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gothceltgirl
gothceltgirl
Participant
November 24, 2016
Answered

PDF No Longer Has Dark Background When Exported from MS Word 201

  • November 24, 2016
  • 1 reply
  • 11239 views

So for years now I've been able to create Word documents with a dark background and light letters on the page. It's just part of my preferred style of document. And for many years I've also been able to convert them to PDF and everything is exactly the same in the PDF doc as in the Word doc: black background; white (or some other light) letters; etc. But now all my previously converted documents, which had been displaying properly before, now have white backgrounds only, no matter what I do. The ones that I'd made had the right display before, now they do not.

I can't help but think that this is due to some update that Adobe has done. It is extremely aggravating and disappointing. I love PDFs, creating them, etc. I love a lot of the new tools that they now offer, but this is a real nuisance, as I'm a writer and it's now part of my look for my portfolio and many of the pieces that I've written to be displayed as light on dark. So I do hope that someone will see this and fix it. I don't think this is really a troubleshooting issue, but since I don't have a paid account, cannot get any technical help any other way, nor can I hope to probably get anyone to work on something so small. But since many people now like the "night view" on mobile devices and such, I'm hoping that it won't fall on deaf ears completely.

Thank you

-gothceltgirl

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer gothceltgirl

Hello Meenakshi,

I'm using the Adobe Acrobat Reader DC 2015.020.20042

I'm using Windows 7

I have MS Office 2013 and when converting a Word document to PDF these are the steps that I use, and have used for the past several years.

1. Click "File"

2. Click "Export"

3. Click "Create PDF/XPS"

Then a dialog box pops up asking me where to save it and what name I will give it. Then I click "Publish" as that is the option, rather than "Save as..."

Then it opens my newly saved and converted file as a PDF with all formatting intact, at least it did up until recently.

The first image is a screenshot of my previously converted PDF which is intact with the dark background which was saved in my Google Drive, it is from the beginning of September.

This next image is of my current Word doc

Here is the result of following the aforementioned steps to convert/export the doc as a PDF

As you can see now that the background is white, I can no longer see my text, it renders it unreadable, as well as unusable.

As you can see, this is a sudden, and inconvenient change. I don't know why this is happening, or how to resolve it. I just hope that the next Adobe update allows the formatting to remain intact once again. I have also tried using other PDF editing tools and searched for other resolutions. I did try changing my printing preferences to "Print background images" but that didn't work either.

Perhaps if I use another PDF creation tool, it will be as I want it to be.

*Update* I have just tried something to see if it was the formatting or the display. I converted a doc to PDF then converted it again to an image. The image retains the info. The background is dark and it is readable. So the background info is embedded somewhere somehow in the document, it simply isn't showing up properly. Thought that was an important detail.

*UPDATE* I have resolved it!!! It was the silliest thing. I had to go to "Preferences", then select "Accessibility" then uncheck the option to "Replace Document Colors"as that gives you the option to replace them with the classic Windows colors, or modify them as you choose. As soon as I unchecked it and clicked "OK" the document reverted to the correct display. Wow such a simple thing had me all turned around. Thank you for your prompt reply but now it is resolved. And thank you Adobe for giving us so many more display options (now that I've discovered them).

1 reply

Meenakshi Negi
Community Manager
Meenakshi NegiCommunity Manager
Community Manager
November 24, 2016

Hi gothceltgirl,

Could you please confirm the dot version of Adobe application you are using.

How do you convert Word file to PDF? Please share the exact steps.

Are you on Mac or Windows?

Regards,

Meenakshi

gothceltgirl
gothceltgirlAuthorCorrect answer
Participant
November 26, 2016

Hello Meenakshi,

I'm using the Adobe Acrobat Reader DC 2015.020.20042

I'm using Windows 7

I have MS Office 2013 and when converting a Word document to PDF these are the steps that I use, and have used for the past several years.

1. Click "File"

2. Click "Export"

3. Click "Create PDF/XPS"

Then a dialog box pops up asking me where to save it and what name I will give it. Then I click "Publish" as that is the option, rather than "Save as..."

Then it opens my newly saved and converted file as a PDF with all formatting intact, at least it did up until recently.

The first image is a screenshot of my previously converted PDF which is intact with the dark background which was saved in my Google Drive, it is from the beginning of September.

This next image is of my current Word doc

Here is the result of following the aforementioned steps to convert/export the doc as a PDF

As you can see now that the background is white, I can no longer see my text, it renders it unreadable, as well as unusable.

As you can see, this is a sudden, and inconvenient change. I don't know why this is happening, or how to resolve it. I just hope that the next Adobe update allows the formatting to remain intact once again. I have also tried using other PDF editing tools and searched for other resolutions. I did try changing my printing preferences to "Print background images" but that didn't work either.

Perhaps if I use another PDF creation tool, it will be as I want it to be.

*Update* I have just tried something to see if it was the formatting or the display. I converted a doc to PDF then converted it again to an image. The image retains the info. The background is dark and it is readable. So the background info is embedded somewhere somehow in the document, it simply isn't showing up properly. Thought that was an important detail.

*UPDATE* I have resolved it!!! It was the silliest thing. I had to go to "Preferences", then select "Accessibility" then uncheck the option to "Replace Document Colors"as that gives you the option to replace them with the classic Windows colors, or modify them as you choose. As soon as I unchecked it and clicked "OK" the document reverted to the correct display. Wow such a simple thing had me all turned around. Thank you for your prompt reply but now it is resolved. And thank you Adobe for giving us so many more display options (now that I've discovered them).

Dov Isaacs
Dov Isaacs
Legend
November 26, 2016

Ironically, you are actually using Microsoft's own PDF creation tool, not anything from Adobe.

Adobe Acrobat Reader provides no PDF creation tools.

          - Dov

- Dov Isaacs, former Adobe Principal Scientist (April 30, 1990 - May 30, 2021)
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