cannot convert pdf file to Word using Adobe ExportPDF online...I get a timeout error after a wait of about 15 minutes

[jgillespie1959]

Oh...BTW...I am using Windows 7 with Chrome browser and I disabled text recognition.  The file is 3.7 MB.  It says it failed because it is taking too long to process however the Adobe export PDF notes that it can convert unlimited files to Word or Excel files.  Anything else I can try?  I exported it to Adobe.com and tried toconvert it there but it looks like the same process...and with the same result.

[Sara_Forsberg]

Hi jgillespie1959,

A 3.7MB file without OCR shouldn't be tripping up the ExportPDF service. Have you tried clearing the browser cache, or trying a different web browser?

Do you know how the PDF was created? Do other files convert without error?

Best,

Sara

[jgillespie1959]

Thanks Sara.  I tried this.  Deleted browsing history (is that what you mean by clearing the browser cache?) and used Explorer instead of Chrome.  Still did not work.  The pdf is a scanned thesis I downloaded from our university's library.

[Sara_Forsberg]

Hi there,

It sounds like there may be an issue with the quality of the PDF. Not all PDFs are created equal, and especially those created from scanned documents can be problematic if the scan quality isn't the best. Is there a dark background on the PDF, or stray marks or smudges?

You can try converting with OCR disabled at outlined in this document: How to disable Optical Character Recognition (O... | Adobe Community. But, while that's a good test to find out where the problem lies, you'll end up with a Word document that isn't editable, so it's not an optimal solution.

Please let us know how it goes.

Best,

Sara