Missing text when converting to PDF from Word

Report · Nov 04, 2021

When I convert a Microsoft Word document to a PDF (using both Create PDF in the Acrobat tab and File > Save as Adobe PDF) I am missing some of the text in the PDF, such as a paragraph or some of the list items. I've tried deleting the content in Word and pasting it back unformatted, entering a blank line before the missing paragraph, and converting the list into normal style and then applying the list paragraph style. Sometime soem of the content would appear in the PDF and sometimes it would cause neighbouring content to not appear in the PDF. Has anyone encountered this before? Does anyone have any suggestions?

Janette

Report · Jan 27, 2022

This would be a great solution, but Adobe Creative Cloud doesn't let me install an older version of Acrobat DC. Pretty much all other Creative Cloud apps seem to have the option of installing a previous version but not Acrobat DC. I also couldn't find any way to download an older version from Adobe's website.

Since converting the same exact file works fine on my personal laptop, I though I might have a different version of Acrobat installed, but turns out it's the same exact version that I have on my work laptop (21.011.20039). The Word version on my personal laptop is older (version 2108 vs. version 2112). My personal laptop still runs Windows 8, though, wonder if that could make a difference, as Creative Cloud really doesn't like Windows 8 and allows hardly any apps to be installed on that OS. Mysterious altogether.

Report · Jan 27, 2022

As far as I know, it is the problem of lastest version(21.011.20039) of acrobat that caused the losing text when converting word to pdf. It doesn't matter what version of Word or OS you are using.

Report · Feb 01, 2022

We have been using various builds of Acrobat DC for the past 2 years and have seen this problem throughout. It definitely started when we moved from Office 2007 to Office 2016 (DOC to DOCX).

Report · Jan 27, 2022

Unfortunately our IT manages our computers and software so we can't change our installed software or "downgrade" to an older version even if it was possible.

This problem has been around for many years. We noticed it with many previous versions of Word and Acrobat -- basically when Microsoft changed from their old native DOC format to the newer XML based DOCX format is when we first noticed this. Usually only with specific documents that have two columns, section breaks, and tables. We have yet to nail down the exact culprit other than manually fix it by removing one or more of these elements.

Report · Feb 01, 2022

I finally called our IT support and after messing with my Word document for a bit, this is what she suggested doing:

Click on File>Then on Save As>Navigate to where you wish to save the PDF>Click the little Arrow at>Save As Type:>Change Word Document (*.doxs) to PDF (*pdf). Click the Options Button>Tick ‘Create Bookmarks using Headings.

That is it. If you open your PDF using Acrobat Reader the side bar will have a Clickable Table of Contents. Make sure that Bookmarks is enabled>View>Show/Hide>Navigation Panes>Tick Bookmarks. Your PDF will now have a clickable table of ‘Bookmark’ using the various headings.

Report · Feb 01, 2022

Unfortunately that is using the Microsoft PDF converter engine which has its own set of problems (which is why we prefer the Adobe PDF driver).

Namely, the MS PDF converter does not pull in any bookmarks from the Word file if those headings are in a table, header or text box. This is a known issue with Microsoft and although they don't call it a bug, they refer to it as a "furture enhancement". LOL

Also, the MS PDF converter will name the PDF file title (shown in the title bar of Acrobat) with whatever is in the Word file's property (File > Info > Properties > Title) field. It will use anything typed there as the PDF title rather than the physical filename of the document (which is what the Adobe PDF driver will use). We need the filename to be carried over no matter what.

Finally, we have seen overall improvement in the integrity of long documents that contain Microsoft 365 cloud fonts, lots of tables and graphics, and special kerning applied. When using the Adobe driver the PDF will be 100% exact reproduction of the Word document. But when we save as PDF using the Microsoft converter, the line spacing (leading) can be slightly different and the entire document may grow to a few more pages since the spacing is greater.

Microsoft just closed my ticket with them concerning these issues as they can't reproduce the problem, or they won't acknowledge it is a bug.

I also have an open ticket with Adobe tech support now regarding the missing text. So hopefully they might be able to figure out a solution.

Report · Feb 02, 2022

UPDATE:

Adobe has rsponded to my open support ticket with the following information:

Hi Eric,
My name is Saurabh from Acrobat experts team. This case has been advanced to Acrobat experts team. I will be your point of contact for this case.
I have looked and investigated into your issue and found that this is a known bug. The bug reference number is : ADC-4346294. The fix is expected in March-April release of this year. In the meantime, we have a preference change recommendation which fixes the issue.

Open Word
Click on Acrobat ribbon
Click on Preference
Uncheck “Enable Accessibility and Reflow with tagging Adobe PDF”
Click on OK

Now the PDF conversion will work as expected.

Report · Feb 02, 2022

Hi Eric,

Thanks for the update and sharing what Adobe suggested.

I've been using the Acrobat ribbon with those settings and getting PDFs with missing text.

Let's hope that the known bug will be fixed when promised.

Janette

Report · Feb 02, 2022

Janette:

Oh wow...that's disappointing to hear!

So far today it has fixed every document that we had problems with. It's still a mystery as to what is actually causing this. We first thought it was only on two column layouts with specific section breaks, then soft returns, and then specific methods as to how tables were inserted. But it still happened with random files and if we redid that page to fix the missing text, then the problem would have a ripple effect and make some text later in the document disappear! Very frustrating!

I sure hope they fix it in the next update to Acrobat as the support tech indicated.

I would also like to know how long Adobe needs to make Acrobat 64-bit! Maybe that will be better? Or worse? 😉

Report · Mar 09, 2022

It's really a disastrous glitch with Save As PDF, I've found. I have to Print to Adobe PDF print driver instead, and then the TOC isn't tagged, but as the client doesn't require the tagging, we'll do without it. They do require that text not be missing. Seems like a top-priority thing to fix ASAP but of course is probably not top of mind for Microsoft or Adobe, whosever fault it is. When a thousand-page document has to be PDFed and submitted, random omissions are disastrous. And again I say disastrous!

Report · Mar 10, 2022

We still have an open ticket with Adobe technical support on this topic. Yesterday they said to update our Acrobat application which should fix the issue, as they just released a patch the other day (version 2022.001.20085). But of course that did not fix the problem.

We then had users show them on a screenshare session the problem happening on more than one computer in our department. So the ball is back in their court to do further investigating.

On top of that, some of our users are now experiencing a new issue: if they try to save as Adobe PDF from Word 365, the process begins to convert and then Word totally crashes with no message and no PDF being saved. When they relaunch Word, the typical message about an "add-in" having an issue and gives the option to load it or not. We showed this issue to Adobe as well.

Report · Mar 10, 2022

Thank you for the update and your efforts to find a fix. It looks like it may not be advisable to update Adobe.

I've been finding that straight forward documents with just headings, paragraphs and lists do not usually lead to missing text when converted into a PDF. The moment you introduce columns or soft returns, then the issue is almost guaranteed. But even then it's random. I had a document with two images with captions that I used the column feature to have them appear side-by-side and at times the caption text does not appear in the PDF or the heading that follows the images is missing. I've had to resort to using a table to layout the images with their captions and then remove the table tags in the PDF. This of course takes time and slows me down.

I guess we just have to wait and see if they can resolve this issue.

Report · Mar 10, 2022

One thing I have been telling our employees to do as a temporary workaround (we are on Windows 10):

Go to Control Panel > Printers & Scanners, select Adobe PDF and click Manage
Click Printing Preferences and make sure the PDF output settings are set appropriately as a default (we use High Quality Print, deselect Rely on system fonts only, and a few other adjustments including changing TrueType Font to Download as Softfont in the Layout Advanced Properties dialog box.)
Now just right click on any DOCX file in Windows File Explorer and choose "Convert to Adobe PDF"

The above *usually* works when the Adobe PDF Maker add-in within Word fails.

Report · Mar 10, 2022

The "Print to PDF" method described above is a last-ditch solution because it deadens the text, making it unreadable by different computer technologies.

The best route is to use either:

the Acrobat Ribbon utility,
File / Save as Adobe PDF, or
File / Save As / PDF (uses Microsoft's conversion tool, but it has its own bugs)

Report · Mar 18, 2022

I just had that same problem. Several paragraphs were missing on Save as Adobe PDF but showed up with I did Print-> PDF

I had text missing above several inline images that were separated from the text by soft returns. Replacing the soft returns with hard returns worked for me.

Report · May 08, 2022

This post was helpful. This month and never before... I have begun getting blank Adobe files which are a result of me choosing a print option Word to Adobe. A couple of times, I accidentally getting things normal. But I cannot remember how. I am a publisher and need this function to work. Any suggestions???

Report · Sep 22, 2022

This seems to be related to my issues. I can not export from Word using the Adobe Ribbon, because my choosen font gets dropped and the PDF uses a diffrent one instead. When i click on the options button in the Adobe Ribbon I can not do any type of settings. I only get some information on the Cloud-Service, thats it. (First Screen)

When I use Adobe to create a PDF from a Word-Document the Setting-field is also not clickable. (Second Screen)

(Exporting from Word works using the Microsoft Save As, but i can not find any settings for images etc.)

Report · Mar 02, 2023

Have you tried to print it to a real printer and getting same things? Then it is to do with 'print' in the documents options. Uncheck the 'print data only'. Other thing can help is to modify adobe acrobat printing option (uncheck on rely on system font)