Converting PDF to Word, formatting issues

[zachy5803127]

When i convert PDF's to Word files, i am often left with large blank areas in the document that i cannot fill in by trying to delete the space. I have also tried getting rid of the formatting on the document, but it does nothing. Any help is greatly appreciated.

[try67]

How are you converting the files, exactly?

[zachy5803127]

With the PDF open i go to File--> export to--> Microsoft Word-->Word Document

[try67]

So after you convert the file to a Word document you can't edit it there? What happens when you try to do it?

Also, what version of Acrobat do you have and what Office version?

[zachy5803127]

I can edit most of it. however, there are random gaps between pages or paragraphs that i cannot do anything about. Word for Mac version 16.22. Adobe Acrobat Pro DC  version 2019.010

[MilesKilo]

Probably you "can't do anything about" the gaps because they're not actually on the page. They're indirectly caused by some obscure paragraph formatting that Acrobat sets up on the surrounding paragraphs.

In Word, position your cursor to the paragraph before and after those gaps and click the little arrow pointing southeast at the bottom, right corner of Home, Paragraph section of ribbon. That'll show a dialog where you'll need to reset some strange Indentation and Spacing settings.

Likewise, if there are any tables, you'll need to edit the table cell formatting.

There may be some hidden formatting fields that you need to get rid of. Press Ctrl-* to reveal them.

This is all because Acrobat tries very hard to force the document to slavishly match the PDF layout by setting up all kinds of extreme formatting which often breaks down due to differences in fonts, etc., or if you edit the doc in any way. Acrobat only cares about duplicating the exact layout, and not about generating a properly-structured, sanely-editable Word doc.

[zachy5803127]

Thanks for the help so far. I dont see the little arrow pointing SE. But When I did Crtl-* i did see something like this "--------section Break------" where the issues are. However, I cannot delete it. Any thoughts?

[MilesKilo]

Did I say little? I meant tiny!

Section breaks: place cursor just before the section break and press Delete key. If you have many, see this

[zachy5803127]

ACK! i dont know why, but there is no tiny arrow on mine!

[MilesKilo]

That'll get you a popup; select Line Spacing Options

Alternately (though not quite as much control) use Layout ribbon menu, zero Paragraph Indent, Spacing

[jane-e]

zachy5803127  wrote

I dont know why, but there is no tiny arrow on mine!

Hi Zach,

It’s called the Dialog Box Launcher. If your Home tab on the Ribbon doesn’t look like this, let us know. For more informaion, see the Microsoft Help page:

Ribbons - Windows applications | Microsoft Docs

When you convert from PDF to Word, what do you pick in the Settings dialog? One says Flowing Text and the other says Retain Existing Format (that one creates frames.)

Be cautious about deleting those section breaks. Word does not have page formatting — it only has section formatting. By default every document has one section until more are added. You can see the number in the status bar.

Section formatting includes margins, columns, headers, footers, page numbering, page size, etc. When you delete a section break, you combine two sections and will lose the section (page) formatting on the first. It may or may not make a difference with your specific document, but just be cautious.

Jane

[zachy5803127]

Mine doesnt look like that, I think mine is a newer version. Im using word for Mac BTW, not sure if i mentioned this

[zachy5803127]

THANK YOU EVERYONE! the replace all method worked!

[MilesKilo]

Great! Could you please mark my previous answer (the one with the link to the Replace) as the correct answer? Thanks!

[mottafirm]

what do you mean "replace all" worked?  I did not see someone commenting about using replace all... I am also on a MAC and have the same problem and other worse issues too

[hannahewaters]

Hi there,

I found I could resolve this issue another way, maybe it will help you.

1. From the home tab, click the "show/hide" symbol.

You should see these little symbols at the end of each sentence. 

Each page break will show up, as below.

2. Highlight the "section break" sometimes it simply appears as the three little colons at the end.

3. Press delete.

It should delete the page break.

It did for me anyway, eek. Good luck!

[Aries5CC0]

Dear hannahewaters,

I always have a problem removing the wide gaps between the paragraphs everytime I converted a pdf file into a Word document. I've tried formatting the paragraph under "Indents and Spacing" option by clicking the "Don't add space between paragraphs of the same style " but did not work.  I've also tried clicking the "remove space before and after paragraphs" under "Line Spacing option" but too did not work.  Then, I decided to find solution for my problem by browsing the internet and I saw this chain of conversations from which your post caught me. I followed your instructions and ooh my goodness.... it solved my problem! Thank you dear!

I am not a techy person so I am very grateful to you that you shared your knowledge on this matter.  May you have more blessings to come. God bless you!

Thankfully yours,
-Aries, 27, Philippines 🙂 🙂 🙂

[Paul26206648q2k3]

+1 to this - worked perfectly for me.  Thank you!

[jane-e]

zachy5803127  wrote

I'm using word for Mac BTW, not sure if I mentioned this

Oh, it does make a difference! The Mac version of Office 365 does not have a dialog box launcher because it still has menus. Just go to the Format menu and choose "Paragraph" and use the two tabs at the top.

When you export to Word, you will get this. The Settings button is darker and on the right, just above Cancel.

[Aaron25082434kshg]

I'm sure you have finished this project by now... but one strange issue I am having currently.

My mother is an author, I am a typographer so naturally I will be working on her novel as well. 
She sent her novel to a well known editor for about 1000 dollars about 6 or so months ago.
when she sent the document back she sent it in pdf form. At the time I was busy with another project, 

so my brother converted her pdf file back into a docx file. My mother then proceeded to making changes and corrections suggested by the editor. Then she noticed something wrong... 
She came across two words shoved together... when she tried to fix that the words would not seperate. after pressing space bar a few times all the letters would scrunch together and look very odd like foreign writing. She found that it was better for her to highlight the two words and delete them then retype them... at that point the problem would shift down to a nother set of words... Creating a whole new problem to fix. She's been working on this for a while. I finally finished my other project and told her to send the novel to me to figure out.
What I found...
If I copy the words in question. Example... "Comeon!" and paste them into notepad... copy it back out and into word.
the problem would be "cleaned"... Thus I told her abort fixing the space issues (which there are many of them) Continue placing the suggestions made by the editor and deleting their correction marks. Note all paragraph breaks and art and all things such as fonts and font parameters... (as those do not retain after the notepad cleaning) ... I could then, copy the entire novel into Notepad and "clean" the issue. This has become our plan of attack.
Lesson learned... only send basic text to editors to work on. rather than novels with images and basic formating...

[Aaron25082434kshg]

BTW i know this is technically a different problem but similarly caused by DOCX > PDF > DOCX

[Elliot24820559lwpe]

Just in case you are still doing this...

I have this issue and it is to do with advanced features of fonts being changed by conversion (e.g. spacing, kerning etc..)

In Word, you ctrl-A to select all, then

Home>Font>Advanced tab

Set scale to 100%, spacing normal, position normal, untick kerning.  That should clear up any conversion issues.