1. A font is missing
When a PDF uses a font that cannot be included in the new file, a similar common font is used instead. Letters then have slightly different widths, so a line can break earlier or later. Our PDF to Word converter embeds the PDF's fonts in the Word file when it is allowed to and tells you when a font had to be replaced.
Fix: install the original font on your computer, or change the text to a common font.
2. The PDF is a scan
A scanned PDF is a picture of each page with no text inside, so there is nothing to edit. Choose OCR when converting, or make the PDF searchable first with OCR PDF. Recognized text is very good on clean scans and weaker on photos taken at an angle or in poor light.
3. Columns, text boxes and designed layouts
Resumes, brochures and magazines place text in columns and boxes. A good converter reads them in the order a person would and rebuilds columns as columns, but very complex designs can still need small adjustments in Word.
4. Tables without lines
Ruled tables (with visible borders) become real Word tables. Tables made only of aligned text have no lines to detect, so they come out as text with tab stops.
5. Word to PDF: the document changed before it became a PDF
If a Word file looks different as a PDF, it usually also looks different on another computer: a font is missing there too, or the document uses "track changes" or comments. Accept the changes and use common fonts, then convert again with Word to PDF.
Checklist for the best result
- Start from the original PDF, not a printed and scanned copy.
- Use OCR only for scanned pages.
- Check unusual fonts after converting.
- For a copy that only needs to look right, keep the PDF; convert to Word only to edit.