Microsoft removed Equation Editor 3.0 from Office in January 2018 because of a security flaw. Since then, equations made with it show in Word as pictures that cannot be edited: double-clicking one only says that the program is missing. MathType equations in a document whose reader has no MathType behave the same way. This page reads the equation stored inside each of those objects and writes it back into the document as a native Word equation, the kind Insert › Equation makes, so you can edit it in any recent Word.
Each object's equation data (MTEF, Design Science's format, which both programs use) is read by this site's own code and turned into Word's equation format. Every equation that converts is replaced where it stood: inline equations stay in their line, and an equation alone in its paragraph becomes a display equation with the paragraph's alignment. Everything else in the document - text, styles, pictures, tables, headers - is copied across unchanged. It is free to use, with no account and no upload limit, and it runs entirely in your browser: nothing is uploaded, and while the page stays open, a feature you have already used keeps working offline.
- Why can't I edit Equation Editor 3.0 equations any more?
- Microsoft took Equation Editor 3.0 out of Office in a January 2018 security update and never brought it back, so Word can still show the pictures it saved but has nothing to edit them with. Installing an old copy is not safe. Converting the equations to Word's own format is the lasting fix: Word has had a built-in equation editor since 2007.
- Can it convert MathType equations to Word equations?
- Yes. MathType stores its equations in the same family of formats, and objects saved by MathType 3 and by MathType 4 to 7 (Equation.DSMT4 and later) are converted the same way. If MathType's own data in an object is damaged, the copy MathType keeps inside its picture is used instead.
- Will the equations look exactly the same?
- Close, but not identical: Word lays the maths out with its own equation font and spacing. A power or index typed the old way, as a smaller character nudged up or down, becomes a real superscript or subscript; other manual nudges, point sizes and spacing tweaks are not carried over, as Word sets those itself. A long-division layout, which Word's equations do not have, becomes a bracket and bar with the quotient above. Check the list before you download: each preview is drawn from the Word equation that goes into the document.
- What happens to an equation that cannot be converted?
- It stays in the document exactly as it was, still a picture, and the list says why - for example that the object is damaged, or uses a character with no standard equal - with the words around it so you can find it in Word. Objects inside text boxes and shapes are left as they are.
- My file is a .doc or .rtf. Can it be converted?
- This page cannot rewrite those formats, but it lists every Equation Editor 3.0 and MathType equation in them to copy or open in the Equation Editor. To get editable equations in the document itself, open it in Word, save it as .docx, then convert that here.
- Does it work with equations from Equation Editor 2.0 or Word 95?
- Not those: Equation Editor 1 and 2 used an older version of the format. They are listed as left as they were.
- Is my Word document uploaded to be converted?
- No. The document is read and the new one written in this browser tab, so a thesis or a confidential report never leaves your computer. Only the page's own code, and the maths font for the previews, is downloaded from this site.