RTF is still around
Rich Text Format was Microsoft’s interchange format before .docx. WordPad on Windows writes it. Some government portals, medical systems, and mail-merge tools still export .rtf. Phones and modern browsers often show it as gobbledygook or refuse to open it. Converting to PDF on ToolPin gives you a file anyone can read. The RTF is uploaded to a temporary server, converted, and deleted after download. The tool is free and does not require an account.
RTF is not DOCX. It does not hold modern Word themes, content controls, or VBA. That simplicity is helpful: there is less to go wrong. It also means you should not expect advanced layout. If you already have a .docx, use DOCX to PDF instead.
What usually survives
Bold, italic, underline, basic fonts, colours, left/right/centre alignment, simple tables, and embedded images that were stored in the RTF typically appear in the PDF. Page size follows the document if it was set; otherwise you get a default such as A4 or Letter.
What may not survive: complex drawing objects, OLE embeds, and some older binary picture types. Unicode is usually fine for European languages; very old RTF that predates Unicode may need to be opened in WordPad and saved again before conversion.
Fonts that are not available on the server substitute, which can change line breaks. Stick to Times New Roman, Arial, Calibri, or other common faces if the letter is already written.
Privacy and file health
Treat the upload like emailing the RTF. Do not send files with account numbers if policy forbids it. ToolPin expires the job after download.
Corrupt RTF (a .doc renamed to .rtf, or a truncated download) will fail. Open it in WordPad or LibreOffice locally; if that fails, the converter will too. Password-protected RTF is uncommon; if you hit one, remove protection in Word first.
After you download
Skim the PDF. If a logo is missing, the picture was probably a linked file rather than embedded — RTF can reference images on a path that does not exist on the server. Embed the image in a fresh save from WordPad or Word, then convert again.
For a long-term archive, PDF is the right container. Keep the RTF only if you still need to edit. There is no RTF editor on ToolPin. If you need editable Word, open the RTF in Word or LibreOffice and save as .docx; do not expect PDF to DOCX to recreate the original RTF structure perfectly.
Related tools: ODT to PDF for LibreOffice native files, DOCX to PDF for modern Word, and DOCX to Text if you only want the words from a Word file (local, no upload).