the Word Online Business connector's Convert Word Document to PDF action, and that one sits on Premium. Generating the Word document from a template is usually the easy part. A team picks a template engine, wires up the merge fields, and the docx comes out looking right. Converting that docx to PDF in Power Automate is where a flow that was entirely on the Standard tier can suddenly need a licence upgrade, just because of which connector got picked for one action near the end.
Which action actually converts the file
OneDrive for Business exposes two conversion actions, ConvertFile, which works by file ID, and ConvertFileByPath, which works by path. Both sit on the Standard connector. For Word to PDF specifically, the supported source formats run well beyond docx, covering doc, dot, dotx, dotm, rtf, htm, html, and formats like xls, xlsx, ppt and pptx too, according to Microsoft's Graph API documentation for the driveItem content format endpoint.
The other action, Convert Word Document to PDF, carries the operation ID GetFilePDF inside the Word Online Business connector. That connector sits on the Premium tier, and Microsoft's connector reference states plainly that it requires a Power Automate Premium licence to use.
SharePoint doesn't get its own conversion action. Microsoft's SharePoint connector documentation lists triggers and actions for working with libraries and lists, and there's no dedicated convert action in that set. If the file sits in a SharePoint document library, the fix is the same OneDrive for Business Convert file action, pointed at the SharePoint path instead of a personal OneDrive path. It works because the action calls the same underlying API regardless of which library holds the file. People who go looking for a SharePoint-specific conversion step usually just need to reach for the OneDrive connector instead.
What the premium route costs you
If the flow only needs to convert a file, running a word to PDF flow through OneDrive costs nothing extra, because Standard connectors run on whatever Power Automate licensing the tenant already has. The Word Online route is a different calculation. Power Automate Premium costs $15 per user per month, and a flow using the Word Online connector's PDF action needs a user account covered by that licence to run.
For a flow that already uses premium connectors elsewhere, adding the Word Online action doesn't change the bill. For a flow that was otherwise entirely Standard, that one action is what pushes the whole thing onto a paid tier. Check whether OneDrive's Convert file action already covers the source format before reaching for Word Online because it sounds like the more purpose-built tool, because for docx specifically, it does.
The file size limits, documented and undocumented
The two routes don't publish the same kind of ceiling. Word Online's connector reference states an explicit maximum input file size of 10 MB. OneDrive's Convert file action carries no equivalent published number in Microsoft's connector documentation. Anyone relying on that gap to push larger files through should treat it as untested territory rather than a documented allowance.
Both connectors throttle at 100 API calls per connection per 60 seconds, and Word Online adds a hard timeout of its own, cancelling any conversion that runs past two minutes. Those throttle and timeout figures sit alongside the connector's other constraints around sensitivity labels, signed documents and field code support, the same wider set of limits covered in populating a Word template and hitting its limits.
One more size detail is worth planning around. The PDF that comes out can end up more than ten times larger than the docx that went in, because the converter embeds fonts into the output to make it self-contained, according to Microsoft's OneDrive for Business documentation. A 2 MB template can produce a PDF well past 20 MB before anyone has added a single image.
When conversion does fail, Microsoft's own troubleshooting guidance for the OneDrive connector points to timing rather than a size or format problem. If a Convert file action returns a Bad gateway error or says the resource can't be found, the recommended fix is adding a delay between creating the file and running the conversion, giving OneDrive time to finish processing the upload before the action tries to read it.
What conversion does to fonts and formatting
Before fonts even become a question, both actions refuse some documents outright. Digitally signed documents and password-protected or IRM-restricted documents both fail to convert through either the OneDrive or Word Online action, according to both connectors' documentation. Word Online adds one more exclusion of its own. Files carrying a sensitivity label of Confidential or Highly Confidential won't convert either, regardless of file size or format.
Custom fonts don't survive the Word Online conversion. Only fonts installed on the server render, according to the connector's own documentation. Microsoft's Dynamics 365 Sales PDF documentation publishes the actual list, including Arial, Calibri, Cambria, Georgia, Segoe UI, Times New Roman, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, and a run of legacy and regional fonts like MS Sans Serif, Courier and MongolianBaiti. If a brand template calls for a licensed corporate typeface that isn't on that list, the converter automatically substitutes an available system font, so the PDF a client receives can carry different letterforms than the docx the design team signed off on.
Unicode characters generally render correctly in the PDF output, provided they also render correctly in Word's own default export. The documented exception is Private Use Area characters, which need font embedding to display, and won't if the source font isn't available on the server.
For anyone routing through HTML instead of a docx template, the OneDrive converter has its own list of problems. HTML to PDF output comes out at A4 size only, with no option to set a different page size. Microsoft's own Q&A forum has documented intermittent failures since 4 September 2026 where the converter ignores CSS rules declared inside the HTML file, and malformed or non-XHTML-compliant markup won't convert reliably at all.
Where the file has to live before it can become a PDF
Neither native route can touch a file that's still sitting only in Dataverse. Microsoft's own Power Apps documentation on file and image storage confirms Dataverse file storage is separate from OneDrive, and conversion can't happen until the file has been written out to OneDrive or SharePoint first. Dataverse's file column stores binary data with a default cap of 32 MB, expandable up to 131 MB, but none of that storage does anything to help a file become a PDF on its own.
A quote, a contract or a case file carrying financial or personal detail still has to leave Dataverse if the process needs a PDF. The file gets written out to OneDrive, sits there while the conversion runs, and either stays there or gets pulled back into Dataverse afterward. Whatever row-level security and sharing rules were protecting that record inside Dataverse don't automatically extend to the copy now sitting in OneDrive. For a document generation process that would rather avoid writing that intermediate file out at all, generating and converting the document in a single step skips the OneDrive detour entirely.
There's one native exception. Dynamics 365 Sales can export Word templates directly to PDF on the Account, Opportunity, Order, Quote and Invoice entities, without touching either connector, according to Microsoft's own Sales documentation. That export works on both the web app and the Dynamics 365 for phones mobile app, though custom entities only support PDF generation on the web app. An administrator has to turn the feature on before anyone can use it, and Microsoft's guidance notes the export performs best under 2 MB, with larger files taking considerably longer to render.
Nobody at Microsoft has published guidance on converting Word to PDF at volume. There's no batch conversion document and no recommended pattern for looping through hundreds of records. The only guardrail on record is the same processing throttle that applies to converting one file.
For a single document coming out of a Dataverse record, OneDrive's Convert file action is the route that costs nothing extra and already covers docx as a Standard action. Word Online justifies its premium licence when a flow needs something specific to that connector, like tighter control over PDF timing inside a larger Word automation sequence. If the source record sits on one of the five Sales entities that support native export, that route skips both connectors and the OneDrive detour altogether.