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.

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