Excel Save As Adobe PDF not saving text, only background cell colors

[Christy24443387rwvu]

This is an issue that only happens sometimes and I can't predict when it's going to happen. Sometimes when I convert an Excel file to PDF it only saves the background colors for cells in the report, but not the contents of the cells. Usually I have to close both Excel and Acrobat and then try again, but that has about a 50% success rate.

This is how the PDF is saving the Excel file. All of those cells should have text in them.

I'm just hoping for an explanation as to why this happens only sometimes. As far as I'm aware all of my software is up to date.

[Christy24443387rwvu]

Bumping because I'd really like an answer to what's going on. I'm still having this issue and there's no rhyme or reason to when it's going to happen.

[Christy24443387rwvu]

I'm still having this issue and I still have no solution! Can someone please help explain what's going on so I can stop it from happening in the future? It's turning a 20-minute project into a 60+ every time!

[Meenakshi Negi]

Hi Christy24443387rwvu,

Thank you for reaching out, and sorry about the delay in getting back to you.

Please let us know the steps you use to create a PDF from an Excel file. It would be really helpful if you could share a screen recording so we can understand what might be causing this behavior. 

Please share the sample Excel file where the issue can be reproduced so we can reproduce the behavior. Also, could you share the Acrobat, MS Excel, and OS versions on the machine?

Thanks,

Meenakshi

[Christy24443387rwvu]

Thank you for your reply! Unfortunately the data within this particular spreadsheet is too sensitve to share in a screenshot or recording. I can provide the exact steps I take to create the PDF:

1. Click on File

2. Click on Save as Adobe PDF

3. In the Acrobat PDFMaker box, I choose "Fit Worksheet to a single page"

4. Click Convert to PDF

I can tell when the conversion is going to fail because the status window that comes up only appears for a few seconds rather than 10-20 seconds. I wonder if this a RAM allocation issue or something is breaking the connection between Excel and Acrobat.

Acrobat version: 2025.001.20474

MS Excel version: Excel for Microsoft 365 MSO (Version 2502 Build 16.0.18526.20264) 64-bit

OS: Microsoft Windows 10 Enterprise x64 base

[Meenakshi Negi · Accepted solution]

Hi Christy24443387rwvu,

Sorry about the delay in response.

I assume that the issue might have been resolved by now. If you are still having the issue, please ensure you are using the latest version of the application. You may refer to the information on updates here: https://adobe.ly/46HDtRB. 

Please try creating a sample PDF for testing purposes and share the screen recording of the workflow you use. Also, share the sample PDF and version details of both applications.

Feel free to let us know if you need any help.

Thanks,

Meenakshi