Why Word to PDF sometimes changes the layout

· 6 minute read

A Word file looks different on another computer, and sometimes in the PDF too. Fonts, page setup and what to check before you convert a document.

You convert a Word document to PDF, and the page breaks fall in different places, a table has moved or a heading is in the wrong font. You did nothing wrong. A Word file is a description of a document, not a picture of it, and different programs draw the same description in slightly different ways.

A Word file is a recipe

A .docx contains your text, along with instructions: this paragraph is in that style, this table has these column widths, this heading uses that font. The layout, which words fall at the end of which line and which line falls at the bottom of which page, is worked out afresh each time the file is opened. That work depends on the program, the fonts available and the printer settings, so it can come out differently on a different computer.

Fonts are the usual cause

If your document is set in a font that the converting machine does not have, a substitute is used. Two fonts that look alike can still differ in width, and a small difference per character adds up over a line, pushing a word onto the next line and a paragraph onto the next page. The more unusual the font, the more likely the substitution.

  • Use widely available fonts for documents that will be converted or shared.
  • If you need a particular font, embed it when you save, where your program allows.
  • Check the first page of the result. If the title font changed, the rest did too.

Other things that shift

  • Page size. A document set for US Letter and converted on a machine that defaults to A4, or the other way round, will break differently.
  • Printer-dependent settings. Some layout options in Word depend on the printer driver.
  • Compatibility mode. Files saved by old versions of Word can lay out differently in newer programs.
  • Complicated objects. Text boxes, floating images and tables that wrap text are the places where programs disagree most.

Before you convert

  • Look through the document in print layout. If a page break looks wrong, fix it in the source.
  • Replace unusual fonts, or accept the substitution.
  • Remove tracked changes and comments you do not want in the PDF.
  • Convert, then read the PDF as the recipient would.

Presentations and spreadsheets

The same applies to other office files. A PowerPoint deck loses animation, transitions and video, since a PDF page is fixed. A spreadsheet is converted as it would print, so a table that runs over the page edge in print preview will do so in the PDF; set the print area and scaling in the sheet before you convert.

Where the conversion runs

An office suite cannot run inside a web page, so converting these files means sending them to a machine that has one. That is a real trade-off. A good service tells you so before you choose the file, converts it and deletes it as soon as it has answered, and keeps no copy. If a document is very sensitive, convert it on your own computer with the program that made it.

Tools mentioned

More writing about PDFs · Loopdraw’s PDF tools