Table lines disappear when zoomed out in PDF

Question

Hi team,

Posting this again as I have not yet received an answer.

When I convert my MS word documents to PDF some of the lines around my table boxes disappear when zoomed in. I have performed some research and have tried adjusting a few settings, for example 'enhance thin lines', but unfortunately I am not having much luck.

I don't understand why this randomly happens (not on every table or every file I convert). I have attached a snapshot of one example. This happens when I am zoomed out at less than 100%, this snapshot was taken at 73.4%.

Any suggestions as to what settings I should be looking at adjusting to fix this annoying issue. Please note that the MS documents I work on have been developed for web accessibility and have strict locked-down templates, so having to change the line width on the tables is not an option as I would have update the master template. The MS word versions are all fine and look as they should, it's only when I convert them to PDF for web publishing, I am having the issue.

Anyones help is most appreciated.

Amal. · Answer

Hi there,

Hope you are doing well and thanks for reaching out. We are sorry for the trouble you are experiencing.

What you're describing is a known issue that can sometimes occur during PDF conversion, thin lines (like table borders) may appear to “disappear” or look broken when zoomed out in a PDF viewer. This is usually a display/rendering issue rather than a problem with the actual content of the PDF.

Here are a few suggestions you can try:

1. Disable 'Enhance Thin Lines' in Acrobat: You mentioned you've already tried this, but just to confirm:

Open the PDF in Acrobat.
Go to Edit > Preferences > Page Display.
Uncheck Enhance thin lines (if it’s checked).
Restart Acrobat and reopen the PDF.

2. Use Adobe PDF mechanism (instead of Save As PDF) to create PDF : Sometimes, using the Adobe PDF mechanism instead of the built-in Word “Save as PDF” function can help retain formatting more consistently:

Open the file in MS Word > Go to Acrobat Ribbon in the toolbar
Click on Create PDF and check if the issue still occurs.
For more information, please check the help page: https://adobe.ly/4krMcun

Since the issue only appears when zoomed out (like at 73.4%), this is likely a rendering limitation. The lines are still present in the file but aren’t being displayed correctly due to their thinness. To confirm, zoom in to 100% or more and check if the lines appear correctly.

Sign up

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Sign in to Adobe Community

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Scanning file for viruses.

This file cannot be downloaded