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Participant
May 31, 2022
Answered

Convert To PDF Add In Rearranges Tabs In Excel Workbook

  • May 31, 2022
  • 4 replies
  • 6020 views

Good afternoon, everyone,

 

I have a (possibly) strange question.  I have the Acrobat add in installed in Excel (O365) and, previously, it used to work fine.  Recently, when I use the add in to convert multiple tabs in Excel to PDF, it scrambles my tab order after it converts.  (Recently = over a year ago.  :))  For example, my tabs are A, B, C, D, E, F before conversion.  After conversion, it may be rearranged as D, E, A, B, F, C.  I have not yet found a pattern.  The only thing I can discern is that the tabs are rearranged each time.

 

It doesn't happen if I only convert one tab at a time or if I use the print to Adobe PDF feature. Anyone know who to fix this?  I can still work but it's become a bit of an annoyance having to rearrange my tabs back to how they were before conversion.

 

Thank you kindly!

Correct answer randerson@MME

This!

Thanks for sharing.  This solved it for me.   It's the AutoSave that does it.

Workaround.  I open the file in the Desktop App, temporarily shut off auto save with the convenient slider at the top, Save As PDF or the tabs I want, then turn auto save back on after it is done.  Works Great!!

 

4 replies

Participant
February 20, 2025

I'm also having this problem. Adobe Acrobat (64-bit) (24.005.20414). All of my DPI are the same across tabs. The first 5 tabs of my workbooks move to the end of the workbook.

AnandSri
Community Manager
Community Manager
June 19, 2025

Hello @excited_Dazzle4242

 

I hope you're doing well, and we apologize for the delayed response and the trouble.

 

Please ensure you have the latest version of Acrobat installed on the machine: 25.001.20531 (Win) | 25.001.20529 (Mac), planned update June 10, 2025. Check for any pending updates from the Menu > help > check for updates, install the updates, restart the app and the machine, and try again.

 

If the issue continues, please provide the following information: the current version of the operating system on your device, sample files, and the logs from the affected machine. To collect the logs, download and run the Log Collector tool. Make sure to select all log options and attempt to reproduce the issue. After that, close the Log Collector tool; it will generate the logs along with a log ID. Please share this log ID with us for further investigation.

 

Thanks,

Anand Sri.

Participant
April 12, 2024

This did not work for me.  1 have 20 tabs on a spreadsheet and if i only PDF 2 of them, one of them goes to the beginning of the tabs.

 

Participating Frequently
November 27, 2023

I am having this issue as well.  It appears that the tabs I've selected to become an Adobe PDF file are grouped together at the front of the workbook and the non-selected tabs are now after the selected tabs.  They are out of the original and desired order in the workbook.  Updates to Adobe and MS Office are current.  A co-worker said he's having the same issue.

Amal.
Community Manager
Community Manager
November 28, 2023

Hi there

 

Would you mind sharing the version of the Acrobat Pro you are using? To check the version, go to Help > About Acrobat  and make sure you have the application updated to the recent version 23.06.20380 Go to Help > Check for updates and reboot the computer once.

 

Also, please share a small video recording of the steps you are doing for more clarity.

 

~Amal

Participant
November 28, 2023

So, we discovered a potential reason why the tabs move around.  Under your Page Setup, in the Print quality bar, each tab needs to be the same dpi.  If they are different, than the majority of tabs with the same dpi will stay in their original locations while any others will be moved in order of dpi (ex: 600 dpi will be moved to the beginning before 1200 dpi tabs).   I've now added to my review of tabs to make sure the dpis are all set at 1200 dpi and have not had any issues with tabs moving!  

 

Maybe this can be addressed in the programming so that it doesn't matter what dpi is used (I still haven't figured out what the default is) so the issue of moving tabs will be taken care of. 

 

Hope this helps everyone!

~Melissa

Amal.
Community Manager
Community Manager
June 1, 2022

Hi Yung,

 

Hope you are doing well and sorry for the trouble. We need some more information for a better understanding.

 

  • Is this an issue with a particular Excel workbook or with all the workbooks? Please try with a different workbook and check.

 

  • Are the tabs in the Excel workbook gets rearranged after you create the PDF out of it? If yes, please check for any missing/pending updates for the MS office and try updating it and reboot the computer once.

 

  • Also make sure you have the Acrobat DC updated to the recent version 22.1.20117 (Win), 20112 (Mac). Go to Help > Check for updates and reboot the computer once.

 

  • You may also try to create a new test user profile with full admin rights in Win or enable the root account in MAC and try using the application there and check.

 

Regards

Amal

Yung5E82Author
Participant
June 8, 2022

Good morning, Amal,

 

Thanks for your response.  I had to reach out to our help desk folks for help with your last suggestion of creating a new profile.  When I spoke with them, they kind of took over this issue and are working through it.  Thanks again for your suggestions!