Coverting PDF to Word doesn't keep table format

[Hector1949]

Hello All,

Until two weeks ago, I was able to convert PDF to Word and tables were converted as such and no background colours and other formatting were included. Now, the converted Word file is visually identical to the original PDF, no tables but tabs separating columns.

These are my current version and settings:

Adobe Acrobat Version 2025.001.20937 | 64-bit, License: Acrobat Standard

I would appreciate your help. Thank you!

[Meenakshi Negi]

Hi Hector1949,

Thank you for reaching out.

As mentioned, the PDFs used to convert fine before, could you please share a sample file that was converted fine and how it converts the file now? 

Please share the Acrobat and OS version numbers currently in use.

Thanks,

Meenakshi

[Hector1949]

Hi Meenakshi Negi,

Thank you for your reply. Version and OS:

Adobe Acrobat Version 2025.001.20937 | 64-bit, License: Acrobat Standard | Windows 10, Version 10.0.19045 Build 19045

Sorry, I cannot share the documents as they are confidential.

If you haven't seen this issue before, let me rephrase the issue as a question:

If I have a PDF with formatting, colour background, etc., how do I convert it to Word only exporting text and keeping table format?  What it is happening is that the conversion doesn't interpret the layout in the PDF as a table as it did before. Here is a screenshot of part of the PDF document:

Thank you!

[Hector1949]

And here is the Word screenshot of the exported PDF:

[Hector1949]

And this is the Word screenshot of a previously exported PDF (with some editting):

[Meenakshi Negi]

Hi Hector1949,

Thank you for the screenshots and the information.

As mentioned, it used to work fine. Please confirm whether the PDF was created in a similar manner, and if the conversion to a Word file is the only change. We just need to confirm if it is not related to how the PDF was created.

Generally, it converts the file into the same format. Please try converting the PDF using the Acrobat Online account and see if the result is the same. Open the following link and sign in with your Adobe credentials. Once logged in, go to the Convert tab and select convert to Word. 

If it is the same file, can you create a new PDF using the same steps and share that sample PDF with us for testing? We are unsure how the table was originally created, so we will need the sample file to replicate this behaviour and investigate further. 

Thanks,

Meenakshi

[Hector1949]

Hi Meenakshi,

Thank you for your follow up. Unfortunately, I am not able to continue the troubleshooting for some time to come.

FYI, I managed to export the tables with a third-party Windows app. The main issue with it is that the table text wrapped in more than one line, appears in different rows in Word, needing to merge the cells.

I appreciate all your attention!

Best regards,

Hector

PS: If other software identifies text in a PDF as a table, why Acrobat is not doing the same any more? Could you please escale this question as a feature request? Thank you!