Participant

Question

Word 2016 to PDF conversion - top/bottom margins change. Why?

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
January 15, 2019
2 replies
8624 views

I have produced a two page document (Form) in Word 2016. When printing the document to my local printer the margins (all) are printed just as they should.

However when I convert the document to pdf using Microsoft Print to pdf, and print the document the top and bottom margins are different to my printed Word document!

My Word 2016 is setup for A4 layout, my printer is setup for A4 paper! I am using the latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader.

I have tried other pdf conversion packages (PDFill, PDF Factory) and all produce the same problem in the converted pdf file. Looks good but prints different margins!

Any help would be appreciated.

This topic has been closed for replies.

C

christopherb74716741

Participant

Hello,

What is your setting for 'Page Sizing and Handling' in the Adobe print dialog? It should be 'Actual size'.

I found a similar issue with a Word to PDF file (margins printed wider than what I set) and found that the default print setting for the PDF was 'Fit' rather than 'Actual size'. Once I changed 'Fit' to 'Actual', the margins printed correctly as a PDF from Adobe.

Other Word to PDF files have not done this in the past, so it appear that this Word file is 'carrying' some preset, but I haven't figured this out yet.

You can force Adobe to not rescale an individual document during printing by opening your file and going to File>Properties>Advanced tab, selecting 'None' under 'Page Scaling', and saving your document. Next time you open it and print it, it should have 'Actual Size' as the default print setting.

I hope this helps.

N

NickVerberkmoes

Participant

Hello,

I have encountered the exact same problem with MS office 365 Excel 2016 version.

It seemed that during converting excel to PDF extra margins where added to the PDF file. I have searched everything in PDF settings and couldnt find the right setting.

After reading Christopherb message I have found that in Excel the setting in File>Advanced>scroll down to "General" and the box with "Scale content for A4 or 8.5 x 11" paper sizes" must be empty, i.e. not ticked.

I closed and opened excel once to ensure settings where taken into account, opened my file and it resulted in converting the excel to PDF as how I have set it up in the print preview.

However I noticed that after combining PDF pages with other documents it showed that the print has been larger compared to other A4 size PDF files. So I "ticked" the box "Scale content for A4 or 8.5 x 11" paper sizes", closed and opened excel and converted my excel again. Somehow now it seems to work properly, meaning no issues with extra white margins and PDF pages are A4 size.

Would like to thank Christopherb and hopefully this will ease out your search in getting rid of (in my case) unwanted white margins.

Hope this helps

D

default56hkcfm9r1ne

Participant

It's a change to the word document - Layout / Size / More Paper Sizes / Layout / set Header and Footer to 0!

gary_sc

Community Expert

Hi Frelon,

I'm sorry but to say that you selected Microsoft Print to PDF and complain about the results is sort of like contacting Apple and say that your Window's system is not working correctly.

Snakiness aside, Microsoft's PDF generation has a history of less than stellar capabilities. PDF is now an international standard (and has been for a number of years) and how ANY other company follows that standard is not, well, standard. Some are better than others and Adobe chooses to follow the standard to the "T."

You mention using other PDF generating applications all with the same results, the problem might be the way that Word is handling margins. Is there anything unique in the way that you set those margins? For example in my copy of Word, top and bottom margins are placed at 1". Did you change that to something different? If you did, can you revert back to the original dimensions?

There's not much here to go on other than this is not an Acrobat issue.

Sorry

FrelonAuthor

Participant

Hi Gary, and thank you for your reply.

Sorry that I may have offended you by using somebody else's software (not made by Adobe!) I was just using the recommendations made by Adobe on the Adobe site!

Easily convert Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft PowerPoint documents to PDF using the Create PDF tool in Acrobat DC. You can also convert documents without leaving the application using the Acrobat task ribbon in Office for Windows or the Print command in Windows or Mac OS.
Prerequisite: No matter which method you use, you must have the original Office application installed on your computer.

Not so easy after all, as it seems a similar question has been asked on this forum a number of times without satisfactory responses. I accept that it may not be the fault of Adobe (I have used the product for 40 years) I was just looking for a pointer for a possible solution without the need for a snide remark!

gary_sc

Community Expert

Hi Frelon,

My "snarkiness" was not meant to be rude but only to point out that you were asking for help from those who are not involved in creating (intentionally or not) the problem. I do apologize for any offense.

I do have to ask to verify: do you have Acrobat Standard or Acrobat Pro? Otherwise, Microsoft's "Print to PDF" uses Microsoft's PDF generator which does have a history of problems. As such, if there are problems with this, contact Microsoft as there's nothing that anyone in these forums can do to help you. I'm sorry for that but that's the way it is.

BTW, Adobe has been a corporation for 36 years and Acrobat has been around for 23 years.

Good luck (and NO snarkiness at all with that, really!)

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