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jeremyf93085535
jeremyf93085535
Participant
August 22, 2018
Answered

Retaining Hyphenation when Creating a New PDF from Word

  • August 22, 2018
  • 3 replies
  • 5380 views

Hello forum,

Today I am attempting to create a PDF from a .docx file from word in which the words and paragraphs are formatted with justify alignment and hyphenation. When I create the PDF using Adobe Acrobat DC, my justify is retained, but my hyphenation is lost.

Can someone please help me figure out how to retain my hyphenation formatting when I create a PDF from a .docx file? Because my PDF requires hyphenation.

Thank you in advance for anyone willing to answer and help me out.

I am using a MacBook Pro.

Best,

Jeremy.

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com

There are 101 ways to make a PDF from Word. You'll get different results from each one.

Which method did you use?

If Acrobat Standard or Pro is installed, then there will be an Acrobat ribbon tab in Word. It contains the most complete set of controls for exporting PDFs from Word.

The File menu also contains several options:

  • File / Save as Adobe PDF (an Adobe conversion utility)
  • File / Save as PDF (a Microsoft conversion utility)
  • File / Save as / Save as Type / PDF (another Microsoft conversion utility)
  • File / Print / PDF virtual printer or Postscript (Adobe's Dov Isaacs just posted detailed instructions for this method here: Re: Print To PDF )

Noted that you're on a Mac. All bets are off making PDFs in the Mac Word-to-PDF workflow. Although improved in the past year or so, it still isn't great. I understand that it's an Apple problem, not Microsoft or Adobe's.

Note: PDF is now in the public domain and anyone can create software to make PDFs to the international ISO PDF standard (PDF 32000).

That means just because a utility makes a PDF doesn't mean that it's an Adobe product making the PDF. You must delve further to see what manufacturer is behind the conversion. Only Adobe products/utilities can use the trademarked terms "Acrobat" and "Adobe."

The term "PDF" is not trademarked so anyone can use it.

3 replies

J
joshua83702a
Participant
September 24, 2019

Use an en-dash (character code 2013) or an em-dash (character code 2014) from the Symbol menu in Microsoft Word. Those are rendered during any of the conversion processes. The minus sign (2212) will also render.

Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com
Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.comCorrect answer
Legend
August 22, 2018

There are 101 ways to make a PDF from Word. You'll get different results from each one.

Which method did you use?

If Acrobat Standard or Pro is installed, then there will be an Acrobat ribbon tab in Word. It contains the most complete set of controls for exporting PDFs from Word.

The File menu also contains several options:

  • File / Save as Adobe PDF (an Adobe conversion utility)
  • File / Save as PDF (a Microsoft conversion utility)
  • File / Save as / Save as Type / PDF (another Microsoft conversion utility)
  • File / Print / PDF virtual printer or Postscript (Adobe's Dov Isaacs just posted detailed instructions for this method here: Re: Print To PDF )

Noted that you're on a Mac. All bets are off making PDFs in the Mac Word-to-PDF workflow. Although improved in the past year or so, it still isn't great. I understand that it's an Apple problem, not Microsoft or Adobe's.

Note: PDF is now in the public domain and anyone can create software to make PDFs to the international ISO PDF standard (PDF 32000).

That means just because a utility makes a PDF doesn't mean that it's an Adobe product making the PDF. You must delve further to see what manufacturer is behind the conversion. Only Adobe products/utilities can use the trademarked terms "Acrobat" and "Adobe."

The term "PDF" is not trademarked so anyone can use it.

|    Bevi Chagnon   |  Designer, Trainer, & Technologist for Accessible Documents ||    PubCom |    Classes & Books for Accessible InDesign, PDFs & MS Office |
    jeremyf93085535
    jeremyf93085535Author
    Participant
    August 22, 2018

    Nevermind.

    I had to figure it out myself. I find it incredibly peculiar and frustrating how an entire software dedicated to converting documents to PDF does not retain hyphenation. Terrible software design. 

    This is how you solve the problem for anyone who is wondering.

    First, Adobe Acrobat does not have this formatting option (hyphenation). So, no matter what you do, when you upload a document that hyphenates, you will lose your formatting. Why? I don't know.

    So, what you have to do is you have to upload your document to a free Word to PDF converter online, which does retain hyphenation, and then you can upload that to Acrobat which can then be used for editing purposes.

    try67
    Community Expert
    try67Community Expert
    Community Expert
    August 22, 2018

    Adobe Acrobat certainly does support hyphenation. How did you convert the Word file to PDF to begin with?

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